Calibro 35

Calibro 35 is an Italian instrumental group active since 2007. The line-up includes Luca Cavina, Enrico Gabrielli, Massimo Martellotta and Fabio Rondanini. Their music draws on cinematic classical, funk, funk rock, jazz-funk, neo-psychedelia and nu jazz, and they are closely associated with Italian soundtrack music from the 1960s and 1970s.

Formation and early work

The project begins with research into obscure samples and a growing interest in vintage Italian film soundtracks, especially music from 1960s and 1970s exploitation films. In summer 2007 producer Tommaso Colliva brings together Martellotta, Gabrielli, Rondanini and Cavina to record in Milan at omniaB studios. The group first works as a jam band, playing classic and obscure themes and aiming to keep the original character of the material while giving it a contemporary edge.

The band’s early sound combines jazz, funk, rock, classical elements and improvisation. After the first sessions, it begins writing original pieces that follow the same approach, recreating the atmosphere and style of the soundtracks that inspire it.

Releases and soundtrack work

Calibro 35’s self-titled debut album appears in 2008 on Cinedelic Records. Around the same period, the single “L’Appuntamento” receives radio play, and “Italia A Mano Armata” is also played on traditional and online stations across Europe. The group tours soon after its formation, with early concerts in Luxembourg and Belgium and later dates in Italy.

In December 2008 the band completes its first original soundtrack for the film Said, directed by Joseph Lefevre. The recording is made live during a film projection at Forum Studios in Rome. In 2009 Calibro 35 releases the single “Tutta Donna”, featuring American singer Georgeanne Kalweit on vocals, and records the soundtrack for EUROCRIME, a documentary about Italian crime films.

The album Ritornano Quelli di… Calibro 35 is recorded and mixed in Milan in 2009 by Tommaso Colliva and released in Italy on Ghost Records in 2010. It contains five cover versions, including themes by Piero Umiliani, Gianni Ferrio, Riz Ortolani and Ennio Morricone, plus the library track “Sospesi Nel Traffico” by Stefano Torossi. The rest of the album consists of original tracks written by the band.

Style and later activity

The band’s material is built around detective-film soundtracks, Italian crime cinema and related library music, but it also includes original compositions that follow the same sonic vocabulary. The members are credited as Luca “Nano” Cavina on bass guitar, Enrico Gabrielli on organs and horns, Massimo Martellotta on electric and lapsteel guitar, Fabio Rondanini on drums and percussions, and Tommaso Colliva on sounds and research. The group continues to perform and remains active.