Ex Orchestra Conductors

Tony Vella

In the year 1983 Tony Vella has been the First director of the Brass Group Band.

The first formation was made of a section of 5 trumpets (Nico Riina, Pietro Pedone, Fabio Riina, Giovanni Maniscalco and Giuseppe Zaffuto), a section of four trombones (Giuseppe d’Aquila, Salvatore Pizzo, Salvatore Pizzurro and Pietro Piazza), a rythmic section (Riccardo Dallo Cardillo to the piano, Gianni Aguglia to the Guitar, Filippo Rizzo to the Bass, Seby Alioto to the battery and vince Favara to percussions) and two singers (Beppe Vella and Flora Faja).
After their international debut to the 7th Messina Jazz Meeting (7 September 1984), Tony Vella as the conductor of The Brass Group Big Band collaborates with international renowned musicians as Archie Shepp, Ernie Wilkins, Mel Lewis, Sam Rivers, Toshiko Akijoshi, Paolo Lepore, Franco Cerri. In the same time he does many concerts in southern Italy, receiving many appreciations.

The second formation (1984-1985) was composed of a section of 5 trombones (Giuseppe D’Aquila, Salvatore Pizzo, Salvatore Pizzurro, Pietro Piazza, Giuseppe Sapienza), a section of 5 saxophones (Orazio Maugeri, Claudio Montalbano, Stefano D’Anna, Larry Nash and Antonino Pedone) and a rythmic section (Salvatore Bonafede to the piano, Gianni Aguglia to the guitar, Giuseppe Costa to the Bass, Giuseppe Cataldo to the battery).