Piero Piccioni

Piero Piccioni

Piero Piccioni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛːro pitˈtʃoːni]; December 6, 1921 – July 23, 2004) was an Italian film score composer and lawyer.

A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 300 film soundtracks. He played for the first time on radio in 1938 with his “013” Big Band, to return on air only after the liberation of Italy in 1944. “013” was the first Italian jazz band to be broadcast in Italy after the fall of Fascism.

Early life

Piero Piccioni was born in Turin, Piedmont. His mother's maiden name was Marengo, hence his pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957.

When he was growing up, his father Attilio Piccioni (a prominent member of the Italian Christian Democratic Party with the post-war Italian government), would frequently take him to hear concerts at the EIAR Radio Studios in Florence. Having listened to jazz throughout his childhood (he loved the music of Art Tatum and Charlie Parker) and attending studies at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, Piero Piccioni became a musician.

Career

Piccioni made his radio debut at 17 with his 013 Big Band in 1938, but only returned on air after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His 013 was the first Italian jazz band to be broadcast in Italy after the fall of Fascism.

He was influenced in the use of jazz by 20th century classical composers and American films. Directors he liked included Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and John Ford, while Alex North was a film score composer he admired. He began writing songs of his own and was soon able to get some of his works published by Carisch editions.

Piero Piccioni came into contact with the movie world in Rome during the fifties, when he was a practicing lawyer securing movie rights for Italian producers such as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called Piccioni to score a documentary film directed by Luigi Polidoro, one of his apprentices. Piccioni's first score for a feature film was Gianni Franciolini’s Il mondo le condanna (1952). He consequently changed his lawyer's "toga" for a conductor's baton. He developed close-knit working relationships with directors Francesco Rosi and Alberto Sordi, and established strong personal and professional bonds with them.

Many directors sought Piero Piccioni to score the soundtracks for their films: Francesco Rosi, Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Comencini, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Lina Wertmuller, Tinto Brass, Dino Risi, and others.

His film scores include Il bell'Antonio, Contempt, The 10th Victim, More Than a Miracle, The Deserter, The Light at the Edge of the World, Puppet on a Chain, Lucky Luciano, Camille 2000, The Nun and the Devil, Swept Away, Christ Stopped at Eboli, Fighting Back, and many Alberto Sordi movies. He is credited with over 300 soundtracks and compositions for radio, television, ballets and orchestra. Among his favorite vocalists were female soul singer Shawn Robinson and Edinburgh-born Lydia MacDonald.

Awards and legacy

Piccioni won many prestigious prizes including the David di Donatello Award for the movie Swept Away (1975), Nastro d’argento Award for the movie Salvatore Giuliano by Francesco Rosi (1963), Prix International Lumière 1991, Anna Magnani Award 1975 and Vittorio De Sica Award 1979.

His song "Traffic Boom" was featured as the song for the fictional Logjammin' movie-within-a-movie in The Big Lebowski.

The song "It's Possible" was sampled by Hollywood JB for DJ Khaled's "Jermaine's Interlude" on his Major Key album.

In 1953 Piccioni was implicated in the Montesi scandal, after he was identified by journalists as being the 'blond' who handed in clothes of Wilma Montesi after her death. The accusations were recanted by the journalist Marco Cesarini Sforza after legal pressure was applied.

His music is compiled into YouTube playlists and is extensively sampled by the lo-fi community.

Death

Piccioni died in Rome in 2004 from unknown causes.

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Directed by	Singles	Latest CD / Digital Release
1954	The Beach	Alberto Lattuada
1957	Guendalina	Alberto Lattuada		CAM / Digital / 2022
1958	Tempest	Alberto Lattuada		Legend / CD 33 DLX / 2010
1959	Boys of the Parioli	Sergio Corbucci		CAM / Digital / 2022
	Vacations in Majorca	Giorgio Bianchi		CAM / Digital / 2022
	The Big Night	Mauro Bolognini		CAM / Digital / 2022
1960	The Employee	Gianni Puccini		CAM / Digital / 2022
	Il bell'Antonio	Mauro Bolognini		Dagored / RED183 / 2008
	World By Night	Luigi Vanzi		Camille 3000 / CAM3K-012-MDN / 2018
	Adua and Her Friends	Antonio Pietrangeli		Cinevox / CD MDF 359 / 2005
	Sweet Deceptions	Alberto Lattuada		Saimel Bandas Sonoras / 3998983 / 2017
	From a Roman Balcony	Mauro Bolognini
	The Hunchback of Rome	Carlo Lizzani
	The Swedes	Gian Luigi Polidoro		CAM / Digital / 2022
1961	The Assassin (1961 film)	Elio Petri		CAM / Digital / 2022
	La Viaccia	Mauro Bolognini
	World by Night No. 2	Gianni Proia		CAM / Digital / 2022
	Duel of the Titans	Sergio Corbucci
	The Two Marshals	Sergio Corbucci
1962	Violent Life	Paolo Heusch, Brunello Rondi		CAM / CSE 106 / 1993
	Totò Diabolicus	Steno		Digitmovies / DGST027 / 2017
	The Slave	Sergio Corbucci
	Salvatore Giuliano	Francesco Rosi		GDM / GDM 4209 / 2011
	The Captive City	Joseph Anthony
1963	The Girl from Parma	Antonio Pietrangeli		CAM / Digital / 2023
	The Shortest Day	Sergio Corbucci
	To Bed or Not to Bed	Gian Luigi Polidoro		CAM / Digital / 2023
	Hands over the City	Francesco Rosi		GDM / GDM 4209 / 2011
	The Terrorist	Gianfranco De Bosio
	Contempt (Italy/Spain version)	Jean-Luc Godard
1964	Three Nights of Love	Renato Castellani, Luigi Comencini, Franco Rossi		CAM / CSE 112 / 1993
	Il disco volante	Tinto Brass		CAM / Digital / 2023
1965	La fuga	Paolo Spinola
	The Moment of Truth	Francesco Rosi
	The Three Faces	Michelangelo Antonioni, Mauro Bolognini, Franco Indovina
	The 10th Victim	Elio Petri		Easy Tempo / 1998
	Minnesota Clay	Sergio Corbucci
	Agent 077: From the Orient with Fury	Sergio Grieco
	I Knew Her Well	Antonio Pietrangeli		Beat Records / BCM 9521 / 2013
1966	Fumo di Londra	Alberto Sordi		Avanz / 1999
	Pardon, Are You For or Against?	Alberto Sordi		Digitmovies / CDDM287 / 2017
1967	The Witches	Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Rossi, Vittorio De Sica		Digitmovies / CDDM296 / 2018
	The Stranger	Luchino Visconti		Verita Note / VQCD-10063 / 2008
	More Than a Miracle	Francesco Rosi		Film Score Monthly / FSM Vol. 14 No. 7 / 2011
	An Italian in America	Alberto Sordi
1968	Ballad of a Bounty Hunter	Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent
	OSS 117 - Double Agent	Jean-Pierre Desagnat, Renzo Cerrato, André Hunebelle
	If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death	Gianfranco Parolini		Verita Note / VQCD-10056 / 2007
	Bora Bora	Ugo Liberatore		Cinevox / CD OST-PK 022 / 2016
	Be Sick... It's Free	Luigi Zampa		Beat Records / BCM 9567 / 2015
1969	Naked England	Vittorio De Sisti		Quartet records / QR486 / 2022
	Kenner (film)	Steve Sekely		Film Score Monthly / FSM Vol. 14 No. 7 / 2011
	Camille 2000	Radley Metzger		Easy Tempo / ET 905 CD /1998
	Help Me, My Love	Alberto Sordi		Beat Records / BCM9606 / 2022
	Oh, Grandmother's Dead	Mario Monicelli		CAM / Digital / 2022
	Love Me, Love My Wife	Enzo Battaglia		CAM / Digital / 2022
	Check to the Queen	Pasquale Festa Campanile		Cinevox / CDOST-PK 040 / 2020
	The Others	Alessandro Fallay		Beat Records / BCM 9523 / 2013
	Il Prof. Dott. Guido Tersilli, primario della clinica Villa Celeste, convenzionata con le mutue	Luciano Salce		GDM / GDM 2042 / 2004
1970	The Syndicate: A Death in the Family	Piero Zuffi		Quartet Records / QR472 / 2021
	The President of Borgorosso Football Club	Luigi Filippo D'Amico
	So Long Gulliver	Carlo Tuzii		Saimel Bandas Sonoras / 3996810 / 2005
	The Deserter	Burt Kennedy
	Le coppie (Man and Wife)	Mario Monicelli, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio De Sica
1971	Marta	José Antonio Nieves Conde		Chris' Soundtrack Corner / CSC 041 / 2023
	Devil's Ransom	Piero Sciumè		Saimel Bandas Sonoras / 3996810 / 2005
	The Light at the Edge of the World	Kevin Billington		Quartet Records / QR176 / 2014
	Puppet on a Chain	Geoffrey Reeve		Silva Screen / SILCD1519 / 2017
	A Girl in Australia	Luigi Zampa		GDM / CD CLUB 7024 / 2004
	Seven Murders for Scotland Yard	José Luis Madrid		Beat Records / CDCR 29 / 1996
1972	The Seduction of Mimi	Lina Wertmüller		Cinevox / CD MDF 628 / 2008
	The Mattei Affair	Francesco Rosi		GDM / GDM 4209 / 2011
	Watch Out Gringo! Sabata Will Return	Alfonso Balcázar, Pedro L. Ramirez
	The Scientific Cardplayer	Luigi Comencini
	The Monk	Ado Kyrou
1973	The Nun and the Devil	Domenico Paolella		Digitmovies / CDDM015 / 2004
	The Lonely Woman	Francisco Rovira Beleta		Saimel Bandas Sonoras / 3995510 / 2004
	My Brother Anastasia	Steno		Beat Records / BCM9597 / 2022
	Lucky Luciano	Francesco Rosi	Epic ECPB-274: Underground Sketches
	A Way Of Being A Woman	Pier Ludovico Pavoni		Saimel Bandas Sonoras / 3995510 / 2004
	Story of a Cloistered Nun	Fernando Cerchio		Digitmovies / CDDM015 / 2004
1974	God Under the Skin	Carlo Alberto Pinelli, Folco Quilici		Quartet Records / QR471 / 2021
	All Screwed Up	Lina Wertmüller	Traffic Boom	Beat Records / CDCR 113 / 2011
	Appassionata	Gianluigi Calderone	Cinevox MDF 051: Strano Mercoledi' 2 / La Chatte	Quartet Records / QRSCE028 / 2011
	Kidnap	Giovanni Fago
	The Kiss	Mario Lanfranchi		Beat Records / CDCR 30 / 1995
	Swept Away	Lina Wertmüller		Beat Records / DDJ016 / 2012
1976	Dog's Heart	Alberto Lattuada		Beat Records / BCM 9539 / 2014
	Illustrious Corpses	Francesco Rosi		GDM / CD CLUB 7013 / 2002
	Chi dice donna dice donna	Tonino Cervi		CAM / Digital / 2023
1977	This Is the Night	Carlo Di Carlo		CAM / Digital / 2022
1978	Professor Kranz tedesco di Germania	Luciano Salce		Beat Records / DDJ010 / 2011
	The Witness (1978 film)	Jean-Pierre Mocky		Music Box Records / MBR-052 / 2014
1979	Christ Stopped at Eboli	Francesco Rosi	CAM AMP 221: Cristo Si E' Fermato A Eboli (3:06) / Cristo Si E' Fermato A Eboli (2:33)
	Upcoming… Marsch!	Luciano Salce		CAM / Digital Only / 2022
1980	Catherine and I	Luciano Salce		CAM / Digital Only / 2022
1982	Fighting Back	Lewis Teague		Quartet Records / QR230 / 2016
	I Know That You Know That I Know	Alberto Sordi		GDM / CD CLUB 7075 / 2009
1985	I Am an ESP	Sergio Corbucci		Digitmovies / CDDM288 / 2018
1987	Chronicle of a Death Foretold	Francesco Rosi		Virgin / CDV 2441 / 1987
	A Taxi Driver in New York	Alberto Sordi		Digitmovies / CDDM278 / 2016
1990	L'avaro	Tonino Cervi
1992	Acquitted for Having Committed the Deed	Alberto Sordi
1998	Logjammin'	Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

External links

• Piero Piccioni at IMDb
• Official website
• Discography : http://www.discogs.com/search?q=piero+piccioni&btn=&type=all