INTERVIEW

In a tribute to Ennio Morricone who passed away last year Jason Sidwell talks to recent GT guest artist, Rocco Zifarelli, who played guitar with the legendary film composer for the last 23 years of his life.

Ennio Morricone passed away on 6th July 2020. Famous for Spaghetti Western scores such as The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, and Hollywood blockbusters like The Mission and The Untouchables, Morricone was renowned for writing unique guitar parts. Jason Sidwell talks to Ennio’s guitarist Rocco Zifarelli, about recording and performing with a music legend.

GT: How did you get to work with Ennio?

RZ: I worked with Ennio Morricone from 1997 until he passed away in 2020. Our work was initiated while I was an external member of the Italian RAI TV orchestra;the bass player and head of the orchestra, Nanni Civitenga, received a call from Ennio, asking him if he knew a good guitarist. Luckily, Nanni mentioned my name. Our first work was a recording session for a movie soundtrack and when I received the call, I was both surprised and terrified. Ennio was renowned for his intolerance towards mediocre musicians and I knew he had been quite hard on previous guitarists. He was always very particular with players who performed his music. The first guitar part to record was a double melodic line: one to be done normally and the other one with harmonics, some natural, some artificial. The group was small, just guitar, bass, drums and piano. We were to play above the recorded orchestra with a reference metronome. Ennio was directing from the control room and we started reading the parts only; initially I didn’t know what he wanted as there was no information on the part. So I used a very wide and ambient sound as I thought that was the best option to blend well with the orchestra. To read the melody better, I used Bill Frisell’s technique; harmonics shaped by the volume pedal. After having rehearsed the first piece all together, Ennio asked us to play individually. At that point I began to get a bit concerned, as if it were an examination. When I played my part, he looked bewildered, and asked me to play again. Then he said to me, “Wait, I’ll come over there.” I began thinking he was going to kick me out, and asked me to play in front of him again. Then he put his finger on the part and said: “No, these are two guitars and two separate lines: you have to record one line first and then overdub the other part”. There was not any indication like ‘guitar 1’ and ‘guitar 2’. So I played the first part and then the second with the harmonics. He said to me, “very good!” For the second piece I played exactly what was written but in a less artistic way; I was less myself, sticking to the part. When he asked me to play the piece alone it was okay for him. But I said, “Maestro, can I play in another way?” So I played it more legato in a light and airy way. Then he came over again, took the part off the music stand and said, “I don’t give a shit about the part, play whatever you want!” He encouraged me to be myself. That was a baptism for me. That evening, he called me at home, since it was a two-day session, and said: “Rocco, very well done, good job. See you tomorrow!” Then the session organiser called: “Great Rocco, you have conquered the Maestro!” I was flying at that moment!