Based
in the San Francisco Bay area of Northern California, Italian guitarist
Corrado Rustici is making waves with his solo album Aham,
released in mid 2016. Taking the electric guitar in a bold and
exciting direction, on Aham Corrado blends a range of instrumental
guitar stylesfrom
spatial New Age and atmospheric jazz to a more rock-centric instrumental
sound that will appeal to fans of guitar fusion and cutting edge,
cerebral rock metal guitar players. Featuring nine tracks, including
the CD-closing Aham Suite, the mostly instrumental album
also includes a pair of vocal tracks featuring Corrado and singer
Andrew Strong. Speaking to mwe3.com about Aham, Corrado
says, My last album, Deconstruction Of A Postmodern Musician
was released ten years ago. Around six years ago I started working
on Aham. I really wanted to explore new sounds and voices
that the guitar could produce. A native of Naples Italy, Corrado
was a member of the late 1970s Italian jazz-rock fusion band Nova,
who worked with Narada Michael Walden, while recording a trio of album
releases for Arista Records in the late 70s. His guitar sound
might have tempered a bit since the intense, heady, jazz-rock fusion
of the
Nova Vimana days but theres still plenty of scintillating
tracks on Aham to welcome back Corrado Rusticis inventive,
instrumental guitar sound. www.corradorustici.com
mwe3.com presents an interview with
CORRADO RUSTICI
mwe3: Aham is a musical masterpiece that blends rock and
jazz. Is there a good story about how the album came together and
does Aham signal the start of a new recording revival in your
career? How long has it been since your last album release and where
does Aham find you in your solo career?
Corrado
Rustici: Since Im not bound by market-pressures, I tend
to release albums, when I feel I have something musically relevant
to offer. My last album Deconstruction Of A Postmodern Musician
was released ten years ago. Around six years ago I started working
on Aham. I really wanted to explore new sounds and voices
that the guitar could produce. I wanted to wake up from the trance
that we guitar players seem to be in, since the revolutionary days
of the 1960s, when a few great innovators, on the strength of
new technology, gave the guitar a new voice and role in music.
It took me six years to create Aham, because
especially,
in the beginning, I had no points of reference and no model on which
I could base my research on how to make the guitar sound like drums,
or violin, or horns, without the use of midi, synths, samplers or
electronic instruments. Needless to say, it was challenging at first
but after my initial struggles, the instrument started to reveal some
of its secrets to me, which inspired me to keep going.
mwe3: Do you sometimes look back on the amazing late 1970s
jazz-rock period fusion of instrumental and vocal music? The Italian
progressive music scene seemed to be exploding with creativity durng
the second half of the 1970s. Do you feel your music comes out of
that era and how does that historical edge reflect on Aham?
Corrado Rustici: Im very grateful to have grown up
in that musical era and to have been exposed to some incredibly deep
musical languages. I dont feel nostalgic about it. I carry those
musical memes within me and, fortunately for me, they are part of
my cultural baggage. There is one song on the album, titled Roots
Of Progression, which is my way to acknowledge and pay tribute
to the music from that period that inspired me.
mwe3: You moved to San Francisco in 1978. Do you live there
full time?
Do you base your career in and around San Francisco and how do you
like it there compared to Italy? What do you like best about San Francisco?
There are so many great musicians around there so it must be really
an interesting place to live. Are you also a US citizen yet and how
often do you visit Italy, your cultural homeland?
Corrado Rustici: Ive been living full time in San Francisco,
since 1978. I really love the Bay Area. It seems like its one
of those places that are magnets to innovation and creativity. I think
that there is a reason why Silicon Valley and the new digital community
was born here. I do travel to Italy and Europe quite often. I love
Italy, also. I am an American and an Italian citizen, but I feel like
more of a world citizen than anything else.
mwe3: On your Facebook page you mention influences from Nisargadatta
and Ramana. Can you tell us more about those influences? Do you blend
your spiritual side into the music on Aham? Seemed like the
late 1970s was a much more spiritual and hopeful time.
Corrado Rustici: Since I was very young, Ive been interested
in finding out who and what I really was and where I came from. This
interest has led me, throughout the years, on a quest that uncovered
many false truths and concepts that contributed to my human sufferings.
Many years ago, I discovered Ramana Maharshi and, subsequently, Nisargadatta,
who, through their writings and lives, totally destroyed the last
remnants of conceptualized beliefs which I still held so dear and
which still caused endless misery in my human experience. I dont
think that hope belonged only the 1970s. I find beauty, hope
and peace in the ever-creating truth of this timeless now.
mwe3: I thought Nova was a Clive Davis era signing on Arista
or one of their labels. Was Clive a fan of Nova? The whole music scene
was so different back then. There was Arista and Ariola and then Narada
knew Clive as well? How did you meet Narada Michael Walden and what
was it like recording the Nova album with him as producer? Do you
still keep touch with Narada?
Corrado
Rustici: I dont know if Clive Davis was a fan of Nova, but
I think that he liked us enough to sign us to Arista. I met Narada
in London in 1975. I was in George Martins Air Studios, mixing
the first Nova album, Blink, in one of the studios and Narada
was recording Wired with Jeff Beck in another studio. He heard
our music, walked into the control room and introduced himself. Thats
when our friendship and working relationship started. He played on
Novas Vimana and produced Wings Of Love. I do
still stay in touch with him. I consider him a great friend and the
person who gave, this young inexperienced Italian guitar player the
opportunity, in the beginning, to learn, grow and evolve as a person
and as a musician.
mwe3: As a producer / studio technician, what albums did you
work with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck on? Whats your favorite
role to play as a producer or session musician and does it ultimately
help if the producer can play an instrument or two?
Corrado Rustici: I worked with Clapton and Beck on two albums
that I produced for the Italian star Zucchero. Coming from the George
Martin school of thought, I am absolutely convinced that you must
have some musical knowledge to produce. Its music, after all,
and a producer must have the skills necessary to solve the various
musical problems that arise when putting together an album.
mwe3: Americans dont know too much about Italian singers
and songwriters. Who are some of your favorite Italian singers and
songwriters and what do you think about the Italian music scene these
days?
Corrado Rustici: Ive been fortunate to work and produce,
for the past 30 years, with most of the big names in Italy. Im
proud of the work and of quality of music that we put together. Fortunately,
or unfortunately, besides the projects in which Im directly
involved, I dont follow the Italian popular music scene so Im
not a good judge of how good or bad it is.
mwe3: Are even the tambourine sounds on Ahams
track 2 Anandas First Steps also played on guitar?
What guitars are your favorites and tell us about the new pedals and
plug-ins you are designing. That tambourine percussion effect is truly
amazing. The guitars on your web site are quite impressive. Did you
use them all during the making of Aham? Do you consider yourself
to be a gear head of sorts?
Corrado Rustici: Yes, everything you hear, except for the vocal
tracks on The Guilty Thread and Alcove Of Stars
and my handclaps on The Last Light Spoken was produced
by me playing either acoustic or electric guitars, treated with some
analog pedals and a couple of digital plug-ins. No, I dont consider
my self a gear head. (Lol) On the album I used the following guitars:
Godin Passion Custom
Gibson Les Paul HDX
HB Fretless
Peavey Corrado
Godin MultiAC
Martin D28
mwe3: On Aham, it sounds like youve tempered your
European sound with San Francisco sounds for a remarkable new vision.
Corrado Rustici: Living here has obviously had an influence
on me
but so has everywhere else Ive been fortunate to
visit and experience in my life.
mwe3: You must be getting asked about the meaning of the 2
part title track Aham. The Inquiry sounds almost
funereal and its very minor key sounding and things dont
lighten up much for the part 2 title track. Its a sobering finale
indeed. Did you want to close the CD out with a somber, sonic sound?
Corrado Rustici: Interesting that you find the title track
somber
I find it passionate! (lol)
mwe3: As Dark Bleeds Night is a great way to start
off Aham. Is that your favorite approach to find a uniquely
crafted melody and combine with some amazing riffing?
Corrado Rustici: I really dont have a favorite
I just tried to be true to my emotional states during the making of
the album.
mwe3:
Tell us about your earlier solo album releases. Why didnt they
get more exposure and I was amazed that all the Nova albums in need
of reissue. Your Deconstruction album is selling for big money
on US Amazon.
Corrado Rustici: I never had major distribution outside of
Italy, so my other two albums, just like Nova and my first band Cervello,
have become some kind of niche musical products. (Lol)
mwe3: You have the ability to shred but you also like to temper
the riffing with some clear melodic destinations that comes from a
long time knowledge of music history. Its amazing how well you
combine the two on Aham. Are compositional skills more important
than technical skills in your estimation?
Corrado Rustici: Yes. To me, the creation of a musical
contest is paramount, because without it, its just notes. I
was definitely not interested in making another shredder album
I think that, in the end, historically, what remains is the music
and not the ability, as flashy as that can seem at the time, to play
as fast as possible. Technique is only a means to acquire a vocabulary
with which one can better express emotional memes and not to show
the many years devoted to practicing on an instrument.
mwe3: Tell us about your amazing web site, it works great on
my MacBookPro. I couldnt believe you have every track on line
for free and it looks and sounds incredible.
Corrado Rustici: My website, is a way for me to invite people
to explore information about my human doings, using their imagination
and sense of curiosity. I really dont like being told how to
behave, when navigating a, supposedly, artistic web site.
mwe3:
Instrumentally, you are among the best and you also are a noted singer
as well. Do you like vocal music as much as instrumental?
Corrado Rustici: Thank you for your words. I truly dont
consider myself among the best as a guitarist, let alone as a singer.
I do love music in all its forms and I also very much enjoy some good
pop music.
mwe3: What sort of project would you like to take on next and
what other things are keeping you busy these days? Is 2016 a kind
of transition year for you and the world in fact?
Corrado Rustici: For months to come, I will be involved in
promoting Aham. I will be touring in Italy in December to support
the album. Im also finishing an album with guitarist Peppino
DAgostino, which we hope will see the light of day in 2017.
Im producing an Italian singer songwriter and, as a by-product
of my R&D for Aham, Im also developing a few guitar
pedals and a guitar amp with the company DV Mark, which we hope will
be ready in 2017. We are always transitioning into a new Now
as only in this now is our future happening!