Piero Umiliani Obituary
by John Bender
Italian composer Piero Umiliani passed away in February after a
long illness. John Bender provided the following for FSM but we were not
able to get it in time for our deadline. Here it is on the website for
interested enthusiasts:
Maestro Piero Umiliani was born in Florence, Italy, in 1926 and developed
an interest in music early in his childhood. At the age of 14, Piero purchased
a Duke Ellington relase called Hot Duke. This contraband record (American
music was forbidden under Mussolini) set the course of Umiliani's life.
Enraptured by the particular delights of jazz, Piero went on to study composition
with Vito Frazzi. He graduated from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of
Florence, having majored in counterpoint and fugue.
Relocating to Rome, he quickly achieved success as a pianist, conductor
and arranger. His score for the film I Soliti Ignoti (1958) attracted
much attention, and opened the door in Italy for jazz as a viable genre
in support of the cinematic narrative. During the late '50s and early '60s,
Piero incorporated trumpet performances of the legendary Chet Baker into
a number of his film assignments. Alongside his peers at the top of the
soundtrack composers' hierarchy -- Morricone, Nicolai, Trovaioli, Piccioni,
DeMasi, Pisano, Rustichelli and Lavagnino -- Umiliani wrote music for every
type of picture during the peak period of film production in Italy.
Thanks to the recent efforts of Rocco Paniani (Easy Tempo) many of Piero
Umiliani's best scores have been preserved and made available to a new
generation; titles such as White Angel...Black Angel, Sweden: Heaven
and Hell, The Woman With the Skin of the Moon and Gangster's Law
are prime examples of this man's potent legacy. Gangster's Law (La Egge
Dei Gangsters, 1969) is of particular importance as it is undoubtedly
one of the greatest works of post-war orchestral jazz, in or out of a film.
Gangster's Law is one of several films on which our own Ralph
Ferraro played drums under Umiliani's baton (Mr. Ferraro should be known
to FSM readers as a prominent session musician and an orchestrator on Close
Encounters of the Third Kind, A Man Called Horse and Gettysburg).
Ralph expressed to me his great regret upon learning of Piero's passing.
Ralph spent of a lot of time with the composer, including many live broadcasts
of jazz performances over the Radio All'Italiana. He shared that, despite
a powerful talent and much success, Umiliani never lost his sense of kindness
and gentle, fun-loving spirit.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
|
