Mauro Aimetti - Official Site

MAURO AIMETTI

From the beginning…17 years ago, I was a singer-guitarist with ups and downs with respect to the instrument in question…one summer evening in 1983 I entered a Jazz club (a club I had performed in a short time before) and, arriving at the entrance to the club that overlooked a splendid open-air terrace, I was attracted and hypnotised by incredible sounds that were vaguely similar to the chords produced by a keyboard. My surprise changed into fulguration for that splendid instrument: THE ELECTRIC BASS. Those hypnotic sounds were chords made by "multiple" harmonics on the Bass…! It was this that made me fall in love with the Bass.

That splendid Bass player (Massimo Spinosa) became my first teacher. In those times he was considered the Pastorius of Milan. It was thanks to him that I immediately began to listen to the right music and THE Bass player that, to this day is my mentor and inspirer on the Fretless Bass is the great and only JACO PASTORIUS ! He always sings in my heart…!

Yes, because it is important to know how to sing the musical phrases in order to improvise, to break loose etc. Once speaking in Boston with PAT METHENY, after his incredible concert with GARY BURTON REUNION, Pat told me that he already knows in his head what he will play in the next 15 choruses of the song!

Regarding the importance of knowing how to "sing" I would like to remember another extraordinary musician that I had the good fortune to meet during my stay in the USA: the mythical drummer BOB MOSES (many remember him in the Power-trio with P. METHENY & J. PASTORIUS in "Bright Size Life").

I phoned him so I could go and study with him and play together. Not finding him in I left a message on his answering machine and after a few days he phoned me back. "Hi Mauro! Bob here". I was so surprised to hear from him. It's not every day that a great drummer like Bob Moses phones you! He came to fetch me at the bus stop with his van and he was dressed in "Woodstock" style clothes! He's an incredible character. He told me: "Before hearing you play the bass I want to hear you sing a melody. He held the rhythm with his voice in and I tried to improvise singing rhythmically…

REMEMBER JACO …Bob told me some unknown anecdotes about JACO…for example that he had never seen him with a guitar case Wherever JACO went, (in the plane, the bus etc.) his Jazz Fender always went with him. He always had to "practice". Then once, on tour, Bob was in the reception of the hotel and Jaco entered drunk holding his bass balanced on his finger tips and looking at Bob he said: "Hey man look at me, I got it ! Check this out !"

That was Jaco: a genius and intemperance.

Another thing that Jaco always said and that I agree with is : "WOMEN AND RHYTHM'N SECTION FIRST !"Two fundamental things of prime importance in the life of a bass player:

ADVICE TO NOVICE BASS PLAYERS LOOKING FOR DRUMMERS…

Speaking with JOHN PATITUCCI, the first thing he told me was: "When you form a Band, the choice of drummer is fundamental: HE MUST BE A FRIEND. If he isn't, don't play together! What music can be played by two people who don't know each other!?! JIMMY EARL told me the same thing: he had sometimes played with drummers who had a big ego so his attempts to "interplay" went up into smoke because the only thing these drummers were interested in was showing just how good they were and they ignored the fact that TWO people were playing and not only one.

…REMEMBER GIULIO CAPIOZZO…Another important meeting was with G: Capiozzo (an extraordinary musician and drummer, co-founder with the great Demetrio Stratos of the fabulous AREA). I remember that I had just returned from BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC in Boston-USA, and at SIM-HI-FI in '90/91 in Milan I met Giulio. I will never forget his big, dark eyes that had seen everything in the musical and the human world: He told me: "…you should have stayed in New York, it's sad here…"! and "Man, you are playing with me now, when you find a gig, you mustn't be paid less to pay for me, you must earn the same money, you're a good bass player who really knows his instrument…"! Wherever you are Giulio, thanks for your music…

Once, Ellade Bandini told me: "…I like G. Capiozzo a lot, he's a drummer who people often talk about. However, few people have understood that you need to be very, very, good to play with him. That's why Jimmy Owens and other Americans always call Capiozzo…"

As the great Demetrio once said: "Gods leave us and the mad remain…"!

Another fundamental meeting was with two other ex-musicians of PFM: Walter Calloni & Bernardo Lanzetti.

I had a band called "MEMPHIS HEARTS". R'nR and pure funk (at the moment the project is on hold) and I managed to involve Walter and Bernardo. With Walter there was a lot of rhythmic energy and power (even without using a microphone he has a volume all his own!). I consider Bernardo a great singer and uncontainable Front-man as well as being a real gentleman, a detail not to be underestimated nowadays!

…LIVING THE MAN: STEVE WASHINGTON…

Without doubt, I had the most significant and important meeting of my musical career in this new millennium. Last summer I went to London with my family for a few days holiday and it was there that I met a great English percussionist Pete of The Cornershop. I understood at once that in Britain the mentality is the same as I had experienced in my six months in the States, that is, it doesn't matter if you are Italian, Pakistan, Senegalese…what counts is that know your job and that you want to communicate something.

I left a few copies of my Promo CD and returned home. After only 15 days I received a call on my mobile: it was Steve Washington! The strange thing is that I didn't have his address (life is strange!). He had received my CV from someone elso. He told me he was interested in doing some drum workshops with me and said: "..Would be nice if you could come to play with me as well !" I experienced the same shiver ten years ago when Bob Moses called me in Boston. I wouldn't like to repeat myself but it's not every day that one of the greatest English drummers calls you!

I am also a big fan of Nik Kershaw (I had a fulguration seeing his performance on TV at LIVE AID in 1985) I learned about Steve listening to the latest masterpiece by Nik: 15 Minutes. Steve has been Nik's official drummer since 1998.

So, that's how things went and a deep friendship and reciprocal respect between Steve and I was created. Our one-week mini-tour that has just ended was an incredible experience that re-paid all the sacrifices of my life dedicated to music. Steve is Jamaican and he communicates in every moment his passionate love for the music with the enthusiasm and the energy of a child.

On the final evening at the SCIMMIE in Milan Steve went to the microphone after a couple of songs said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm very happy to be playing here and this is Mauro Aimetti, a great musician, he is the reason why I am here now, my new friend and brother in music…Enjoy the concert!" I replied saying: "Who knows why the greatest are also the most humble and this is the most important thing in life for me."

Then during the interval Steve told me: " Man, when you play fretless, every note is on, you have a good vibe, the same Jaco shit, when you play Fretless Bass you Mother fucker !.."

At that point I told him: Stop Steve. Another compliment and my heart won't stand so much emotion"!

This was a great lesson of life and of music, a satisfaction that no one can ever take away from me. It was simply fucking brilliant, lay down the badest Grooves with my new Brother in music, he is The Man: Steve Washington. Check it out !

Mauro Aimetti.

March 2001

	From the beginning…17 years ago, I was a singer-guitarist with ups and downs with respect to the instrument in question…one summer evening in 1983 I entered a Jazz club (a club I had performed in a short time before) and, arriving at the entrance to the club that overlooked a splendid open-air terrace, I was attracted and hypnotised by incredible sounds that were vaguely similar to the chords produced by a keyboard. My surprise changed into fulguration for that splendid instrument: THE ELECTRIC BASS. Those hypnotic sounds were chords made by "multiple" harmonics on the Bass…! It was this that made me fall in love with the Bass.
		That splendid Bass player (Massimo Spinosa) became my first teacher. In those times he was considered the Pastorius of Milan. It was thanks to him that I immediately began to listen to the right music and THE Bass player that, to this day is my mentor and inspirer on the Fretless Bass is the great and only JACO PASTORIUS ! He always sings in my heart…! Yes, because it is important to know how to sing the musical phrases in order to improvise, to break loose etc. Once speaking in Boston with PAT METHENY, after his incredible concert with GARY BURTON REUNION, Pat told me that he already knows in his head what he will play in the next 15 choruses of the song!

	Regarding the importance of knowing how to "sing" I would like to remember another extraordinary musician that I had the good fortune to meet during my stay in the USA: the mythical drummer BOB MOSES (many remember him in the Power-trio with P. METHENY & J. PASTORIUS in "Bright Size Life"). I phoned him so I could go and study with him and play together. Not finding him in I left a message on his answering machine and after a few days he phoned me back. "Hi Mauro! Bob here". I was so surprised to hear from him. It's not every day that a great drummer like Bob Moses phones you! He came to fetch me at the bus stop with his van and he was dressed in "Woodstock" style clothes! He's an incredible character. He told me: "Before hearing you play the bass I want to hear you sing a melody. He held the rhythm with his voice in and I tried to improvise singing rhythmically…
	REMEMBER JACO …Bob told me some unknown anecdotes about JACO…for example that he had never seen him with a guitar case Wherever JACO went, (in the plane, the bus etc.) his Jazz Fender always went with him. He always had to "practice". Then once, on tour, Bob was in the reception of the hotel and Jaco entered drunk holding his bass balanced on his finger tips and looking at Bob he said: "Hey man look at me, I got it ! Check this out !" That was Jaco: a genius and intemperance. Another thing that Jaco always said and that I agree with is : "WOMEN AND RHYTHM'N SECTION FIRST !"Two fundamental things of prime importance in the life of a bass player:

		ADVICE TO NOVICE BASS PLAYERS LOOKING FOR DRUMMERS… Speaking with JOHN PATITUCCI, the first thing he told me was: "When you form a Band, the choice of drummer is fundamental: HE MUST BE A FRIEND. If he isn't, don't play together! What music can be played by two people who don't know each other!?! JIMMY EARL told me the same thing: he had sometimes played with drummers who had a big ego so his attempts to "interplay" went up into smoke because the only thing these drummers were interested in was showing just how good they were and they ignored the fact that TWO people were playing and not only one.
	…REMEMBER GIULIO CAPIOZZO…Another important meeting was with G: Capiozzo (an extraordinary musician and drummer, co-founder with the great Demetrio Stratos of the fabulous AREA). I remember that I had just returned from BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC in Boston-USA, and at SIM-HI-FI in '90/91 in Milan I met Giulio. I will never forget his big, dark eyes that had seen everything in the musical and the human world: He told me: "…you should have stayed in New York, it's sad here…"! and "Man, you are playing with me now, when you find a gig, you mustn't be paid less to pay for me, you must earn the same money, you're a good bass player who really knows his instrument…"! Wherever you are Giulio, thanks for your music…
		Once, Ellade Bandini told me: "…I like G. Capiozzo a lot, he's a drummer who people often talk about. However, few people have understood that you need to be very, very, good to play with him. That's why Jimmy Owens and other Americans always call Capiozzo…" As the great Demetrio once said: "Gods leave us and the mad remain…"!
	Another fundamental meeting was with two other ex-musicians of PFM: Walter Calloni & Bernardo Lanzetti. I had a band called "MEMPHIS HEARTS". R'nR and pure funk (at the moment the project is on hold) and I managed to involve Walter and Bernardo. With Walter there was a lot of rhythmic energy and power (even without using a microphone he has a volume all his own!). I consider Bernardo a great singer and uncontainable Front-man as well as being a real gentleman, a detail not to be underestimated nowadays!
	…LIVING THE MAN: STEVE WASHINGTON… Without doubt, I had the most significant and important meeting of my musical career in this new millennium. Last summer I went to London with my family for a few days holiday and it was there that I met a great English percussionist Pete of The Cornershop. I understood at once that in Britain the mentality is the same as I had experienced in my six months in the States, that is, it doesn't matter if you are Italian, Pakistan, Senegalese…what counts is that know your job and that you want to communicate something. I left a few copies of my Promo CD and returned home. After only 15 days I received a call on my mobile: it was Steve Washington! The strange thing is that I didn't have his address (life is strange!). He had received my CV from someone elso. He told me he was interested in doing some drum workshops with me and said: "..Would be nice if you could come to play with me as well !" I experienced the same shiver ten years ago when Bob Moses called me in Boston. I wouldn't like to repeat myself but it's not every day that one of the greatest English drummers calls you!
		I am also a big fan of Nik Kershaw (I had a fulguration seeing his performance on TV at LIVE AID in 1985) I learned about Steve listening to the latest masterpiece by Nik: 15 Minutes. Steve has been Nik's official drummer since 1998.
	So, that's how things went and a deep friendship and reciprocal respect between Steve and I was created. Our one-week mini-tour that has just ended was an incredible experience that re-paid all the sacrifices of my life dedicated to music. Steve is Jamaican and he communicates in every moment his passionate love for the music with the enthusiasm and the energy of a child. On the final evening at the SCIMMIE in Milan Steve went to the microphone after a couple of songs said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm very happy to be playing here and this is Mauro Aimetti, a great musician, he is the reason why I am here now, my new friend and brother in music…Enjoy the concert!" I replied saying: "Who knows why the greatest are also the most humble and this is the most important thing in life for me." Then during the interval Steve told me: " Man, when you play fretless, every note is on, you have a good vibe, the same Jaco shit, when you play Fretless Bass you Mother fucker !.." At that point I told him: Stop Steve. Another compliment and my heart won't stand so much emotion"! This was a great lesson of life and of music, a satisfaction that no one can ever take away from me. It was simply fucking brilliant, lay down the badest Grooves with my new Brother in music, he is The Man: Steve Washington. Check it out ! Mauro Aimetti. March 2001