In July I had the absolute pleasure to record a couple of good old-fashioned standards in one of the most amazing places in Milano, as far as recording goes.

I am talking about the Mountain Studios/Studio Zanibelli/Regson now Officine Meccaniche owned by Italian violinist, composer, arranger and producer Mauro Pagani.

If you are not familiar with this place I can tell you that is the Italian equivalent of Abbey Road studios. Born as a community centre for the working class families that inhabited the neighbourhood, it then became a would-famous recording studio.

The list of solo artist and bands that have recorded there is remarkable: from Adriano Celentano to Muse, from Giorgio Gaber to Lady Gaga.

My favourite would be Duke Ellington’s album “The Symphonic Ellington” partially recorded in the studio with the La Scala Symphony Orchestra in 1963. In addition to that the largest recording room was used as rehearsal space by Ella Fitzgerald.

But let’s go back to little old me. If the History of the recording studio was not enough to keep me on my toes, I started off the afternoon with a duet of “A house is not a home” with Italian piano player Mario Rusca. Please follow the link and have a listen to this wonderful, extremely elegant man and player.

My dad supervised the recording and added a couple of intense bebop solos.

To complete the afternoon Quei Due also had a chance to enjoy the beautiful and legendary recording space, so Adam and I decided to put on tape our cover of Allan Holdsworth’ s “Above and Below”.

Ella’s room

Mario Rusca

Adam’s booth

Looking forward to the results!