Jimmy Villotti: “a cross between Frank Zappa and Flaiano”

Jimmy Villottiwho passed away in Bologna on December 6, 2023, was a great guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter and writer.

Little known to the general public, the musician from Emilia (born in Budrio in 1944) played in Paolo Conte’s orchestra for ten long years, but he “lent” his six strings to Lucio Dalla (of whom he was a great friend), to Guccini, Lolli, Vanoni, Morandi, Stadium, Endrigo, Carboni, Vinicio Capossela but he also worked as a producer for the Skiantos.

As a soloist he has nine albums to his credit (between 1978 and 2004) ranging from rock opera to jazz, but also eight books (published between 1988 and 2014). To tell the story of his precious work, giving him the right credit and (re)discovering a figure worthy of attention, a collection will be released on September 6 (in digital and 2CD – 2LP – colored limited edition) from the title “Jimmy Villotti”, which explores his artistic career in 24 songs, including rarities and unreleased tracks.

On the occasion of the release of this compilation, Paolo Conte (who also dedicated a song to him) wrote the following, remembering his precious collaborator:

Listening to his works, I wondered when – and in what state of mind – Jimmy had discovered hermetic poetry and, in general, hermetic language. Because in this non-convulsive hermeticism he must have found himself very well, perfectly at ease. Jimmy, such a good friend with everyone, brilliant, witty and communicative, when he spoke (and wrote) to himself used this language that to many might seem strange and not easily decipherable. But if we deal with him as a musician we can – perhaps – understand better. One day Lilli Greco, the great, historic producer of RCA told me: ”You know, Paolo, for Jimmy the guitar has no secrets”. This lack of secrets, which had allowed him to play on any type of guitar, had led him to choose his favorite (I think a ’50 Gibson). To those who attributed a unadorned and colorless sound (if not a faded rust) he would say ”Villotti plays dirty”, with a mixture of awareness and pride. A guitar, then, hermetic, suitable for hermetic paths, where the background color is just a faded rust. I remember that sound well, as I will always remember him

A few months after his death, the institutions of Bologna also decided to commemorate him. The mayor of his city, Matteo Lepore, awarded Villotti, giving it to his wife, the Turritta d’Argento prize with this motivation:

Jimmy Villotti embodied the essence of Bologna, a creative city of music: a great eclectic and ironic artist, capable of moving in different fields, always excelling and collaborating with the best talents of various generations of jazz, the passion of a life to which he gave so much, and of Italian author music, from the Bolognese Lucio Dalla, Francesco Guccini and Andrea Mingardi, as well as of course Paolo Conte and Vinicio Capossela and many others. A guitar with a unique sound, a man who always had swing, an engaging personality who could not leave anyone indifferent and who left an indelible mark on the cultural history of the city.

To remember him in a discographic way and from a strictly artistic point of view, a double album entitled “Jimmy Villotti” is released. The choice and realization of this work is curated by the Bolognese Mauro Malavasi, historical author and music producer, linked to Lucio Dalla but protagonist creator, although paradoxically behind the scenes, of important moments in Italian music, ranging from soundtracks to Italo Disco, from Andrea Bocelli to many illustrious singer-songwriters: Morandi, Mango, Nannini, Antonacci, Pavarotti among others.

Between Villotti and Malavasi it is friendship at first sight, since they were kids but also a professional matter. Therefore, as a deep connoisseur of the guitarist’s work he had the right qualifications to deal with this compilation. So it was and so he tells us how this work has (meritoriously) seen the light also speaking to us about Jimmy, man and musician

It was necessary to make this collection. I have been friends with Jimmy since I was a child, since I was 12 and we attended the Conservatory together. I was lucky, privileged to be able to experience him almost daily because we were both from Bologna and neighbors. Knowing each other so early, since school, we shared many chats, many speeches, much music and many battles. Then we had mutual friendships with Dalla, Guccini and Conte. He was a bit like an older brother to me. And so an acquaintance and neighbor it was inevitable to hang out with him. Then through Renzo Fantini (Paolo Conte’s historical manager) I also had the fortune of working on Jimmy’s first records between the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s: “Jimtonic”, “Jimmy Villotti”, “Trust me I have the fez”, “Cesar Ruby”. We encouraged him because he was a very shy, reserved guy. He had this great talent, but he didn’t really like exposing himself to great consensus. He’s always been a very sociable guy but also reserved, artistically shy, so in the end I thought it was really my duty to do this job because, beyond the friendship, I consider him a great artist.

What criteria were used to create the compilation?
Gathering a bit of everything that has been done in fifty years of this man’s life and also some unreleased material, because there are also unreleased material that had been in the lab for a while and that we exhumed, post-produced and mastered. The album was born a bit, if you like, from my feeling and from the history that accompanied it, his historical moment, his putting himself on the line, because, I repeat, he has always been a shy man, but from a certain point in his life, after about 10 years of working with Paolo Conte in his orchestra, I felt that he had this need and desire to testify his path, his things outside of all the trappings and diktats of the market, of the marketable and of marketing. I have always felt in Jimmy the prototype of a pure artist, outside of any type of conditioning of fashion, of contemporaneity, of everything, so this has always been the thing that attracted me and that I have always considered one of his characteristics. This was the driving force that also pushed me, beyond the great esteem I had for him, to put his works, his path, down on paper.

But from an artistic point of view, as a soloist, what language did he use, what language did he have?
(Laughs) I wouldn’t call him a singer-songwriter in the usual, canonical sense of the term. He’s an artist in music and words. For me he’s a modern, cultured, ironic and free creative, let’s say freed from every cliché and convention. And for this he’s always amazed and fascinated me.

Instead, when he played with other artists, especially with Conte, what did he say, what did he have to tell?
He was always a great guitarist, very personal, very skilled, so he put himself at the service of others. Lucio (Dalla) himself, who was a good friend of both me and Jimmy, if he had to go to a quick concert or a convention or something like that, he took Jimmy with him. It also happened in Ferrara and Venice when he went with a hat to play in the street and had Jimmy with him. So Lucio had a great respect for Jimmy, so much so that he agreed to do a duet, which was not a given.

Duet that is present in the box set. But the common denominator between Dalla and in some way also Paolo Conte and Jimmy could be jazz? Can we define Villotti as a jazz artist?
Yes and no! In my opinion, of course Jimmy can be a jazz artist, but he reaches his artistic peak when he combines music and words. Because in music there is jazzy, pop, blues, the experiences with Paolo Conte, with Guccini, with Lucio Dalla, with Morandi and with Capossela. The greats have always considered him as a sideman, but in my opinion the artist Jimmy Villotti is a champion precisely with the author’s music. He reaches his peak in this area by bringing a wide musical vocabulary where there is not only jazz but all its culture.

How difficult was it to produce?
It was very easy and very difficult. Easy to think about how to do it, difficult to put it into practice. His way of approaching the album was his alone. Sometimes I am reluctant to talk too much about his music, because the pleasure is in listening to it alone and everyone feels what they want, because the music says everything, the words say everything. Inside there is a world that each of us metabolizes and receives. It could only have been like this, it’s not like there were many alternatives on the lyrics or on his music. His way of approaching was absolutely personal.

His shyness and also his artistic choices led him to derail from the canons of pop music, from the marketability and ease of diffusion of his music. Was this a choice that he somehow paid for and wanted? Or was it like this and could not be otherwise?
Jimmy has never been too fond of crowds, gatherings, too much. He has always been a bit hesitant about this, so much so that at twenty he won a Radio Montecarlo competition with a group called Jimmy MEC and the first prize was a contract with Fonit Cetra that guaranteed the artist an album with the entire project complete. He refused it (only one single came out) because he considered it too commercial for his parameters, for his vision of life. So this already tells you what kind of head he had at twenty. He has always followed his path with honesty and dignity.

What else could he have done?
He did everything. A musician for everyone, he wrote books, songs and music. He is an artist, let’s say 360 degrees. For me he is a cross between Frank Zappa and Flaiano. because he had a great culture. He read and was curious, he was interested in ancient history, he loved literature and philosophy, he wrote a lot, he did many things, he was passionate about all aspects of life. At the same time, however, he was also shy, in the sense that he had the fortune, but also the misfortune, of collaborating with or always having great artists around him. So he felt inside himself that he didn’t have the courage to do his things. He wondered how he could approach a market like that of Lucio Dalla, Paolo Conte, Morandi or Guccini. Maybe, even if he never confessed it to me. He thought of himself as a very humble person, not even capable, instead he had great strength. He was able to do everything: he would play a blues and he would also play a tarantella or a song by Ornella Vanoni. I mean, that’s not the problem. The problem is that he felt this additional inspiration, so he definitely had to do more, he had to say more, even if as I repeat I always pushed him to write and record. Come on, go, write. But he was reluctant, hesitant about not being up to that thing, instead in the end it was exactly there that his talent will reveal itself.

Did he learn more from the great artists he collaborated with and then brought back into his artistic world or did others learn a lot from him?
In my opinion it is a mutual thing, because Jimmy certainly learned and acquired many things, but also he gave so much to others as a human being because even when he was not integrated into the specific music, in that song, in that note, he as a man had an integrity and a very rare humanity and brought positivity everywhere. Everyone who knew him loved Jimmy. He had the charismatic power of the man.