M. Zalla
Aliases: Piero Umiliani
Gli Italiani e L'Industria
In stock now! From the legendary Omicron label secret archives, one of the rarest and nearly impossible to find album signed by Piero Umiliani. Awareness of Piero Umiliani’s genius is widespread nowadays,not least on this incredible Gli italiani e l’industria, a soundtrack of a mysterious TV documentary by Romolo Marcellini broadcasted in 1967, and never appeared again from then, which was focused on virtue and vice of Italian post-economic boom industrialization. The music perfectly reflects th…
Percussioni ed Effetti Speciali
**CD version** The long and prolific career of Piero Umiliani, also consisting of dozens of collaborations for television and cinema, has given (and is still delivering, given the amount of material that is finally coming back to light) a long series of experimental albums and music libraries that showcase his songwriting skills, as well as a natural curiosity towards avant-garde and more ‘difficult’ sounds. We can attribute to the second category this “Percussioni ed effetti speciali”, a title …
Suspense
**CD version** Among all the aliases used by the great Piero Umiliani, M. Zalla is perhaps his richest and surprising: mainly used to produce experimental records that had little commercial appeal, this ‘nom de plume’ (along with Moggi) is tied to memorable episodes of his career, releases such as “Problemi d’oggi” (literally “Today’s Problems”), “Mondo inquieto” (i.e. “An Unsettling World”), and also “Suspense”, now reissued by Schema Records.
And if titles such as those mentioned above may som…
Audace Colpo Dei Soliti Ignoti
First ever issue in its entirety for this indispensable score by Italian cinematic jazz- father Piero Umiliani, obtained by having access to the original reels with the complete soundtrack's recording. Top class Italian crime jazz composed for a 1959's comedy directed by Nanni Loy (sequel of "I Soliti Ignoti", realized by Mario Monicelli just the year before, with almost the same artistic cast of "Audace"). Chet Baker, who was at that time in Italy, joined Umiliani's octet with his unmistakable …
Switched On Naples
Sonor is glad and proud to announce the reissue of a very underrated Piero Umiliani's masterpiece. "Switched On Naples", originally released in 1972 on OmiCron LP 0023, is an outstanding library with pure touch of genius: Maestro Umiliani revisits Naples popular songs in an electronic way with the use of synthesizer. The record is entirely carried out with electronic sounds.
Edition of 500 copies.
I Piaceri Proibiti
**blue vinyl** A beautifully jazzy soundtrack from the great Piero Umiliani – one that features solo work by some of the key members of the Basso Valdambrini sextet! The style here is very much in the mode of the best jazz soundtracks used during the French new wave years – simple themes that burst out boldly, and allow plenty of space for jazz improvisation – often along highly rhythmic lines! The music would be very much at home in a Roger Vadim film – and includes plenty of trumpet and tenor …
L'uomo nello spazio
MILESTONE!!!!Fantastic space themed music from the great Piero Umiliani, released in 1972 on his own Omicron record label and finelly reissued in a limited edition of 500 copies on transparent clear blue vinyl. These tracks, which utilise a range of electronic instruments are generally claustrophobic and tense and experimental. "I have dedicated these compositions to the spaceman, this new, modern Ulysses going adrift on the galaxian oceans..." ~ P. Umiliani, 1972. The words of the great Pi…
Genti e Paesi del Mondo
The mid 70s presented mature, fertile grounding for maestro Piero Uimiliani’s Sound Workshop Studio, exploring side ways explorations in to gravitational soundscapes and beyond.... Released in 1975 via his prolific Omicron imprint, Genti e Paesi Del Mondo (‘Peoples and Countries of the World’) is a return to the ethnic flavours so beloved of Umiliani’s zeitgeist.
Umiliani turns anti-clockwise launching a left field mental audio pad to uncharted territories. On Genti e Paesi Del Mondo spa…
Mondo Inquieto
Maestro Piero Umiliani returns in the alter ego guise of M. Zalla for the 1974 compositional library piece Mondo Inquieto (‘Restless World’) via his far reaching, experimentalist imprint Sound Work Shop. Ambient tensions are represented via a dramatic cross fertilisation of orchestral strings, layered synths and primeval percussion with the Maestro on moody, reflective compositional duties. Stand out cut Strategia (‘Strategy’) harnesses the dopest Wu Tang Beats alongside swathes of high end …
The Folk Group
**CD version** Piero Umiliani’s rich and diverse discography got us used to bold experimentalism, to excursions into popular music as into avantgarde. Nonetheless, while “The Folk Group” makes no surprise, it still represents a peculiar work within Umiliani’s seemingly endless career. Originally published under the name of M. Zalla, an alias he especially used for those albums that were difficult to classify – and among which we must mention the extraordinary “Mondo Inquieto” and “Problemi d’ogg…
Questo Sporco Mondo Meraviglioso
**CD version** “Questo sporco mondo meraviglioso” is one of the numerous collaborations between the director Luigi Scattini and Piero Umiliani, and one of the most interesting and varied soundtracks within the composer’s repertoire. Produced in collaboration with Piero Loy, the picture falls into the Mondo Movies genre, documentaries dedicated to controversial and shocking topics (without aspiring to be journalistic or adhering to scientific evidence). In this case, Scattini’s direction focuses …
Psichedelica
**CD version** Before talking about Psichedelica, one of the many and rare library albums signed by Piero Umiliani, we must step back in time, until June 1968, when Umiliani was working on the score of Svezia Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden Heaven and Hell), one of the many collaborations between director Luigi Scattini and the Maestro. In fact, a large part of the music recorded for that movie, one of Umiliani's most popular works, would be later selected for this library release. Originally issued …
Il Mondo dei Romani
First vinyl reissue. Limited edition of 500 orange LPs (vinyl only; no digital release). Remastered from the original reels. The sought-after experimental gem Il Mondo Dei Romani, by soundtrack and avant-garde maestro Piero Umiliani, is now available on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 1972. Originally recorded for a TV documentary about ancient Rome and released on Umiliani's Omicron label, Il Mondo Dei Romani finds Umiliani experimenting with electronic instruments (Suoi …
La Legge Dei Gangsters
First complete vinyl edition of the great Piero Umiliani's jazz score for La legge dei gangsters (Gangster's Law), an obscure 1969 Italian crime film starring the mighty Klaus Kinski. Featuring a large ensemble of the country's strongest players (including Oscar Valdambrini on trumpet), the score is full of sophisticated, groovy, and romantic tunes. Two LPs on colored vinyl, released in a limited numbered edition of 1000.
Effetti Musicali
Effetti Musicali is a 1968 Piero Umiliani homemade album that exposes his art and his versatility. Listening to this album seems to show him among his keyboards and other implements to overlap sounds and create situations with no outside producer influence, in full artistic freedom. The result is an experimental psychedelic electro-acoustic album. From the original Umiliani family master tapes. Limited edition of 500 copies in a glossy cover.
We all love a bit of Umiliani, and here on this excep…
Svezia Inferno e Paradiso
*2022 stock* One of the greatest soundtracks ever from the mighty Piero Umiliani is finally available again, in a faithful replica of the original edition on Omicron. A sublime mix of erotic elements, playful funky numbers, and warm jazzy tunes – all supposedly scored for an exploitation documentary about sex in Sweden – but music that really stands strongly on its own! There's a number of cuts with those cool Hammond organ tricks that Umiliani does so well – and lots of others have cool female …
La Morte bussa due volte
A stellar cast doesn’t always guarantee a magnificent film and, from a strictly cinematographic point of view, “La morte bussa due volte” (Death knocks twice) is one of many examples of this kind; This thriller was in fact quickly forgotten at the time (1969), despite the presence of the charismatic Adolfo Celi and the beautiful Anita Ekberg.However, even for less ‘important’ productions, the likes of Morricone or, in this case, Piero Umiliani, were sometimes bothered: composers but also …
Le isole dell'amore
A groovy erotic film score by Piero Umiliani – his soundtrack for 1970's Le Isole Dell'Amore – and it's a wonderfully arranged one by the maestro! Raw percussion and a sunny vibe overall..."In the late '50s and throughout the next decade and beyond, among the underground most ridden film genres there was the so-called ‘mondo movie’, basically made of a collage of several scenes with a commenting voiceover. To this category belongs “Le isole dell’amore” (The islands of love), a film that’s practi…
Synthi Time
*2022 stock* Synthi Time is perhaps one of the most suitable albums - within Umiliani's incredibly vast discography - to fully appreciate the composing and experimental genius of the Maestro. For once away from the classic soundtracks that made him popular, this project veers away also from refined works of library music such as Genti e paesi del mondo (People and countries of the world) or Problemi d'oggi (Today's issues), released under the moniker of Zalla. In this case, we like to imagine hi…
Fischiando in Beat
*2022 stock* Due to a perhaps too buoyant and unfitting title and to a ridicolously limited distribution (even at the time of its original release), Fischiando in beat (Whistling in beat) has often been ignored despite being one of the most entertaining works signed by Piero Umiliani (here accompanied by his orchestra). Originally released in 1969, Fischiando in beat presents twelve gems of instrumental beat music, fabulous specimen of that music genre often labelled with the much-abused term 'l…