about Black Smokers
SMALL REFLECTIONS
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We’ve always listened to a lot of Delta Blues: Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson…but unfortunately it was always our private passion, we always played with people who picked up blues after Muddy Waters. Or rather, in many cases, after The Blues Brothers.
When we discovered RL Burnside, Fat Possum, Bob Log and we were lucky enough first to see John Schooley and then to play with Jimbo Matthus, we discovered that you could simply ‘do it’. We needed the expressive and artistic freedom that only a duo could provide: the search for the true spirit of improvisation, the photography of music, without stylistic limits. Of course, you can hear Tom Waits, James Brown and AC/DC in our blues but, in the free form of the down home style of blues, we’ve found a more direct vehicle for our music. We know the tradition but we don’t always respect it because we’re telling our stories not borrowing the lives of others.
Furthermore, ‘essentiality’, in other words the desire to keep things simple, plays a part in our musical journey and you can hear this in even the most standard formations we work with. Musically, I went through a difficult period when I couldn’t understand the lack of ‘artistic need’ in other musicians. This sense of solitude strengthened me and I faced my fears through the duo where, on one hand, I’m limited but, on the other, I’m free… and only honest music works! Whilst we will always keep both Hendrix and John Spencer in our sights, our main focus is always on our music.
Marcello Milanese & Ivano Zanotti
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