Tony Mottola- Roman Guitar

Hey it is Friday (As of the writing of this post, it is really Sunday and I am banging out this week’s posts).  But here we are with another one of my favorite record labels, Command.  This was a dollar. I got it for the song I am going to post.

Here is a collection of songs produced by Enoch Light and led by Command’s number one guitarist, Tony Mottola (not to be confused with record exec and Mariah Carey’s ex Tommy Mottola ).  Born in Kearny, New Jersey in 1918, Mottola was a well respected sessions guitarist, working with Frank Sinatra and Perry Como among others.  His work included thousands of albums as a session player as well as 50 records of his own as well as some time with Doc Severinsen’s band on the Tonight Show. His technically mastery primed him for a position with Command Records. Mottola would die in 2004 after suffering a stroke.

This may have been his second album for Command under his own name.  Released in 1960, it is a collection of Italian songs that take advantage of Mottola’s Italian heritage as well as his signature guitar sound.  I ran into the same problems as I did with the Wildcat album this week, whereas the sound on one channel was not coming in as strong.  This leads me to believe there is something wrong with my recording setup.  Otherwise, it is a fine album of instrumentals.

For a sample, I am going to use the one I always use, “Anna.” It is one of my favorite songs.  You can see the original in the link below.

Link to earlier post about “Anna”.

Anyway, ok album.  Satisfactory