Agorà

1974-1975
Roberto Bacchiocchi (keyboards, vocals)
Ovidio Urbani (sax)
Renato Gasparini (guitar, vocals)
Paolo Colafrancesco (bass, vocals)
Mauro Mencaroni (drums, vocals)

1976-78
Colafrancesco quits, replaced by:
Lucio Cesari (bass, percussion)
Nino Russo (sax, percussion)

One of the few professional bands from the Marche, on the Adriatic side of central Italy, Agorà were formed in 1974 near Ancona, and played a jazz-rock very influenced by the likes of Weather Report or the Italian group Perigeo, with a very limited use of progressive sounds. Two of the band members, Bacchiocchi and Colafrancesco, had already made some records first using the name Paolo e Francesco and later as Oz Master Magnus Ltd.

Despite not being so popular they were contacted to play the famous Montreux international jazz festival in Switzerland that gave them a deal with Atlantic.
Their first LP was a live album, recorded during that festival. Mostly instrumental and just 30 minutes long, the LP has its moments, with just four long cuts (one of which is curiously split between the two sides of the LP), that often resemble some English jazzy-prog bands of the early 70's.

The second album, in 1976, is much more jazz-rock oriented than the first.
The band also played in the 1976 Parco Lambro festival and is featured on the live album released at the time with Cavalcata solare, from their second album and also released on single.

Agorà split in 1978. For a short time that year Pepe Maina played percussion with them, he's also featured in a concert filmed at Montreux but never officially released.
Almost all of its members kept playing, among them Ovidio Urbani is still regarded as a very talented player in the jazz field.

In 2002 the group was reformed by four original members (Ovidio Urbani, Renato Gasparini, Mauro Mencaroni and Lucio Cesari), with newcomers Alessandra Pacheco on vocals, jazzmen Giovanni Ceccarelli on piano and Aki Montoya on percussion, and the collaboration of guitarist/producer Maurizio Mercuri.
Since 2012 the line-up, initially called Agorà Unplugged featured Urbani, Gasparini, Cesari, guitarist Gabriele Possenti, cellist Gianni Pieri and drummer Massimo Manzi, who was in the 1977-78 line-up.
A new CD, Ichinen, already announced a few years before, was finally issued in early 2014, including new and old compositions played by the latest line-up along with some unreleased recordings from 1978.
The same line-up released the live album Bombook, with a guest appearance by Patrizio Fariselli from Area, recorded at Progressivamente Free Festival in Rome in September 2015.

LP
Live in Montreux	Atlantic (T 50171)	1975	single cover with foldout shaped tree - inner
	BTF/Vinyl Magic (VM 086LP)	2012	reissue with identical cover - black vinyl, later (2020) issued with green vinyl
Agorà 2	Atlantic (T 50324)	1976	gatefold cover
	BTF/Vinyl Magic (VM 087LP)	2013	as above
	Atlantic/De Agostini (T 50324)	2020	gatefold cover with 8-page insert - no.74 in the De Agostini "Prog Rock Italiano" series
	BTF/Vinyl Magic (VM 087LP)	2021	gatefold cover - red vinyl
Bombook	Cramps/Sony (88985 32012 2)	2016	single cover - 2015 live recording
CD
Live in Montreux	BTF/Vinyl Magic (VMCD 086)	2003	reissue of 1975 album - mini gatefold cover
Agorà 2	BTF/Vinyl Magic (VMCD 087)	2003	reissue of 1976 album - mini gatefold cover
Ichinen	Immaginifica (ARS IMM/1022)	2014	new studio album
Bombook	Cramps/Sony (88985 32011 1)	2016	digipack cover - 5 bonus tracks not on the LP version
SINGLES (with picture sleeve)
Cavalcata solare (parte 1) Cavalcata solare (parte 2)	Atlantic (T 10941)	1976	both tracks from Agorà 2
PROMOTIONAL AND JUKEBOX SINGLES (with blank cover)
Cavalcata solare (parte 2)	Atlantic (PROMO 034)	1976	jukebox single - backed with Fred Bongusto/Pietra su pietra
VARIOUS ARTISTS COMPILATIONS
Parco Lambro (with Cavalcata solare)	Laboratorio (LB/LP 201)	1976	live recordings from the 1976 Parco Lambro festival - also features Sensations' Fix, Ricky Gianco, Area, Canzoniere del Lazio, Toni Esposito, Paolo Castaldi, Eugenio Finardi.
	Stampa Alternativa (RP 02)	2005	CD reissue of the above with different mini LP cover - only sold with the book Area/Musica e rivoluzione by Gianpaolo Chiaricò

Both Agorà albums had their first official reissue in 2003 by BTF/Vinyl Magic in their "Italian Progressive Rock" CD series with nice mini-gatefold covers and illustrated booklets. Both have also been reissued on vinyl by the same label in 2012 and 2013 with a faithful reproduction of the original covers. No counterfeits exist.

Live in Montreux has a nice gimmix cover with a tree on a street, the tree can be raised and has a small stand on the back. The back cover has a beautiful band image by a very popular music photographer and cover designer, Caesar Monti.
A Japanese edition of the first album exists on Atlantic (P-10399A) label, with standard cover, 4-page insert and the usual obi.

The live Bombook, issue in 2016 for the Cramps label with Sony distribution and recorded the previous year, contains 6 tracks in the LP version and 11 in the CD edition.


Live in Montreux - front cover and label

Live in Montreux - back cover	Live in Montreux - foldable tree

Agorà 2 - front cover

Agorà 2 - front cover

Ichinen - CD

Cavalcata solare - 7" single