biography

Dino started studying the bass at the age of fifteen a long time ago, since his technique has never stopped developing to the point where he is now considered among the best bass players in Italy.

He formed his first band in Torino at the age of eighteen but it's only when he came to Rome in 1972 that he started working in the music scene.

He played as a session musician in studio and on tour with all the major acts in Italy, people like Claudio Baglioni, Riccardo Cocciante, Alan Sorrenti, Gianni Morandi, Patty Pravo, Linda Lee, etc.

In the late seventies he played with "Libra" one of the very few italian 'Jazz-Rock' bands that have ever sold appreciable amounts of records in the United States.

All during the eighties he has joined Nino Rosso's (a superstar trumpetist) orchestra and has toured with him worldwide. In the meantime he has been working as an arranger at the Italian National T.V. Station, the R.A.I on many of it's shows.

Finally in 1990 he decided to work on his first 'solo' album, a very ambitious project called "Summit".

"Summit" is a blend of ethereal mediterranean atmospheres and jazz.

LIBRA

A unique case of an Italian band signed with the US label Motown, Libra were formed in Rome in 1973 from the ashes of Logan Dwight, with a line-up including two former members of that group, Federico D'Andrea and guitarist Franco Ventura, along with Sandro Centofanti on keyboards (from Buon Vecchio Charlie), Nicola Di Staso on guitar and David Walter on drums.

After an early split, the group reformed in the autumn 1973 to play in the musical Jacopone, with bassist Claudio Barbera (also from Logan Dwight) replacing Ventura. it was during this period that they came in touch with producer Danny Besquet, who offered them to find a recording deal, and at the end of the tour a stable line-up was formed, with the entrance of bassist Dino Cappa, with which they recorded a demo at Sonic Studios in Rome.
With that demo they managed to obtain a contract with Ricordi, and recorded in Milan in the autumn 1974 the first album Musica e parole, an English version of which was recorded at the same time.

The album was issued in February 1975, essentially a rock album with large use of acoustic parts and some jazz-rock and funky influences, Musica e parole has some PFM similarities and a few interesting prog moments, like in the 13 min. long closing track Inquinamento (originally sung in roman dialect and later renamed Pollution in the US version). The album was promoted with an Italian tour supporting Banco del Mutuo Soccorso in the spring of 1975.

In the meantime the producer Besquet managed to have a contract for 10 LP's with the US label Motown, using the already recorded English-sung version of the album, which was issued in the USA with the title Libra. One of the album tracks, the funky Beyond the fence, was sung in English even in the original LP version, and was recorded live or with fake audience overdubs.
The group, with the new drummer Walter Martino (ex Ritratto di Dorian Gray, Reale Accademia di Musica, Goblin), rehearsed during the whole summer of 1975 for the American tour, that started in Los Angeles in October, including concerts with Frank Zappa, Tubes, Chicago and Steppenwolf.

In the US a new album was also recorded, but in December 1975 the group flied back to Italy and, after contrasts with the producer, broke up.
The second album, Winter days nightmare, much more commercial than the previous one and with strong (obvious considering the label) funky influences was released in the USA in the spring 1976, but was unsuccessful.

A final Libra line-up, including keyboardist Maurizio Guarini from Goblin and guitarist Carlo Pennisi from Flea, released a third album in 1977 as a soundtrack to the film Schock (Transfert-Suspence-Hypnos), by director Mario Bava, much in Goblin style, before disbanding.
Federico D'Andrea died in 1978, run over by a car.

DISCOGRAPHY LIBRA

LP

Musica e parole - Ricordi (1975)

Libra - Motown USA (1975)

Winter day's nightmare - Motown USA (1976)

Schock (Transfert-Suspence-Hypnos) - Cinevox (1977)

CD

Schock (Transfert-Suspence-Hypnos) - Cinevox  (2001)

Musica e parole - BMG (2003)