For those still clinging on to their last bit of summer, there’s always a bit of it near the Mediterranean. Somewhere near Sanremo, I imagine as this centrally-located American, there’s a perfect day being soundtracked by the music on one Mario Rosini (and in this case) joined by Pino Daniele. Balearic du jour, New Age Jazz instrumentals that possibly scream for some seafront locale, that’s what Mediterraneo Centrale is all about.
For pianist Mario Rosini, the city of Puglia, specifically the village of Gioia Del Colle, on the heel of Italy’s “boot” facing the Mediterranean was both the homestead and influencer of all else that came to be. Mostly self-taught, together with his brother Gianni, they’d transform a love for Pop music into a burgeoning songwriting career. By the mid ‘70s they’d written, or performed as session musicians, for huge Italian Pop artists like Enrico Beruschi, Franco Rosi, and many other southern Italian mainstays.
Sometime in the mid ‘80s, Mario was introduced to Neapolitan music giant Pino Daniele. By then Mario had begun to chart a course driven by his love of Return To Forever-like jazz, Debussy, and Stevie Wonder. Under Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communication label we heard his debut. Magamusica, released in 1990, began his ascend into the world of New Age music.
Magamusica a semi-collaborative work with American jazz drummer Billy Cobham put him on the path of trying to mesh his love of Stevie Wonder-esque Pop funk, with all these other influences that Mario was meshing with his very homegrown melodicism. Between it and other more minimal works he was creating for RAI television soundtracks, Mario discovered he could have a knack for creating wonderfully melodic New Age instrumentals that felt of Italian creation.
Thankfully, for us, somewhere in the late ‘80s that friendship with fellow Southern Italian friend Pino Daniele blossomed into a full blown collaboration. In the late ‘80s, Pino had increasingly began to lean more to the jazz and blues side of his own career, forgoing most of the overtly “Pop” elements that had gotten him all that notoriety in the first place. Going to back his “roots” so to speak. With Mario (and brother Gianni) they were able to explore a more impressionistic and free-form blend of ideals.
1992’s Mediterraneo Centrale is pure Italian Romanticism distilled into that early ‘90s New Age sound that was both weirdly plastic-y feeling but also much more experimental-sounding (and less tied to overt-spiritualism) music that one would call “ambient” or “minimal”. As more members of the jazz and soul world gravitated to New Age, to have a musical life after their 30’s, so did the musicianship increase to reflect a more melodic sense of this style. On this release, we hear Pino drop his gorgeous iconic guitar tone in ways that both hints at his better known style, likewise vocals that still peer through as gut-wrenching echoes of soul music are here, what’s unique is how they give way to their bare essences.
On songs like “Remember” we might hear Mario build some background to just lay on luxurious meditative sung nothings. On others like “Sailing”, mid-tempo shuffles, Pino transforms such a style into epic Balearic meanderings that end up being far more forward-thinking than they initially let on. Spirited, esoteric stuff like “No Acid Rain” create tropical IDM for those not quite ready to stand up to get into that pool again. As a memory of the gorgeous central Mediterranean coastline, an album like this simple gets you on that wave.