Renato Carosone was a famous Italian singer. The first song that I heard was Tu Vuo’ Fa’ L’Americano – a typical boogie woogie song of the 50s. In this song Raf Montrasio played a fantastic American style mandolin solo on a typical Italian bowlback mandolin.
Renato Carosone (3 January 1920 – 20 May 2001) was among the greatest figures of Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called canzone napoletana, Naples’ song tradition. (Wikipedia)
Renato Carosone – Tu Vuo’ Fa’ L’Americano
Renato Carosone – Piccolissima Serenata
Recently I have watched some other videos with Renato Carosone, and I found this little Piccolissima Serenata which does also include a mandolin, this time it is a typical Italian mandolin melody.
Raf Montrasio does still play the mandolin, so here is a video recorded in 2009 during a guitar festival. Raf Montrasio plays a nice tune “La marcetta di papà” (Daddy’s little march), with an impressive glissando part. He is accompanied by Davide Facchini on the guitar.
Soave Guitar Festival 2009 – Raf Montrasio & Davide Facchini
Davide Facchini & Raf Montrasio
“La marcetta di papà” (Daddy’s little march)
Another video of the same tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G402SVtnAIU
Finally a typical jazz standard played by Raf Montrasio and Davide facchini:
How high the moon – Raf Montrasio & Davide Facchini
Additional Information
Official website Renato Carosone: http://www.renatocarosone.it/
Wikipedia about Renato Carosone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renato_Carosone
Duo Anita and Davide: www.anitadavideduo.com
Davide Facchini: www.myspace.com/davidefacchini
Myspace page of Raf Montrasio: www.myspace.com/rafmontrasio