Gaetano Letizia: News

Guitar Santa (aka Gaetano in costume) has released the long awaited Christmas Jazz Jam CD. The CD has all the cool arrangments including every type of jazz fusion imaginable except polka jazz, that's not working right just yet. Available on CD BAby! or call me direct or email or pony express me.

The new Jazz Mass "Rhythms of The Hearts" premiered to an enthusiastic crowd of Mass attendees at St. Helen's in Newbury Ohio. Fr. Jay gave a great homily on thanking God for music and imploring all to keep quality and dignity in music.

Next the Mass will be performed at Nighttown this Spring in at "Nighttown Goes To Church". Unlike the actual Mass worship setting, the club setting will be completely unrestrained. Expect musical energy far beyond what we could get away with in Church.

I'll keep you posted!

Gaetano

On July 24 at midnight, we cut a new DVD with seven funk influence blues tunes. We'll be releasing the DVD for sale in September. Email me if you want one. It's smokin'. No kidding! If you don't like this, you need a transfusion of something.

I also almost have the Jazz Mass ready for performance. There's a chance we might record it down at St. John's Cathedral if the acoustics work out. So far the tunes are working well. The Gloria is the best thing I've ever written. Very unique harmonically and compositionally solid. There's nothing out there like it. Most of the good composers are hiding their best stuff becuase the general public is so bereft of musical sophistication. Just listen to what's selling now. Everybody in the business is complaining. I just keep writing. I'll write wilder stuff too. If I have to get to the simple audiences, I 'll use the blues. But watch the Bebop snobs come after me. I can't win. No, I can't lose because I just create, I don't judge. That's for the pharisees. I am a crazy?

I just got together with some old buddies who happen to be outstanding musician to form a new blues/funk group. Bob Huszar (vocals), Tom Scott (keyboard/vocals), Wilbur Krebs (electric bass), Gary Naherny and I have started playing the blues and some hard hitting funk tunes. Everything is so much fun. People are dancing and grooving to this new rhythm engine.
Along with the new blues group, I'm playing solo jazz guitar at the Old Arcade everymonth. Just the old bop standards, sort of like Joe 041407Pass but better (I wish).
I'm finishing up the Jazz Mass for a performance this summer, possibly at St. John's Cathedral.
Email me and let me know what you'd like to see on the website and what you're doing with your music/life.