FUNKY TUNES MAESTRO
What a family! This could be the title of a movie about the Casa people in Rome.
Daniela Casa - the very famous and talented producer from Rome - was married with the great Remigio Ducros, whose records are equally good and pretty impossible to find. I’ve recently found out that, if that wasn’t enough of a power couple, Daniela Casa had a very talented cousin (sic) named PAOLO CASA. The gentleman wrote INSANE cosmic funk tunes, such as this banger called ‘SLAP IT”. Hence the post, with a few links to his best tunes.
Mr. Casa was an outstanding Library Music Producer, so much that he wrote awesome tracks and few of the finest records of those years. Let’s see them briefly together.
The first one is called AMERICA GIOVANE (Young America) and was published in 1977 by OTTER RECORDS and it sounds like a very cool funk library album with US Funk influences and poliziottesco kinda vibes. Impossible to find, this record can cost up to £ 2000. WAY too much for me. Shout out to the jazz-rock tune HI-VI, groovy bass and piano.
The following record was NATURE, again from 1977 and sees Remigio Ducros at the Piano Fender, as long as Gianni Dall’Aglio at the drum. Dall’Aglio wrote many records (but I have to say that my favourite is this 1972 Prog-Rock Trip called “Ogni Sera Così”) but mostly, he was famous for being the drummer of many important acts in the 70s, such as Adriano Celentano, Lucio Battisti, Patti Pravo and Angelo Branduardi. There is a lot of Prog music in this record: rhythms are complex, the band is plenty of members, lots of flutes (quintessential prog instrument). Solid record.
In 1980 Casa released a beautifully inspired record called ORIGINI with sitars, bongos and psychedelic vibes: the title track embodies perfectly the spirit of the record. 70s India and Italian Library are perfectly mixed together - this potentially could be my long time favourite match. although these two genres sound so far from each other.
The masterpiece of Casa, though, was written and released in 1981, under the name of SOUL TRACKS. A surprisingly top-notch collection of Jazz-Funk tunes. You can’t call yourself an Italian Library Music connoisseur if you have not listened to it at least once.
File Under: In 2016, SPETTRO re-pressed the 1976 brilliant record CLOUDS by Pasquale Castiglione featuring Daniele Casa. Another banger release.
