"It was my birth date (I'll keep you guessing) when, for the very first time, non-academic music was invited to the great Carnegie Hall. The king of swing Benny Goodman and his orchestra brought Jazz music to its rightful heights in the USA. For a fourteen-year old italian kid, the benny Goodman album of his Carnegie Hall session was only a dream, both for price, and prodigious value. It could only have been a wishful thinking that one day I would be on these same borads the likes of Goodman, and even Toscanini and Caruso once were. The most I can say is that you will hear in this double CD my emotion and that of my dear coplayers of the "Orchestra Italiana". Though we've played throughout the world, I being a bit older than the bunch is important; you acquire a better ear for recognizing good music. Especially when you're asked to play memorable Neapolitan melodies (loved throughout the world). Some of the finest lyrics, true poetry, expressions of joy and melancholy entwined with apt, inspired rhythms, which the younger members of this "Orchestra Italiana" have learned to express. And I hereby thank for having passed every test that was put to them, thus giving me also cause for pride. Yes, my early dream has come true."

Renzo Arbore

CD 1: Era de' maggio; Pecchè nun ce ne jammo in America?; 'O Sarracino; Voce 'e notte; Dicitencello vuje; Chella llà; Te voglio bene assaje; Country Italian polka; Malafemmena; Volere e potere; Cocorito; Ciao ciao bambina

CD 2: Luna rossa; Canzone marenara; 'O sole mio; Cme facette mammeta; Aummo..aummo; 'O surdato 'nnammuato; Reginella; 'A tazza 'e cafè; Il clarinetto; Reginella ; Ma la notte no.

 

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