Pino Presti
| Pino Presti | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta |
| Origin | Milan, Italy |
| Genres | Pop, jazz, funk |
| Occupations | Bassist, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer |
| Instruments | Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1961–present |
| Labels | Atlantic Records, Durium, Saar, Polydor, Baby Records, Emergency Records, Belldisc, Edizioni Curci, Dischi Ricordi |
| Website | Official Website |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Jazz Bass | |
Pino Presti (pseudonym of Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta; born August 23, 1943) is an Italian bassist, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer, born in Milan.
Pino Presti was very young when he first entered the music business. He started as a bass guitar player, than gradually began an arranger, a composer, an orchestra conductor and a producer. Among his collaborations in different genres of music like jazz, pop, funk, soul, we can find great names such as: Mina (the most famous Italian pop singer), Gerry Mulligan, Astor Piazzolla, Quincy Jones, Wilson Pickett, Shirley Bassey, Maynard Ferguson and many others.
Biography
Pino Presti, son of an accomplished violinist, Arturo Prestipino Giarritta, has been studying music since the age of 6. When he was 17, he started his career performing as vocalist and bass guitarist in clubs as well as working in recording studios as an instrumentalist. Although he had a contract with Durium of Milano as a singer, he decided to concentrate only on performing music. He recorded hundreds of songs with major Italian artists such as: Mina, Giorgio Gaber, Ornella Vanoni, Gino Paoli, Bruno Lauzi, Fabrizio De André, Sergio Endrigo, Mia Martini, Franco Battiato, Adriano Celentano, Milva, Pino Donaggio, Gigliola Cinquetti, Caterina Caselli, Bobby Solo, Fausto Leali, Michele, Ivan Graziani, Loredana Berté and many others.
After being Mina’s bass guitarist in studio and on tour for many years, Pino Presti became the arranger and conductor of many of Mina’s songs. Also at times a vocalist as in Flamingo and other numbers. From 1971 up until her last public appearances at Bussoladomani in 1978, arranged and conducted 86 tracks among which hits as Grande grande grande, E penso a te, L'importante è finire, E poi, Città vuota, La pioggia di marzo, Fiume azzurro, Domenica sera and other songs included in albums such as: Mina, Cinquemilaquarantatre, Frutta e verdura, Amanti di valore, Baby Gate, La Mina, Singolare, Mina con bignè, Mina Live '78
For the Italian singer he composed four songs: Tentiamo ancora, for the album Frutta e verdura (1973), L'amore è un'altra cosa, for Mina® (1974), Amante amore, for Mina con Bignè (1977), Bignè, for Ridi pagliaccio (1988).
On occasion of Mina’s great come back at the vast Bussoladomani theater in Viareggio on June 24, 1978, Nantas Salvataggio wrote an enthusiastic review of the event in the important newspaper, Il Giorno: « Mina was accompanied by an orchestra as that of a grand Las Vegas show ».
The Italian press, as well as others, defined the concert as a « triumph » and underlined the important contribution of the orchestra (14 members between musicians and chorus) « directed by Pino Presti ».
Between the 70’s and 80’s, he collaborated on recordings and or concerts with prominent personalities of the international music scene such as: Wilson Pickett, Shirley Bassey, Quincy Jones, Gerry Mulligan, Astor Piazzolla, Maynard Ferguson, Franco Cerri, Shirley Bunnie Foy, Stéphane Grappelli, Aldemaro Romero, Gianni Bedori, Eartha Kitt, Bruno De Filippi, George Aghedo, Angel Pocho Gatti, Caterina Valente, Bill Conti, Hugo Heredia, Maurice Vander.
He is listed under his real name, Giuseppe Prestipino, on the record: Libertango with Astor Piazzolla and in Summit-Reunion Cumbre by Gerry Mulligan and Astor Piazzolla. He is listed under the name Giuseppe "Pino" Prestipino Giarritta on the records La Onda Máxima and Onda Nueva Instrumental by the Venezuelan pianist, composer, arranger Aldemaro Romero.
In April 1975 during the European tour with Mulligan and Piazzolla, he also played at the Olympia Theatre in Paris and at the World Music Festival in Palma, Majorca. The combo was composed by Tom Fay (piano), Sergio Farina (el. guitar), Giuseppe Pino Prestipino (el. bass), Tullio De Piscopo (drums). One set was for Gerry Mulligan, the second was dedicated to Astor Piazzolla and the last one was the reunion of Astor and Gerry and the songs of this last set were those that had been issued on the LP Summit-Reunion Cumbre.
In 1976 he created and produced for Atlantic Records the first dance-funk album in Italy: 1st Round with hit songs such as Smile, Funky Bump, L’estate di Laura, Sunny.
In 1977 he signed a contract with RAI2 as arranger, conductor and composer of original music for the noted TV show, Auditorio A, directed by Stefano De Stefani. On that occasion, he was the conductor of a big band composed of 56 musicians with star names like: Gino Paoli, Sergio Endrigo, Milva, Pino Daniele, Maynard Ferguson, Angelo Branduardi, Rino Gaetano, Fausto Leali, Giorgio Baiocco, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. Other top shows were : C’era 2 volte, directed by Enzo Trapani (1980) and Il cappello sulle ventitre directed by Fernanda Turvani (1983).
Besides composing music for TV series since the ‘80’s, Pino Presti has been creating and producing albums under various pseudonims for renowned labels such as: Polydor, Baby Records, Barclay, Edizioni Curci, Durium, Dischi Ricordi, Joker, as well as independent ones: Emergency Records, Soul Xpression, Level One, Self.
He has been living in France since 2004 and in 2009 created and produced the album, A la Costa Sud – La Musique de la Cote d’Azur (Edizioni Curci) with 28 vocalists and or instrumentalists who are from various continents and nations but who regularly perform in theaters and clubs in the French Riviera.
In 2011, he composed a five hours soundtrack comprising music of different genres for Grand Heritage Hotel Group (and for its related media). These genres range from classic jazz, to nu jazz, bossanova, world music, and ambient music.
Discography (selected)
Albums
Singles
As performer, arranger, conductor on other artists' albums
As performer
As performer, arranger, conductor on other artists' singles
As performer
References
Bibliography
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Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pino_Presti
