Sitting and listening: Trio Vesuvio - Ballabili Italiani

[frankie]

This LP was probably recorded in the mid to late 50s and was released on the tiny Edgina label, and likely distributed out of Rossi's shop in Little Italy. Most Edgina records I've seen are of Neapolitan singers with an orchestra typical of that time period. This is only the second Edgina LP that I've seen that featured instrumental music. The other one is an accordion LP - I Moschettieri Musette: accordion, guitar and contrabass. The first time I saw THAT record, it was actually inside the cover for the Trio Vesuvio... based on the cover, I was excited to hear the record and was, at the time, disappointed a different LP was inside the cover. Years passed and I finally happened upon a copy of the Trio Vesuvio LP with the CORRECT record in the jacket:



I know nothing about the musicians except their surnames - if any of you recall these names, I'd sure like to know more about them. It's an interesting document of the music of the period, played with enthusiasm and rhythm. While not virtuosic, they are certainly more than up to the task and bring a lot of spirit to the music. I digitized the LP and included links below. If there is sheet music in Sheri's archive that appeared related to the recording, I included a link for that as well. Even where the recordings appear to be related to the sheet music, they do occasionally make changes: omit an intro, play the parts in a slightly different order, sometimes, they appear to take a couple of rhythmic liberties while preserving the overall contour of the melody. Interestingly, the songs that appear to have a published source are all in the Tesio folder - even Bacio di Miele, which is a bit of a mystery, since the recording and the sheet music are both mazurkas, but appear to have no melodic relationship at all.

At any rate, it's a fairly rare (if not particularly valuable) LP, so enjoy the recordings:

La Bicicletta (Polka) sheet music
Piccola Elvira (Mazurka)
Delizia (Valzer)
Piccolo Bouquet di Rose (Polka) sheet music
Profumi Orientali (Valzer) sheet music
Ricordo di Valentino (Valzer)
Alba (Polka)
Bacio di Miele (Mazurka)
La Sirena (Mazurka) sheet music
Erminia (Mazurka)
La bella del Paese (Polka)
Sogni Svaniti (Valzer)

[brunello97]

Grazie mille, Frankissimo.

What a Sunday treat.

Mick

[Mandophile]

I count at least 4-5 titles that are already in the Drop Box but as you pointed out, a generic title can appear as belonging to more than one composer. How many "Alba" or "Bacio" titles exist?
As to surnames...well...you're lucky when they even just list that...having researched hundreds of Italian immigrants with no first name (or occassionally, only an initial). Big guess but with Vesuvio in the title, I wager a bet they're all from Naples or the metropolitan area surrounding. So that nails it down. LOL!