History only exists if historians exist.  Of all that occurred before the appearance of the written word we know almost nothing. It is as though all that was interesting, or perhaps heroic, or even wretched, that which occurred for thousands and thousands of years had never happened at all.  All vanished.

Adriano Mazzoletti has this great merit: not only was he one of the men who provided some of the greatest contributions to the spread of jazz and its culture in Italy, but he is also its historical memory.  It is sufficient to simply scroll through his countless works to realize the enormous amount of research and study completed in the last half century, in particular with respect to the history of jazz in Italy. All those who in various ways were protagonists of this journey owe him a debt of gratitude, because through his work the memory of what they accomplished will not be lost.

In addition to making use of his excellent recollections of his encounters, Adriano has researched with infinite patience past news coverage, reviews, record label catalogues, personal reminiscences of  the  leading figures and many other sources and taken all these elements and to create a mosaic.

In this work he has chosen to honor his hometown of Genoa, by telling the story of Genoese jazz musicians, showing their connection  to various other groups in Italy, in particular in the post World War Two period, when jazz began to spread in a semi-clandestine manner.

To begin his story Adriano has metamorphosized into an archeologist searching for the “remains” of Genoese jazz all the way back to the mid 1800s in the United States, where Antonio Ghio, an entrepreneur originally from Genoa, who had immigrated to the United States, built and managed  in Texarkana, a theater in which a black ragtime piano player named Scott Joplin, performed  his “pre” or “proto” jazz music.

Among the many jewels contained in these pages it is curious to discover how in the past many jazz musicians of Italian origin in the United States preferred to camouflage themselves and change their names: the case of Eddie Lang (Salvatore Massaro) is well known, less well known is the case of  Jimmy Lytell (Giacomo Serrapiede), or that of Arthur Schutt (Arturo Sciortino.)

Adriano Mazzoletti divided this new research with Egidio Colombo, Guido Festinese and Giorgio Lomabrdi, who authored chapters 5 and 6, which focus on more recent Genoese jazz.  We can also see how many names cross the decades from one chapter to the next.  For example the names of two Genoese piano players, that I personally greatly admire, Dado Moroni and Andrea Pozza: we see them from their first reviews, from when they were simply promising young students, through to news reports of leading musicians of modern jazz.

Another interesting aspect of this book is that jazz is truly a big family, where everyone, sooner or later, meets and plays together, gets to know one another and then continues on with their careers.  Nothing similar exists in other professions: a book like this one would be unimaginable if it weren’t about jazz musicians, but about attorneys, accountants, engineers, chemists, surveyors or bookkeepers.  This also explains the uniqueness of jazz, a music that joins individuals through a special bond, similar perhaps only to that which binds high school classmates or veterans. 

Looking back at jazz’s past we can observe a few things that were also typical of the time.  First is the presence, of many Dixieland or New Orleans jazz bands, which today have all but disappeared from jazz concerts.

The other interesting point is the mix, very frequent in the line-ups, of professionals and talented amateurs.  This was due to the fact that playing jazz at that time could not constitute a profession: practically no one in Italy could survive playing only jazz.  Thus, even professionals in a certain sense were “amateurs”, as they played for their enjoyment, outside of their work in the popular music of the day or dance hall orchestras.  I remember that in Turin jam sessions were in basements, in the rare theater (on Sunday mornings), or, more commonly, in rooms made available by a charitable institution, the “soup kitchen for the poor and ill”, where many of the musicians (professionals and amateurs) cited in this work played.

With respect to this mix between professionals and amateurs, I would like to contribute a small personal anecdote to Adriano’s collection of Ligurian jazz memories   In 1946 I was 17 years old, and was about to begin my penultimate year of high school (liceo classico).  At that time I often played with Mario Maschio, a 16 year old drummer from Turin, whose father had a musical instruments shop (Mario later married the singer, Torina Torrielli, who was a winner of the Festival of San Remo).  His father secured us a job playing at a place in Pietra Ligure, for the summer called Flora, which was right by the sea.  The band had a simple formation: I played the piano, Mario Maschio played the drums and a professional, Alfredo Cassetta, played tenor sax (as well as the clarinet and the violin, as was the custom back then.  In addition to this was to a bass player.  One day we went to the Kursaal in Finale Ligure to hear a Genoese band play, of which I only remember the drummer’s name, who is cited several times in this book, Franco Garassini.  We all got to know each other and we invited that group to come and play a Pietra Ligure for a jam session.  It was a delightful afternoon and we remained in touch with Garassini.

A small  story, but it came to mind as I read the numerous Genoese stories of this band.

However, there is another part of the book which also brought to mind wonderful memory: this is the section about Louis Armstrong and his All Stars concert in Nice in February 1948.  I could not have missed that event!  The problem was that at that time it was not easy to travel from Italy to France, not only was a visa needed, but a documented reason as well.

So I went for help from Professor Quaranta at the Turin Conservatory, who kindly provided me with a declaration which said: “the student Piero Angela, for reasons of study, must go to Nice, for a short period of 3 days”. I received the visa, but most importantly, I gained entry, like a dream come true, to this incredible world of “greats”, that I had only ever been able to listen to on records.  In addition to Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Jack Teagarden, Barney Bigard, Sidney Catlett, Milton “Mezz” Mezirov, I heard Baby Dodds and Sidney Bechet, etc.,.  All live and in person, close up, inside and outside of the theater! For those three days I existed on dates and bananas….

In conclusion, I think that this book will bring back many memories for those who experienced that “heroic” time, which was made up of enthusiasm, little money and lots of passion.  But it also bears witness to something more: and that is that the history of Jazz was not only created by jazz musicians, but includes those that inspired, promoted, organized, spread and made it possible for this music to thrive through concerts, records, radio and televisions broadcasts, tours, magazines, books, festivals, courses, and also through the thick network of hotclubs strewn through the peninsula, [which persevered] despite difficult conditions, precarious locales, and without financial backing.

And all this behind the scenes work, permitted the spread of this extraordinary music, providing support to the musicians, and ultimately making Jazz the reality that it is in Italy today.

Thank you for this as well!

Piero Angela