Carlo Mombelli: Angels and Demons

AAJ: With Angels and Demons, we also see the return of the guitar to your ensembles as Keenan Chas Ahrends joins the group.

CM: I wasn't keen to use guitar again with the piano, because I always find that pianists and guitarists clash. But Keenan and Kyle played together many times. And then I did a trio gig with Keenan, and the way Keenan played I could just hear in my music. He plays sparse; on the album, there's this piece called "The Ghost of Norcia." Norcia is a place in Italy, it's where they developed the art of making prosciutto and salami. It was hit by the earthquake, and flattened. And I went there with my wife. Little shops had survived, but it was extremely sad. There was a ghost there, and I could hear the sound of the guitar. I love the sound of the open strings on a guitar, and it just complements the way Kyle plays.

My daughter did the album cover for Angels and Demons. I told my daughter about what I'm doing. From my youth are these demons that created all this music. But I'm married now for thirty five years, I've got an incredible wife and beautiful kids. There are so many beautiful things, and there's this energy between my angels and demons. I said that they work off one another, and they push together to create the beauty in my compositions. So my daughter drew this with an ink pen. You can see my angels and my demons pushing together, and they're pushing into this form of beauty.

Selected Discography:

Carlo Mombelli's Abstractions, On the Other Side, (Shifty Records, 1988) Carlo Mombelli and Charlie Mariano, Happy/Sad, (ITM Pacific, 1990) Johnny Fourie, Solo, Duet, and Trio, (Sheer Sound, 2002) Carlo Mombelli and The Prisoners of Strange, When Serious Babies Dance, (Instinct Africaine, 2003) Carlo Mombelli and The Prisoners of Strange, Theory, (Instinct Africaine, 2010) Carlo Mombelli, Abstractions Retrospective, (Self Release, 2013) Carlo Mombelli, Stories, (Instinct Africaine, 2014) Carlo Mombelli, I Press My Spine to the Ground, (Mombelli Music, 2016) Carlo Mombelli, Angels and Demons, (Instinct Africaine, 2018)

Photo Credit: Reza Khota

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