bio

I grew up in a small Italian city called Modena, a relatively beautiful and welcoming place where people meet, work, raise families and enjoy those comforts which seems to make everybody’s life bearable. Like every other kid in town, I loved listening to music and going to concerts, but I was raised believing in dreams and pretty soon I picked up an instrument and started wondering at the world outside my door step. My pragmatism led me to study engineering at University, but a performance by Clarence Gatemouth Brown offered me a glimpse of a different life, certainly much harder that the one I knew, but rich in raw sounds and beautiful, soulful melodies; little I knew that that performance would have change my life. A few years later I was completing my musical studies at the Musician’s Institute in California with great teachers such as Scott Henderson and Carl Schroeder (Jimmy Reed, J.L.Hooker, Sarah Vaughan). I never looked back, I always kept following my call, moving from country to country in search of the right tone while writing, playing and producing music; and finally I made London my home.

In 2008 I set up an independent label and production company called ToneTrade. Under this name, I work freelance for the music industry, applying my skills to help shape the sound of my clients.

When in 2011 I met Kathleen Pearson, an Afro American blues singer whose family traditions go back to the cotton fields of rural Tennessee, I saw once again a glimpse of those same roots I was sold many years before by Clarence Gatemouth Brown. At the time Kat asked me to create a new sound, something urban and contemporary which could make the Blues once again relevant in the 21st Century. Nowadays Kat&Co is an internationally recognised act and my duties range from co-writing, arranging and producing all the band’s material to managing and coordinating all aspects of the job. We since shared stage with great artists such as Joe Louis Walker, Deitra Farr, Lurrie Bell but also Mud Morganfield, Lil Jimmy Reed and our very own Paul Lamb, Chad Strentz and Bob Hall. In 2017 I was also asked to join the UK Blues Federation, of which I am now a proud board member, and my involvement with British Blues is taking a new turn.

Nowadays ToneTrade is the platform from which I can look after the interests and development of Kat&Co., but also of iconic Saxophonist and band leader Knoel Scott (Sun Ra Arkestra) who recently joined our roster.

Sound engineering plays also a big part in my professional career; I work freelance for live events and recording sessions alike, and I am used to all sorts of genres and line ups, from small bands to larger brass sections and ensembles.I have a good understanding of mic placement and I always engineer my sessions. The attention to details, with the understanding that every job and genre requires its own specific sonic character, takes centre stage in my search for the right tone.

I also trained as a vocalist with fellow musician Lorena Fontana who introduced me to the ways of Alexander Technique. This training is proving most useful when it comes to producing singers; coaching and directing can be a key factor in achieving a good performance and just as any good actor needs a good director, I believe a good singer needs a good producer who understands the ways of the voice and the objective to be achieved.