During his career, a musician doesn’t just play. A big part of his job is listening, above all what they like, but also what appears on the market, and what might suggest new ideas. For this reason, every musician has a collection of engravings, which also welcomes gifts from colleagues, often the result of equal exchanges.
This is also how the “Gianni Basso” Musical Fund, that the family of the great jazz player from Asti passed away in 2009 he decided to donate to the city. The fund thus arrived in 2018 at the Astense Library “Giorgio Faletti”. Now the fund arrives on loan for free use all‘Monti’ Institute of Asti which has among its fields of study the dance-music high school.
«The fund – he explains Donatella Gnetti, director of the Astense Library – is made up of 1,042 titles, but in fact there are many more music CDs. It includes records from all over the world, not only of jazz, but also of classical, lyric, swing, rock and world (from Taiwan to Eastern Europe, passing through Japan, Ireland and Latin America) ». In the background there are also many recordings by the same Bass, recently reissued and not easy to find because the jazz circuit is not always integrated into digital platforms. But many other titles also belong to eras and discographies that have not entered the digital world.
«It is a very important fund – adds Gnetti – which demonstrates the great musical culture of Gianni Basso, truly at 360 degrees. The Piedmont Region understood its value and enthusiastically provided a contribution for its conservation. We are happy that Asti has a musical high school, and for the kids it will be important to be able to draw from such a valuable collection of records. We thank the family for entrusting it to us, and their son Gerry Basso promised to recover other treasures soon ». And he underlines: “Whoever donates to the Library, even by joining the initiative for the adoption of shelves, invests in a noble way because it has an impact on the whole city”.
Gerry Basso, record producer, indicates: «Thank you for giving me the opportunity to spread the musical culture, a good that must be shared with everyone, especially young people, who love music but know only a part of it. My commitment and that of my family does not end here: we intend to continue the retrieval of record material and we intend to collect as many albums of my father as possible to consolidate his memory and give the opportunity to listen to his music to those who have not been able to know him and appreciate”.
The Library Council decided that the collection could become a “sound library” available to students, for guided listening and in-depth analysis, with targeted enhancement and wider use than the Astense headquarters. The head teacher of the “Monti” Giorgio Marino he remembers: «This is a piece that enriches not only our educational offer, but which constitutes an added value for the city. The fund will be placed between the school library and the multisensory laboratory. We are preparing listening stations, because in addition to conservation it is important to be able to use it, not only by students. The CDs will not be subject to home loans, but we will study ways so that interested citizens can consult and listen to them easily. It will be a way to further enhance the memory of an illustrious Asti citizen ».
To facilitate consultation, the catalog will soon be published on the school website (www.istitutostatalemonti.edu.it). To listen to the records, an appointment can be arranged with the school at 0141 / 17.71.630.