MICK PINI * WAY AHEAD *

 

Michele Giovanni Ferrari Pini (born 11 September 1949 in Leicester, Italy) is an Italian guitarist, singer and composer. He was discovered by producer Mike Vernon.

Life

Mick Pini is the son of Italian immigrants who emigrated to England in the 1940s. He was born and raised in England. He started playing guitar when he was nine years old. He formed his first band at the age of 15, played in various formations, many times with the band Baby at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where his name was immortalized in the masonry. He also had some appearances at the Marquee Club London.

His first LP, released in 1988, was Unamerican Activities. It was produced by Mike Vernon. Also featured on this LP are Mick Clarke, Chris Farlowe and Blues N'Trouble. His first own CD Mick Wildman Pini was also produced by Vernon and awarded five stars by the German music magazine Musikexpress. Guest musicians included Paul Jones, Adrian Burns, Chris Youlden and Les Morgan. Europe-wide tours followed, including the Blues Festival in Budapest in front of 20,000 spectators. In 1998, the Mick Pini band won the Talking Blues Award for the month of November.

In 1999, Vernon again produced a CD with Mick Blue's going to Be My Way. In 2000 Mick Pini met Jimmy Carl Black (member of the Zappa band The Mothers of Invention) and together they recorded the CD Hamburger Midnight, on bass Roy Estrada (F.Z., Little Feat, Captain Beafheart). Mick Pini and Jimmy Carl Black toured together in the Route66 Allstars Band. In 2003, Blues Survivor was released, on which all songs were written by Mick Pini.

Mick Pini has lived in Germany since 1997 with his wife Claudia and stepdaughters Daniela and Yvonne. He is a close friend and an inspiration to Scottish songwriter Simon Kempston.

Fuente : Wikipedia 

'Way Ahead es una mezcla innovadora de blues del siglo XXI forjada por Mick Pini, el guitarrista de blues británico radicado en Alemania y productor contemporáneo Craig Marshall (también conocido como Audio54)

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‘Way Ahead is a groundbreaking blend of 21st century blues forged by Mick Pini, the German based British blues guitarist and contemporary producer Craig Marshall (aka Audio54)

As Craig Marshall (aka Audio 54) explains: “It’s a chronicle of what we have been doing for the last 3 years or so.”

Both Mick and Craig originally hail from Leicester and it was a relationship that clicked from the start, when Craig phoned Mick and asked him to put a guitar part down on the original version of ‘Papa Voodoo’ (re-recorded here)

Mick explains: “I hadn’t played a show in 2 years because of covid, so I was busy working in my studio. Craig suggested a new way to work within the blues framework which basically took me out of my comfort zone, and I thought why try something new?”

Craig adds: “It seemed that our respective talents complimented each other. Mick’s unrelenting ‘organic’ approach was in line with my own belief in the 'magic of the moment’.

My use of digital recording technology - new sounds and loops - was enhanced by Mick’s musical spontaneity.”

As Mick explains: “Sometimes Craig would come with an interesting idea and I would ask him to leave enough space to for a guitar part,  or perhaps some wah-wah depending on the feel of the song.”

Craig: “When we gelled and it became clear to me that my job as producer, writer, collaborator and musician was to enhance Mick’s unique flair and talent as a blues performer. Mick is a true blues artist, not just in his music, but in the way he lives his life and how he relates to his fellow human beings. He’s a true artist.”

‘Way Ahead 'is released in the slipstream of the well received ‘Backtrack’ compilation and two recently released EP’s ‘Pastoral’ and ‘Are you Blind’.

Mick’s track notes:

“Craig provided the framework for the album and I saw it as my job to find a groove, and give it some feel.”

1) Head North – This is Craig’s Bootsy Collins number, and it’s got some nice bass on it and all the elements that Craig brings to a session. I just laid the guitar on to it.

2) Last Night - was sparked by Pete Feenstra’s lyrics which really spoke to me.

3) Light Don’t Shine – this was very much a Craig number, he asked me for a kind of vocal rap, and I thought the high-end harp and spacey guitar would fit the atmospherics and horns.

4) Make Me Believe -I really liked it when I heard it, and just tried to do something different with my guitar tone. I was thinking of a crossover between a Deodato groove with Van Morrison’s former guitarist John Platania.

5) Moving On – My idea was to emulate RL Burnside with a steady one chord rhythm and the 'leaving town' theme.

I transposed the idea to a train-time thing, with a vocal people have told me sounds a bit like Beefheart.  Craig’s atmospheric production really nails the vibe of the piece.

6) New Blues – Again we were looking for something funky and I thought of using the Audio 54 beats within a sort of Crusaders kind of set up.

7) Nowadays – Craig asked for funky guitar on it.  I love the energy of this track, the way it builds up, and the horn break of course.

8) Papa Voodoo – this is a reworking of the track that stated our collaboration. It was a step into the unknown for me at the time, but now its second nature.

9) Problems - I aimed for a percussive feel to underpin the piece and was thinking of Jerry Garcia with John Khan and some Merle Saunders style keyboards.

10) Shadows – Craig already had the piece which needed a noirish vocal; I also added few Peter Green inflections to bring variety.

11) Time After Time – Craig did the music and I came up with the words and then used a Telecaster for the guitar part. There’s an interesting vocal styling near the end of that track.

12) Trouble – The title lent itself to the vibe of the song, the feeling out on the street. It’s got an intensity which led me to shout “fire” just before the solo”. That’s how it felt.