My first encounter with a guitar happened during summer camp, when I was eight years old. My house has always been filled with music, thanks to my mother playing piano (which she studied as a youth) every day and my father with his passion for classical music. Also, my uncle ran a juke-box rental business and since the ‘70s literally showered me with records coming from the weekly turnover. I started taking guitar lessons at fifteen, until as a conscript I met a jazz teacher: that encounter opened up new horizons for me, and started a real passion for the in-depth study of the instrument and music in general. The following decade was crucial for my musical development.
In the ‘90s, alongside jazz guitar, I studied modern arrangement for big bands and horn sections with Giovanni Tommaso, pushing the envelope even further with 12-tone harmony under the guide of Arline Zollermann.
That was the time of my first experiences in a recording studio, an environment that I’m still very fond of because of its endless creative opportunities: years later, as an artistic producer, I started Taiko Recording Studio and MS Records, an independent record label.
Together with a close-knit team of musician friends I formed Associazione Culturale Music Secrets, which over time evolved in a full fledged musical centre: music school, event planning, music and video recording studio, management and press office. For many a year I’ve been part of the Milan music scene playing instrumental jazz only. At the start of the new millenium I began playing in various bands with female vocalists, until I met the talented Simona Grasso: ever since then we’ve been playing together, with a repertoire of jazz, swing, gypsy, latin and basically whatever’s on our mind.
2012 saw the release of our third album “Sacro & Profano” (which spawned a coast-to-coast italian tour) and the simultaneous publishing of the book “La Chitarra Jazz - Suoni e Colori”, written together with luthier Erich Perrotta.
The same year, after an educational article I penned for the magazine “Chitarre” and a video that quickly became an online hit, I started working as an author for the online magazine “Accordo.it”, publishing several technical articles.
In 2014 Carisch published my book “La Chitarra Jazz per Tutti”, which was so well received that a second volume is currently in the works. Meanwhile, I joined a cultural project fusing italian and portuguese music, taking me to Lisbon and spawning the idea of a record of revisited fado music with italian adaptions of the lyrics.
Being a producer almost comes second to being a musician, thanks to a very close team. I think the recording studio is the best counterpart to all the gigs traveling across the lenght and breadth of the country. Out of my passion for didactics and musical research I attend countless clinics and masterclasses, getting to know many different associations and schools.
That same passion gave me the idea for my latest book, “Melakartas - 72 Modi dell’India del Sud per Chitarra” (fingerpicking.net publishing).