Passion for music, but also for United States of AmericaThis combination has led to the last forty years Sergio Polito, in music Sir Joe Polito, to play, record, and gain recognition. Born in Venice in 1960, but living on the mainland, a former banker, but above all an inspired and sincere musician, who offers a vibrant genre of music rich in strong atmospheres, seasoned with a very distinctive and profound voice.
Two albums released in the nineties with the blues rock group B-Wops, Rhythm'n'rollin 1994 and Italian Boots in 1999 and many concerts around. Just as many albums, in the current decade, as a soloist My Friend Ry in 2021, then the recent Black & White, still strongly characterized by typically Made in USA sounds. Here Sergio Polito is accompanied by Gianni Spezzamonte at the bottom, Danilo Scaggiante on tenor saxophone, with whom he already played in the B-Wops band, Marco Campigotto to the battery e Alberto Boscolo Agostini on electric guitar, mandolin and slide guitar, plus another guitarist, Carlo De Bei.
On the last page of the rich internal booklet of Black and White there are a couple of particularly significant sentences: “This album is about life, my life, my family. It starts from everyday reality, a journey in search of my dreams, of our dreams..
Sir Joe Polito, How important were the B-Wops, some of whom also accompanied you on this latest adventure?
The B-Wops still existFor 40 years, but I actually started a little earlier, in the sense that I've always been interested in acoustic music, fingerpicking, American country blues, and I played alone with a few friends. Then the opportunity arose to form this group. There have been some changes, but the core group has been there for about forty years. And let's continue, come hell or high water! We're doing fewer concerts, probably because there are some older people with health issues coming through, but that hasn't stopped me from re-engaging in a more personal conversation.
With the group we made two albums with Courmayeur Music Club, a small record company that no longer exists. They made records by emerging Italian and American artists. Then we participated in a few compilations. As a solo artist, I made my first album at the end of 2021, that is, in the midst of Covid, an album always made in the branch Gutenberg of CaligulaIt was called My Friend Guy and it was a tribute to Ry Coder, my long-time favorite artist.
I covered 12 songs from his repertoire, but only two are actually his own; he reinterpreted the rest himself. We remade them in a slightly different way, and also with some famous guests. The second album has fewer guests because it's more of a band effort.
Coming to what came out this year, this strong American characterization continues, where does this passion come from?
When I started playing the guitar, we used to go to the Lido with friends and there was always someone who played better than me, so I asked my friend if he could record me a cassette with various songs from De Gregori and Guccini, that we used to listen to and he recorded a cassette for me, only I put it on the wrong side and three songs came out of it Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, from the live For Way Street… I remember the amazement very well: From there, a whole new world literally opened up to me!
But not just metaphorically, because in the new CD there are many photos "on the road in the States"...
There are two important things in this album, in the sense that after the Covid period we were able to move again and I returned to America with my children, now grown up. We went for three weeks in California and Oregon and, once we returned, this trip made me want to write some songs, to take up some of the melodies again.
The other thing is that at the end of 2023 I had heart surgery for a deformity I didn't know I had. I stayed home for a long time and couldn't go out or play. Then I discreetly started writing the songs, which I recorded at my house. I showed them to a friend, Alberto Boscolo, a guitarist from Chioggia, who took care of the guitar arrangements.
Drummer Marco Campigotto was also important, characterizing the songs with his rhythms. This is also how the idea was born, which moves between California, personal memories, my family, my children, and poems. I included two, one by a very dear friend of mine, Alessandro Spinazzi, and another from my father-in-law, who is no longer with us and which was dedicated to my children.
Another great passion I seem to have is Tom Waits, right?
In fact the other song I put is one that Tom Waits He's never recorded it; he made a video of it, which is circulating on YouTube, when he was young. They may remind the attentive observer of the original, but they're actually very personal. It also seems like a very distinctive voice.
Records aside, are you still able to play music around?
2026 will be a pretty busy year. We already have dates for August and October, and a few things are opening up… But even before that, Sunday, December 21st, we play in Verona at the Garden, a very important club by the way, who asked me if I could play Ry Cooder, that is, 3 years after the album came out.
Finally, what else does Sergio Polito have in mind to record next year?
This one just came out and I've gotten a bit of a taste for it, so for this evening I wrote three songs, essentially elaborating on the poems of Spinazzi, a fairly well-known character from Marghera, and I wrote other songs. Maybe it will be something even more minimal, maybe just with two guitars. There was some satisfaction, because, after three months, We have also already reprinted Black & White!
