Funk Sessions In Milan: Insieme/Starbus 7″

Enrico Intra is one of the best performers of the late 70s disco-funk sound in Italy. He is considered also one of the best pianists in Europe thanks to his classical background and is well known among diggers, Djs and disco-funk appreciators under his aka Lester Freeman. This was a quite revolutionary sound at the moment, that was going “against” the Italian traditional spoken music (that Italians are accustomed to listen).
In these two joints that I selected from his lp “Momento Intra” he’s playing with Italy’s funkiest drummer Tullio De Piscopo and Gigi Cappellotto at the bass. “De Piscopo started with a break, then with my Fender Rhodes I would create the bassline. “Starbus” (the flip side of the release) was composed just with a Fender and with De Piscopo’s breaks. It was a really unusual way to make music in Italy at that time”. “Insieme” (the A side) is a solid disco track where you can also hear the Maestro’s jazzy (and also culturally influenced by classical music) background. Heavy breaks and basslines are guaranteed.
At that time, this sound was considered revolutionary as it was going “against” the traditional Italian spoken music (that Italians are used to listen). This is what is called Italian Disco, that reached its peak between 1976 and 1979/1980.
It’s also a different sound from the more electronic and catchy (and often less funky) Italo Disco, that grew a lot in the 80s with the help of heavy sinthesyzers and drum machines.