John De Leo
Vago Svanendo

I like those who dare and experiment, who do not bow to market laws, who are nonconformist and follow their ideas to the end, who unsettle the listener and deconstruct the staff to their image and likeness because they know what they are doing and have the means to do it.

I like John De Leo.

Maybe because he has a face that seems to say "I'm kidding," a bit crazy, eclectic, self-assured with that ironic and cheeky look as he sizes you up from head to toe, furrowing one eyebrow and raising the other.

With the Quintorigo, one of the most interesting Italian bands in recent years, where experimentation, jazz, rock, reggae, funk, and blues fused into a rather strange musical reality made solely of strings, winds, and voice, he recorded albums difficult to categorize, like "Rospo" or "Grigio," participated twice in Sanremo, winning awards for arrangements and criticism, won the Tenco Award and topped the podium at Arezzo Wave.

He made a name for himself, but not too much, for possessing one of the most versatile, warm, sharp, chameleon-like, flexible, and incredibly expansive voices that the Italian scene remembers since the lamented Demetrio Stratos, but that is another story..

In 2005, good De Leo bid farewell to everyone, packed his things in a white and red checkered bundle, tied it to the end of a stick, and set off, all alone, to discover the world.

Since then, nothing more has been heard, except for some outings with his friend and excellent guitarist Fabrizio Tarroni, who will also accompany him in this first solo adventure "Vago Svanendo".

In this first work of the multifaceted and crazy artist, we find ideas and compositions that, in the standardized Italian musical landscape, will seem obsolete and incomprehensible to most, but to those who have had enough of D'Alessio, Pausini, Ferro, and the like, it will be pleasantly surprising and finally light years away from what the radio or usual music channels usually serve us.

We will find jazz compositions with a 25-element orchestra ("Big Stuff", a revisitation of a Leonard Bernstein classic), or pieces arranged with toy instruments and language reimagined for children ("Bambino marrone") where, to convey the genius and unruliness of De Leo and company, the deep sounds of the electric bass were obtained by mounting a pickup for an electric guitar on a toy guitar and using an octaver to lower the pitch of the notes.

In "Tilt", the tempo is achieved by striking the bass clarinet and exploiting the sound obtained by opening and closing the keys of the wind instrument, while in "Freak Ship", the sampling of John's voice in every possible form is aided by a fan for a 1960s effect and a toy karaoke.

To these eleven tracks, which perfectly connect one to the other even if with completely different arrangements and rhythms, is added a DVD with a monologue by Alessandro Bergonzoni, various short films, and a photo gallery.

It will surely not enter the chart of the best-selling records, surely few will appreciate the efforts and artistic value of this strange character and his entourage.. I sincerely recommend at least two or three listens (one is certainly not enough to grasp it, we are not talking about Ramazzotti...) and I encourage you to spend a few euros to ensure that musicians like these continue their work of "revamping" and innovating the faded and poor Italian musical landscape.

Once a friend of mine took me aside and said, "Listen here, they are Quintorigo and the singer is John De Leo, for me he is the Italian Mike Patton...".

At first, I was a bit skeptical, then, over time and after many listens, I couldn't help but agree with him..