Mario Calandrelli drums, percussions

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Mario Calandrelli drummer, percussionist, internet-based recording musician, computer - drum machine programmer, educator, clinician, music typer & engraver, was born in Venosa, a small pleansant town lied in the bed of a lake - basin, in the North - East of Basilicata (a region in the South of Italy). His beginnings are very similar to a lot of other famous music mates' ones, drummers and no drummers. While still very young he demonstrated a gift for rhythm and music. The fateful meeting with drums occurred when he was only three years old. While attending a family wedding he was dazzled by the sight of the drums. There was, in fact, the typical band cheering up the party. The next day, using pot lids, boxes and washing powder bins he began practicing. Soon he was able to reproduce accurately the drum parts he heard on recordings he used for his practice sessions: at the age of four, he was already able to play along the records with an excellent time keeping.

When he was eight years old, Sandro Barbano a adear family friend who wished to assure that little Mario's passion would not fade, convinced his parents to purchase his first real drum kit. He perceived the little Mario's music abilities and his natural talent, and even pleaded willing to give Mario as present a drum set. For years he studied his instrument seven / eight hours a day, which enabled him to achieve an excellent technical level.

At age of eleven years, his formal studies began. He took drum lessons with Fulvio Angelotti, and then harmony and solfege lessons under a local teacher's guidance.

His talent for drumming and music in general, made him be involved in different music situations: from the music folkloristic ensemble and the band of his secondary school to groups with different stylistic directions.

Later, he enrolled in the Umberto Giordano music conservatory where he studied for one year, under the direction of Prof. Antonio Santangelo (the well known Italian drummer Clemente Santangelo's son), and later at Timba, a well known roman school for drummers and percussionists, studying with Beppe Giampietro and Paulo La Rosa.

By the time he completed his high school and resolved to dedicate himself completely to music and drums which became his life by now.

In October 1996, he moved to Boston to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music to study with peers like Rick Considine, Skip Hadden, Jon Hazilla, Ed Kaspik, John Ramsay, Ron Savage, Casey Scheurell and Steve Wilkes (about drums), and, Sa Davis, Ernesto Diaz, Joe Galeota, Jamey Haddad, Victor Mendoza, Mikael Rinkquist and Bobby Sanabria (about percussion). In addition he had the opportunity to study with the great Gary Chaffee, considered one of the greatest drum teachers in the world, a real drum guru.

During his staying in Boston, he was able to record several cd's (as drummer and / or percussionist) by students from Berklee or local coming up artists, and he played in several prestigious pubs and jazz clubs in Boston and New York.

In January 2000 he released his first solo record entitled The rhythms of my life (self - produced, with 15 tracks). The making of it is a very important target and, in the same time, a starting point in his career. It takes him towards a major musical maturity and sensibility. In the mean time, it represents the attainment of the first step in his career. This cd reflects who Mario Calandrelli was at that time, and, also it expresses the musical assumptions where the New Mario Calandrelli would have grown from.

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