Updated Pro Bio

“Jaco Pastorius would be proud to hear the bass chops of jazz artist Alessandro Bottura. His latest record, “Morning Grooves” is a smooth fusion of rock, jazz, and pop instrumentals all rolled into one amazing sound. Bottura’s bass playing speaks for itself and is immediately evident right from the opening track, “Out of Sight.” His jazz fueled bass runs fly up and down the neck and are nicely driven by some outstanding guitar/drum work. Bottura changes gears a bit and slow things down on “Sweet Tears,” which also highlights his staccato playing skills. Any fan of Jaco Pastorius or of virtuoso bass playing will love this album, plus the band behind Bottura is just as exceptional as he.”

Shaun H. and the RadioIndy.com Reviewer Team

“Jaco Pastorius Meets Frank Zappa. Truly Fabulous Artistry.”

Author: Bababooey (Executive Producer of the Howard Stern Show)

“The artist from Modena proposes a hot and sophisticated work…The record is the synthesis of the bassist’s enterprising research. It comes out under the overview of Maftrust Inter Vivos of Las Vegas. A curriculum rich and full-bodied that comes out from the composition exposed on this Morning Grooves. Alessandro Bottura, between straight funk and fusion virtuosity, gives wonderful hyper-technical attacks attended by research and bright and expressive solutions.”

– Fabrizio Maululu for Supportoitaliano Webzine

“Bottura is a really young italian multi-instrumentalist (born 1984) with solid musical bases built with harmony, drums, guitar, piano and electric bass studies. This kaleidoscopic preparation allowed him to compose, product and realize all by himself this work that can be collocated into Fusion music area. The broad spectrum of responsibilities assumed by the musician is a strong signal of his competences, character and potentials.”

– Vittorio Formenti for “Mescalina.it”

“Multifaceted and colorful, Morning Grooves is a continual delight on the staff, a carefree sound that comes from the best influences fusion, funk and electro. The technique comes out perfect from the first listen but the rest Bottura after five years of piano, guitar joined, on drums and finally to the electric bass on the disc that is practically the prince”

– Alessio Scicolone for “Extra! Music Magazine”

Alessandro Bottura was born on 3rd June 1984 in Modena, Italy.
He started to get interested in music since he was a child, studying piano for 5 years, then guitar and drums until 2000, when he landed to the bass as self-taught.
In the same year he started his first own rock band, NoLogo, with which he performed in lots of live shows, winning also the contest “Suonatecele 2” announced by La Tenda.
In 2002, more and more attracted by jazz and funk music, he started the “Accademia di Musica” in Modena, following both the theory class taken by M° Giuseppe La Monica and the instrument course with M° Enrico Lazzarini (2002-2006) and M° Glauco Zuppiroli (2006-2007).

After a one-year experience with the rock band Landslide Ladies, who took him in tour all across the country, in 2007 he confered the degree on music at the D.A.M.S. of Bologna and decides to move to the U.S. to join the Jeff Berlin’s “Players School Of Music” in Clearwater, Tampa, FL.

Back to Italy, he started following the multi-stylistic course at “PercentoMusica” in Rome, with some of the best Italian (and European) musicians such as Massimo Moriconi, Luca Pirozzi, Fabio Zeppetella, John Arnold, Michael Rosen and Massimo Fedeli.

By all those experiences, Alessandro starts to put together all the musical ideas that would constitute the backbone of his first release, “Morning Grooves”. The hard project of a solo release took life when he met online the present manager Mark A. Forrest of Maftrust Inter Vivos, based in Las Vegas, NV.This new support gave new lifeblood to the artist, that completed all the tracks of the album, recording all the instruments by himself, and published it in 2009, produced by Bucephalus Productions, Alessandro and Mark’s own record company.

Then, together with the new manager, he starts a huge web promotion of the album, getting lots of good results, topping the independent online jazz charts in US and obtaining more and more listeners and great audience feedbacks on LastFm, Grooveshark, Jango and IMISound.

The unexpected success of the project, convinced the couple to continue the collaboration and re-publish the album in 2010, with the remixes and remasterings of all the previous tracks plus two brand new unedited songs, as “Morning Grooves – Special Digital Edition”. Alessandro is now scheduling his first US tour, with the help of Mark, planned for the season of 2011/12.

New Release – “Morning Grooves – Special Digital Edition”

Finally the new album is out! The new release of Morning Grooves contains the remixes and the remasterings of all the nine tracks included in the previous “Morning Grooves” plus two brand new releases, “Gotta pay!” and “Hope After All”.

Here’s the complete tracklist:
1. Out Of Sight RMX (Rough BX3 Solo Edit)
2. Mind, Passion & Instinct RMX (Ozone Fixed Edit)
3. Quetzalcoatl RMX (Less Rain Edit)
4. Deaf Kids’ Disco RMX (Mark Pad Edit)
5. Sweet Tears RMX (R’n’B Groove Edit)
6. Stern Memories RMX (Hard BX3 Edit)
7. MayDay Mayhem RMX (Tied Up Edit)
8. Black Lady RMX (Dark Mood Edit)
9. Tropical Night RMX (Reggae Feel Edit)
10. Gotta Pay! (Bonus Track)
11. Hope After All (Bonus Track)

To listen to previews and buy the album, click here

“Morning Grooves – Special Digital Editon” – Presentation Clip

Presentation clip for “Morning Grooves – Special Digital Editon”, soon available on all the major web stores.

The album consists of the remixes of all the previous album tracks and two brand new tunes, “Gotta Pay” and “Hope After All”.

Credits:
All tracks written, arranged and played by Alessandro Bottura
Logo, Artwork and Photoshoot by Federica Castellani Tarabini
Management by Mark A. Forrest
Produced by Bucephalus Productions and Maftrust Inter Vivos
© 2010 – All right reserved

New album Coming Soon

New “Morning Grooves Special Digital Edition” Remix Album with two brand new Bonus Tracks, “Gotta Pay” and “Hope After All”,  is sure to make for quite an exquisite listening experience! Available on web stores only!

Interview for “All About Jazz”

This is the complete interview appeared tonight on “All About Jazz”, American Jazz Magazine

Take Five With Alessandro Bottura

Teachers and/or influences?
Bass Teachers (in chronological order): Enrico Lazzarini, Glauco Zuppiroli, Jeff Berlin, Massimo Moriconi, Pierpaolo Ranieri, Luca Pirozzi, Mario Guarini, Alessandro Patti.

Influences: Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Jeff Berlin, Marcus Miller, Weather Report, Yellowjackets, Spyro Gyra, The Rippingtons, Medeski Martin & Wood, Mezzoforte, Mike Stern, John Scofield, Prince, Jimi Hendrix

I knew I wanted to be a musician when…
I first listened to Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child.”

I was nearly 10 years old, and I remember that I was flashed by that awesome guitar intro! Every time I listen to that track, I feel the same I did then!

Then, at the age of 16, I definitely chose the electric bass after listening to (guess who?!) Jaco’s first solo CD, Jaco Pastorius (Epic, 1976).

Your sound and approach to music:
I try to catch something from all the great musicians. If I listen something I like-a solo, a riff, it doesn’t matter what the instrument is-I try to understand it, play it on the bass, get it in my hands and in my head, and then insert it totally changed in a different context. On the other hand, I love when I’m training and I like something I’ve improvised, I repeat it and then it starts to take the form of a track. I simply think about music as the most pure form in which I can express the real me.

Your teaching approach:
I think that a good teacher always knows what to teach. If you’re going to a lesson, and your teacher asks you “Well, what do you want to learn today?,” well, I don’t think you’re spending your money well!

I’m convinced that we’re always both teachers and students, because in life you never know, maybe one of your students may make you think about something you’ve always bypassed. Definitely, we never stop learning!

Your dream band:
The best formation for me is a classic quartet: guitar, keyboards, bass, drums.

Choosing some names is difficult but I think that they’d be:
Mike Stern (guitar);
John Medeski (keyboards);
Dennis Chambers (drums);
And if I’ve got to choose my favorite bass player, no way: Stanley Clarke!

Road story: Your best or worst experience:
Well, between the worst experiences I just can’t choose.

Regarding the best, I like to think that the best will be the one that’s coming!

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?
I’ve got only one, is there some choice?

The first Jazz album I bought was:
Jaco Pastorius, Jaco Pastorius (Epic, 1976)

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically?
Trying to bring fusion music back.

Did you know…
I’m losing all my hair?

CDs you are listening to now:
Medeski, Martin & Wood, Radiolarians (Indirecto);
Yellowjackets, Lifecycle (Heads Up);
The Rippingtons, 20th Anniversary (Peak Records);
Prince, Ultimate (Universal)
Mezzoforte, Anniversary Edition (BHM).

How would you describe the state of jazz today?
Unlike what I constantly hear, I don’t think that the situation is so bad. I mean, the continued development of technology applied to music gives new flow to everyone’s creativity so that we can find a new musical reality that starts from the idea of a mainstream group, i.e. a trio. Then, by developing our own sound through the use of effects and technology in general, we start to create a brand new thing, making a step forward in jazz experimentation.

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?
Ongoing, creative experimentation, but with a constant glance at the past masters’ lessons.

What is in the near future?
Surely, the second album, upcoming in the beginning 2010.

Then, perhaps, some other projects of a more experimental nature (but we’ll see..).

If I weren’t a jazz musician, I would be a:
A rock musician! No, I don’t know, maybe a soccer player? More probably, an unemployed!

See the origianl version @ All About Jazz

Interview for “Imbuteria Social Network”

Translation of the interview of 24th March 2009 made by Balconaggio for “Imbuteria Social Network”:

‘mbuti: “How many hours per-day do you dedicate to music in all its forms, what activity prevales and what’s your favorite one?”

AB: “Right now I’m working part-time, so my training time’s average is of  only 4-5 hours per-day, mainly focused on instrumental practice,  tryin’ to takin’ care of both the purely technical part and the more musical one, that is rhythm, harmony and melody.  Tipically to this second part belongs the activity that i prefer, that’s the study, the internalization and the reprocessing  of the great musicians, not only of the great bass-players: for example, studyin’ a Miles Davis’ solo or a Jimi Hendrix’s riff on the bass and putting them foward again varied and elaborated according to my musical taste in different contexts from the original ones, a brand new range of possibilities is opening out to my mind, lettin’ me discover things that you’ll never found written on a book! All of this, naturally, without forgetting that my instrument is the bass,  and a particulare cure (and of humble reverence) must be reserved to the great masters (such as Stanley Clarke, James Jamerson, Marcus Miller, John Paul Jones, Jeff Berlin and obviously Jaco Pastorius, just to name my favourites..), studyin’ whom you can realized that all of them has made the previous exercise!”

‘mbuti: “You’re really a good musician, in my opinion with the bass you’re at the highest levels, also your original compositions are valuable, can you describe us your creative process and your feeling toward interpretation?”

AB: “Thanks a lot for the wonderful compliments! For what concearns the creation of a piece, I ain’t got a precise pattern, or better,  I ain’t got a fixed point from where to start; it can be the main theme or the bass line or even the harmony to born  first, the only fundamental point that I pre-arrange is that the complete tune, regardless of how much complicated it can be in theory,  must flow with naturalness, with no rough edges nor screeches, fitting in all the parts so that they’ll sound just like one thing. This can seem like a banality, but it isn’t expected at all, least of all simple! Regarding the interpretation, well…as the always wise Massimo Moriconi says, playin’ is like makin’ love, is havin’ fun while makin’ others havin’fun (ok, ok, those who had the luck to talk with Massimo will certainly know that his version is DEFINITELY more direct and less “politically correct”!!!), is getting emotions across, the knowledge that one word said at the right moment in the right way sometimes worths like one hundred..”

For seeing the original italian version of the interview, click here