ABOUT

Pino Presti, byname of Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta, has distinguished himself as one of the most significant personalities of the Italian music business, he ranges between different musical genres, pop, jazz, funk, latin music, dance, considered an example for current musicians and producers.

Son of art (his father Arturo Prestipino Giarritta was a well known violinist), began studying piano and music theory at the age of 6. He started to play bass guitar professionally at the age of 17, with his Ampeg B-15 amp, after learning the instrument from self-taught, developing his special technique with pick or thumb. Pioneer of electric bass, he was probably the first to play a Fender Jazz Bass in Italy.

His talent, a considerable groove in his bass lines and a unique sound, immediately led him to collaborate in the 60s with major Italian pop artists, including Mina (the most famous Italian pop singer) who demanded him for all her recordings and tours from 1971 onwards also as an arranger and conductor up until her last public apparances in 1978. For the singer Presti arranged and conducted 86 tracks and several legendary albums, including some masterpieces like: “Grande, Grande, Grande”, “E poi…”, “L’importante è finire”. Presti composed four songs for Mina: “Tentiamo ancora”, for the album “Frutta e verdura” (1973), “L’amore è un’altra cosa”, for “Mina” (1974), “Amante amore”, for “Mina con bignè” (1977), and “Bignè”, for “Ridi pagliaccio” (1988).

In 1976 Pino Presti released and produced for Atlantic Records the Album “1st Round”, considered the first funk-dance production in Italy and one of the most innovative albums of the 70’s in the Italian music scene.

During his prolific career on recordings on stage as bassist, composer, arranger, conductor he has collaborated with some of the biggest names in Italian and international music scene, like Mina, Gerry Mulligan, Astor Piazzolla (the bassline in the famous composition “Libertango” belongs to him), Shirley Bassey, Quincy Jones, Wilson Pickett, Franco Cerri, Ornella Vanoni, Milva, Stéphane Grappelli, Maynard Ferguson, Tullio De Piscopo, Aldemaro Romero, Ellade Bandini and many others.

Presti is currently active with new productions and reinterpretations of his successes like “Funky Bump” , “You Know The Way”, “Disco Shitân”, “To Africa / Soul Makossa”, “You Know Why”, licensed to Best Records Italy for Special Extended Vinyl Edition.

In 2009 Pino Presti released and produced on Edizioni Musicali Curci, “A La Costa Sud (La Musique De La Côte D’Azur)”, a compilation album that consists of 3 CDs performed by 28 vocalists and / or instrumentalists who are from various continents and nations but who regularly play in theaters, clubs and festivals in the French Riviera.

In 2011, he composed a five hours soundtrack comprising music of different genres for Grand Heritage Hotel Group (and for its related media). These genres range from classic jazz, to nu jazz, bossanova, world music, and ambient music.

In 2013 Presti co-produced the album Shirley Bunnie Foy (60th Anniversary), consisting of seventeen tracks performed by jazz vocalist Shirley Bunnie Foy in her 60 years career. The album includes such noted artists as The Dell-Tones, Tony Scott, Archie Shepp, Franco Cerri, Lou Bennett, among others.

In 2014 Presti composed, co-produced and released, under the pseudonym Mad of Jazz, the album Deep Colors, with the collaboration of keyboardists, synth programmers and composers Claudio and Andrea Calzolari.

In 2016 he has composed the music for the Advertising campaign 2016 of Scavolini, an Italian kitchen and bathroom products designer and manufacturer. ( “Wikipedia-Ref” ).

In 2019 he composed the music for the book (+Audio cd) “Eco nel vento”, by Italian poet Tania Cantone (ISBN|978-88-94866-19-3).

In May 2023, the vinyl album ‘’Pino Presti & Garden Planet – Sharade’’ was released by Private Recordings & Best Record Italy also digitally uploaded on the main streaming platforms: Open.Spotify, Music.Apple, Deezer, Amazon, SoundCloud and many others.

In December 2023, is published on YouTube the music video “Pino Presti – Incontri di valore” (1:30 length) containing, in addition to some compositions performed by Presti himself, several of his collaborations made over the years with notable artists such as Mina, Astor Piazzolla, Gerry Mulligan Shirley Bassey, Franco Cerri, Aldemaro Romero, Enrico Intra, Augusto Martelli, Roxy Robinson + the bonus track “Nessuno mi può giudicare” sung by Caterina Caselli. The video, although not made for commercial purposes, attracted the interest of the online music daily Rockol, which included it with a feature article among its news of the week.
(Taken from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia)

Born and resident in Milan for a large part of his life but always a lover of the sea, in 2004 he landed in Nice.

To be cited inevitably, also the discipline of Karate that has earned Pino Presti san the 5th dan black belt in Shotokan Karate obtained in 1987, after 20 years of training with Master Hiroshi Shirai.