Venegoni & Co.

Gigi Venegoni (guitar, bass, percussion)
Ludovico Einaudi (keyboards)
Luca Francesconi (keyboards)
Ciro Buttari (percussion, vocals, piano)
Pietro Pirelli (percussion)
Massimo Aimone (drums)

Formed by ex-Arti & Mestieri guitarist Luigi "Gigi" Venegoni and taking its name by him, this was an open band which more than twenty musicians collaborated with during the years. A stable nucleus of the six musicians above recorded the band's two LP's on Cramps, being augmented in the studio by guest musicians like sax players Claudio Pascoli and Maurizio Gianotti.

More jazz-rock oriented than Arti & Mestieri, Venegoni & Co. are always ideally close to the old group, as demonstrated by Memoria on their first album, a reworking of the Positivo/Negativo theme from the old band's Tilt album. Their music is instrumental, obviously dominated by Venegoni's fluid guitar playing.

Though definitely less impressive and prog-inspired than the first two Arti & Mestieri albums, both Rumore rosso and Sarabanda can be an interesting listen for jazz-rock fans.

Two later studio albums on CD by Venegoni, Nocturne (as a trio with Marco Cimino from Errata Corrige and Marino Paire) and Mosaico were more in a new-age style, while the recent live CD's Rumore rosso vivo and Live...somewhere in the seventies... feature live recordings from different line-ups in 1978 and 1979.

In 2007, with the album Planetarium Venegoni has reformed the group with the old line-ups' musicians.

LP
Rumore rosso	Cramps (CRSLP 5503)	1977	single cover with inner
	Cramps (5205 503)	1978	as above
Sarabanda	Cramps (5205 504)	1979	gatefold cover with inner
CD
Nocturne	Dynamo (DYN 8801)	1989
Rumore rosso	Cramps (CRSCD 024)	1994	reissue of 1977 album - now deleted
	Electromantic (TJRS 1963)	2004	as above with 1 bonus live track
Mosaico	Electromantic (ARTS 9003)	2000
Sarabanda	Edel (CRA 0136562)	2002	reissue of 1979 album with digipack cover
Rumore rosso vivo	Electromantic (ARTS 9012)	2002	live recordings from 1978/79
Live...somewhere in the 70's	Edel (ERE 0151792)	2004	live recordings from 1979 - digipack cover
Ante Tilt	Electromantic (AEMS 0983)	2007	old recordings from 1972 and 1973
Planetarium	Electromantic (TJRS F002)	2007	new studio album
VARIOUS ARTISTS COMPILATIONS
1979: Il concerto (with Coesione)	Cramps (5203 001)	1979	2LP - gatefold with inner - from the Demetrio Stratos tribute concert - also features Area, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Francesco Guccini, Angelo Branduardi, Antonello Venditti, Roberto Vecchioni, Roberto Ciotti and others
	Edel (CRA 013653-2)	2002	single CD reissue of the above - digipack cover
	Akarma (AK 1026)	2002	single CD reissue of the above - mini gatefold cover
La musica dissennata degli anni '70 (with Coesione, Ubud)	Cramps (5208 004)	1980	released in the "Successo" series by Polygram - also includes tracks by Arti & Mestieri, Bella Band, Canzoniere del Lazio

Both the Venegoni & Co. albums are still rather common to find and cheap. No counterfeits exist.

During the 80's Venegoni collaborated as composer in some dance music 12-inch records, among which one released under the name Mike Up in 1986.

Rumore rosso - LP

Sarabanda - LP

Rumore rosso vivo - CD cover

Live...somewhere in the seventies... - CD cover

A site on Venegoni & Co. is at www.venegonieco.com
Info and MP samples from latest Venegoni & Co. and Arti & Mestieri releases can be found on Electromantic Music's website at www.electromantic.com