Piero Umiliani - The Official Website - International Version

Listen a SoundClip of X "Sono un Sognatore"X
lyrics: G.C. Testoni - music: P.Umiliani - vocals: Paola Orlandi

In the second half of the 1950’s, discographic labels produce records featuring different versions of the songs performed at the Sanremo Festival. The singers are usually the same, but they are accompanied by different orchestras and have different arrangements aimed for wider distribution and international markets, especially the French and Spanish market.

In 1956, Umiliani takes part in the 6th Sanremo Festival edition.
This is a difficult year for the festival because Rai TV, in conflict with discographic labels, replaces famous singers with new faces and voices selected through a radio competition.
The “song” is the real protagonist of the festival and each singer may perform two, three or even four different songs.
The Festival of that year is won by Franca Raimondi, a student, with the song “Aprite le finestre”.
She also sings “Il Trenino del destino” and “Sogni d’Or” while singer Luciana Gonzales performs “Parole e Musica” and “E’ Bello”.
These four songs are later released by RCA in two different 78RPM singles, interpreted by Rino Loddo and accompanied by the Piero Umiliani Orchestra (Rino Loddo had already collaborated with Umiliani on the song “Serenata d’Inverno”).
At this point, Umiliani’s reputation in the jazz world has already been established and the Maestro is now trying to find his own way in the world of pop music.
These records clearly demonstrate an orchestral approach inspired by American big bands.

SONO UN SOGNATORE ("I AM A DREAMER")

In the following year, for the 7 Festival edition, all contrasts between discographic labels and the Italian TV end and, finally, famous singers are back on the stage. But there is also a novelty…
A new section named “Canzoni dei Liberi Autori” (Songs of the Independent Authors”) promotes new composers with themes selected by a dedicated commission. This initiative is part of a plan created by RAI the previous May which aims to reorganize easy listening music in radio programs. In this section, Piero Umiliani participates as a composer with the song “Sono un Sognatore” with lyrics written by Gian Carlo Testoni and interpreted by the couple Gino Latilla and Natalino Otto.
The song, a melodic and sophisticated swing, achieves only the tenth and last place in its category. However, when the record is released afterwards, interpreted by Paola Orlandi, it is well received by the public as usually happens with songs penalized by the jury. Despite the poor results, this experience is a discographic exploit in Piero Umiliani’s career. After “Sono un Sognatore”, his orchestra plays for Nilla Pizzi on numerous records featuring Sanremo’s most famous songs such as “Casetta in Canadà” and the melodramatic “Ondamarina” (the winner of the “Independent Authors” section).

Piero Umiliani and Paola Orlandi also perform together the songs “Scusami” and “Ancora ci Credo”. However, in the Extended Play “4 Ballabili” are included the best orchestra performances like “Il Pericolo Numero Uno” and “Il Nostro Sì”, songs that can be danced cheek-to-cheek or with a crazy “foxtrot”. In this period Umiliani is about to release the album “Da Roma a New York”, a real manifesto of Italian jazz, and his idea of easy listening music can not be too different from that genre.
In 1958 and 1959, he releases more records with Sanremo’s songs in collaboration with Nilla Pizzi (“Amare un Altro”) and Teddy Reno (“Conoscerti”). However, after the huge success of “Big Deal on Madonna Street” Piero Umiliani’s career concentrates almost totally on the composition of soundtracks.
Fate has it that cinema offers Umiliani one more chance to work for Sanremo with the soundtrack of “Sanremo la Grande Sfida”, a musical set in the backstage of the Festival with Mario Carotenuto as the leading actor.

In the early 1960’s, the relationship between the Maestro and Sanremo finally ends in the most appropriate way, with his participation in the International Jazz Festival: the city is the same, but the music is totally different.

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PIERO UMILIANI: SELECTED SANREMO DISCOGRAPHY

78 Rpm

1956:
- Rino Loddo e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: E' Bello / Il Trenino del Destino, RCA A25V 0456
- Rino Loddo e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: Parole e Musica / Sogni d'Oro, RCA A25V 0457

45 Rpm

1957:
- Paola Orlandi e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: Scusami / Sono un Sognatore, RCA 45N 0551
- Paola Orlandi e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: Le Trote Blu / Ancora ci Credo RCA 45N 0552
- Nilla Pizzi e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: Casetta in Canadà / Ondamarina, RCA 45N 0561
- Nilla Pizzi e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: Il Nostro Sì / Usignuolo, RCA 45N 0562
(Note: these 1957 7" singles were available in 78 rpm format too with the same cat. number).
1958:
- Nilla Pizzi e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: La Canzone che Piace a Te* / Amare un Altro RCA 45N 0648
1959:
- Teddy Reno e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: ...Piove / Nessuno RCA 45N
- Teddy Reno e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani - Avevamo la Stessa Età/ Lì per Lì, RCA Italiana 45N 0781

45 Rpm Extended Play

1957:
- Piero Umiliani e I suoi Solisti: 4 Ballabili, RCA A72V 0099
side A: Il nostro Sì / Il mio Cielo; side B: Un Certo Sorriso / Il Pericolo Numero Uno
- Nilla Pizzi: Nilla Pizzi canta Sanremo 1957, RCA A72V 0102
side A: Corde della mia Chitarra** / Un Filo di Speranza**; side B: Cancello tra le Rose** / Casetta in Canadà
- Nilla Pizzi e Paola Orlandi: Ispirazione, RCA A72V 0103
side A: Cancello tra le Rose* / Casetta in Canadà (Nilla Pizzi); side B: Sono un Sognatore / Ancora ci Credo (Paola Orlandi)
- Nilla Pizzi e Elio Mauro: Batticuore, RCA A72V 0104 (1957)
side A: Un Filo di Speranza** / Il Nostro Sì (Nilla Pizzi); side B: Intorno a Te** / Per una Volta Ancora** (Elio Mauro)
1958:
- Nilla Pizzi: 1958 Nilla Pizzi a Sanremo RCA A72V 0229
side A: Giuro d'Amarti Così* / L'Edera*; side B: Amare un Altro / La Canzone che Piace a Te*
1959:
- Teddy Reno e l'Orchestra di Piero Umiliani: Sanremo '59 RCA EPA 10038-1
side A: Conoscerti / Lì per Lì; side B: ...Ma Baciami / Piove...

LP 33 Rpm

1957:
- Gino Latilla: Sanremo 1957, Cetra LPA 95 (includes "Sono un Sognatore")
- Piero Umiliani e Marcello De Martino: Ballate a Sanremo RCA A10V 0083
includes 10 instrumentals, which 5 with the Piero Umiliani Orchestra: Il Mio Cielo / Il Nostro Sì / La Cremagliera delle Dolomiti / Il Pericolo Numero Uno / Un Certo Sorriso

Nota:
* with the Marcello De Martino Orchestra ** with the Walther Colì Orchestra