Italia Till Brönner

• 1 Estate 05:30
• 2 Viva La Felicità 03:23
• 3 Amarsi Un Po' 05:55
• 4 Via Con Me 04:11
• 5 Il Trucido E Lo Sbirro 04:46
• 6 La Donna Invisibile 03:46
• 7 Quando Quando Quando 04:31
• 8 Parole Parole 04:21
• 9 Cosa Vuoi 03:30
• 10 Travolti Di Un Insolito Destino (Soundtrack) 04:43
• 11 In Alto Mare 03:03
• 12 L'unica Chance 05:42
• 13 L'appuntamento 05:44
• 14 Arrivederci 05:31
• Total Runtime 01:04:36

Info for Italia

Italian pop culture as a European state of mind

The repertoire of ITALIA draws largely from the 1970s and early 1980s – a golden era of musical exchange across Europe. Italian songs played on French radio, filled German record stores, and shaped a continental cultural mood. ‘Italy created a kind of pan-European sound,’ says Brönner, ‘and an atmosphere that was formative for an entire generation.’

It was also a time when music was reflecting the hope for a bright future, when pop songs were at the same time light, and exploring the complexity and meaning of life. ‘There is a lot of hope today that things might shift toward something more human and more down to earth again – and that’s exactly the kind of feeling you could literally sense in the ’70s and ’80s,’ says Brönner.

Producer Nicola Conte reflects on the cultural self-understanding of that time: ‘We focused on a moment in Italian cultural history that is still, to this day, one of the most engaging, artistically relevant and colourful.’

Classics, rarities – and one original composition

In addition to classics by Lucio Battisti, Paolo Conte and Tony Renis, ITALIA also features rarities from the Italian pop culture of that era – songs that never gained recognition beyond the country’s borders. Brönner: ‘The album contains many songs that are well-known – at least from a non-Italian perspective. But there are also surprises. Nothing is more boring than a record where you know exactly how it will sound from the first note.’

The musical range spans the work of legendary cantautori to iconic film scores by Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni and Franco Micalizzi – complemented by an original composition by Brönner that blends so naturally into the repertoire, it takes a look at the credits to realize it doesn’t stem from that same golden era of Italian songwriting.

Brönner sings in Italian

In addition to his trumpet and flugelhorn, ITALIA also features Brönner’s singing. For the first time on a studio album, he sings in Italian – including on the newly released single ‘Viva la Felicità’, and on ‘L’Appuntamento’, the melancholic global hit made famous by Ornella Vanoni: ‘When I translated the lyrics into German, I thought: That could have been my story.’

The album alternates between instrumental tracks – shaped by Brönner’s unmistakable tone – and vocal pieces performed by absolute dream guests: Chiara Civello, Sera Kalo, Mario Biondi, Mandy Capristo, and Giovanni Zarrella.

A return shaped by memory

The idea for ITALIA is also rooted in Brönner’s biography. He spent part of his childhood in Rome: ‘It was a phase in my life that shaped me deeply – above all, this very specific Roman way of being. That’s something Italia is inspired by.’

Perhaps ITALIA is Till Brönner’s most personal album yet: ‘Some records come from a feeling. This one came from pure love.’

ITALIA was recorded in Bari and Rome, produced by Till Brönner and Nicola Conte – DJ, jazz musician and sound aesthete from Apulia, internationally acclaimed for his elegant, genre-blending musical language that fuses jazz, bossa nova and club culture.

Till Brönner, flugelhorn, trumpet, vocals, synthesizers, brass, background vocals
Roberto Di Gioia, piano, electric piano, synthesizers, mellotron, organ, keyboards, synthesizers arrangements
Nicola Conte, guitar
Bruno Müller, guitar
Pietro Lussu, piano, electric piano
Alberto Parmegiani, guitar
Magnus Lindgren, flutes, saxophones, reeds & woodwinds, woodwind arrangements
Christian von Kaphengst, double bass, electric bass
Ameen Saleem, double bass, electric bass
Teppo Mäkynen, drums
Gabriel Prado, percussion, background vocals
Arne Schumann, programming, recording, mixing
Katrin Mickiewicz, background vocals
Guest vocalists:
Mario Biondi, vocals on Via Con Me
Chiara Civello, vocals on Parole Parole
Giovanni Zarrella, vocals on Quando, Quando, Quando
Mandy Capristo, vocals on In Alto Mare
Sera Kalo, vocals on L’Unica Chance

Till Brönner - Trumpet
“Calling Till Brönner the new aspiring German trumpet talent is obsolete, since he has sold more records than any other German jazz musician. He plays big time now and is well known in the New York jazz circuit, which itself is top of the crop.” ME SOUNDS/Rolling Stone

Born in 1971 in Viersen, Germany and raised in Rome, Italy, Till experienced his outset with the help of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker: “Hearing Bebop for the first time, Charlie Parker; that set the whole thing off for me. I was 13 years old and it was an almost erotic sensation. I thought that it was indecent. The music was like a woman having a go at me.” Till stems from a family of musicians; after a well-protected childhood, he enjoyed a classical education followed by a study of the jazz trumpet at Cologne’s Music Academy. After only three semesters he convinced the leader of Berlin’s “RIAS-Tanzorchester” at an audition, taking his first hurdle at the age of 20.

Only two years later, he raised more than one eyebrow with “Generations of Jazz”, being both a classic mainstream recording and his debut as a bandleader. By the time he released “German Songs”, his third album of old German film songs, arranged for jazz quartet and classical orchestra, he was the talk of the trade.

- in 2008 he is nominated for a Grammy Award in the category “Best Classical Crossover Album” for “The Jazz Album”, an album he produced with classical bass-baritone singer Thomas Quasthoff

- for “The Christmas Album” he wins the 2008 Echo Award in the jazz category

- as a celebration of “50 years of bossa nova” he releases on September 19, 2008 his new album “Rio” recorded with stellar guests (such as Annie Lennox, Milton Nascimento, and Aimee Mann)

- in 2009 he is nominated for a Grammy Award in the category “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo” for his solo on the album “The Standard” made by the legendary vocal ensemble Take 6

- for his album “Rio” he wins the 2009 Echo Award in the jazz category (it is his third consecutive win in this category)

This album contains no booklet.