Piero Piccioni (Italian pronunciation:[ˈpjɛːropitˈtʃoːni]; December 6, 1921 – July 23, 2004) was an Italian film score composer.
A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 300 film soundtracks. He played for the first time on radio in 1938 with his “013” Big Band, to return on air only after the liberation of Italy in 1944. “013” was the first Italian jazz band to be broadcast in Italy after the fall of Fascism.
Early life
Piero Piccioni was born in Turin, Piedmont. His mother's maiden name was Marengo, hence his pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957.
Piccioni made his radio debut at 17 with his 013 Big Band in 1938, but only returned on air after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His 013 was the first Italian jazz band to be broadcast in Italy after the fall of Fascism.
He was influenced in the use of jazz by 20th century classical composers and American films. Directors he liked included Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and John Ford. Additionally, he admired film score composer Alex North. He began writing songs of his own and was soon able to get some of his works published by Carisch editions.
Piero Piccioni came into contact with the movie world in Rome during the fifties, when he was a practicing lawyer securing movie rights for Italian producers such as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called Piccioni to score a documentary film directed by Luigi Polidoro, one of his apprentices. Piccioni's first score for a feature film was Gianni Franciolini’s Il mondo le condanna (1952). He consequently changed his lawyer's "toga" for a conductor's baton. He developed close-knit working relationships with directors Francesco Rosi and Alberto Sordi, and established strong personal and professional bonds with them.
Piccioni won many prestigious prizes including the David di Donatello Award for the movie Swept Away (1975), Nastro d’argento Award for the movie Salvatore Giuliano by Francesco Rosi (1963), Prix International Lumière 1991, Anna Magnani Award 1975 and Vittorio De Sica Award 1979.
His song "Traffic Boom" was featured as the song for the fictional Logjammin' movie-within-a-movie inThe Big Lebowski.
The song "It's Possible" from "Il Dio Sotto la Pelle" was sampled by Hollywood JB for DJ Khaled's "Jermaine's Interlude" on his Major Key album featuring J Cole, as well as on Isaiah Rashad's Headshots (4r da Locals), and Lucki's "Waiting On". Many other samples have been used from his vast body of work in recent years, especially from Camille 3000, Amore Mio Aiutami, Il Dio Sotto la Pelle, Anna Karenina (TV series) and Colpo Rovente, among others.
His music is compiled into playlists in all platforms and is extensively sampled by the lo-fi community.
In 1953 Piccioni was falsely implicated in the Montesi scandal, after a conspiracy designed to force the resignation of his father Attilio from the highest positions in the government (he was Foreign minister at the time). On dubious information, journalists spun fabrications that he had been present, close to a villa near a beach where a girl was found drowned, allegedly after a party (which in fact never took place).
Piccioni was acquitted in Venice in 1957 together with others after lengthy trials and tribulations, and his accusers were eventually sentenced for slander and calumny. To this day this case is known in Italy as one of the first events in post war history where 'la macchina del fango' or the mud machine' was used as a means for political régime change.
Death
Piccioni died in Rome on July 23rd, 2004 from unknown causes.[1]
