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of days with just a few takes, and there in that studio with “Juba Dance”, we became
really brothers. Really blues brothers and we came together first in Europe,
continental Europe, then UK, then in the States, then in Canada and Guy Davis did a
lot to me. In some way he gave me the degree at the University of Blues. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, I'm not joking. I'm serious about this.
BiTS: [Laughing] That's a really lovely expression. I love it.
FP: [Chuckles] Thanks. Because when I was playing at Guy’s side, I can feel that the
blues was in him. Probably,
he’d say, oh, no, no, I'm just a
performer. Just a blues player
but I'm not a bluesman. But
probably the blues is in his
DNA. Also, if Guy himself
doesn't want to admit it
[chuckles] because he always
jokes , “Oh, I'm from New York
City, the only cotton I picked up
Fabrizio and Angelina
was my underwear when my
mother was yelling at me when
I was a teenager.” But he really has the blues inside deep and big and huge.
BiTS: You made a few records in between, but then a little later on in 2017, you
made “Sonny and Brownie’s Last Train”. I have to say I'm a great lover of Sonny and
Brownie. I saw them many times live and I've always been delighted, particularly
with Sonny Terry's playing. It was such a shame when they broke up, especially
under the conditions when they broke up, not speaking to one another. What made
you want to do that album?
FP: We have to thank Angelina because the idea for the album came from Angelina.
One night, she told me, I've seen you and Guy playing together many, many times,
and of course, I love it when you play together. And so I think that you two need to
do a record dedicated to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Nobody has done it yet,
so you have to do it. You and Guy are the right musicians to do the record. But Guy,
in the beginning, was not so happy. He said, I don't think that the world needs a
tribute to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, but I said to Guy, “Okay, you live in
New York. I live with my wife. So please let's do the record over here.” So Guy and
I stayed for two days in a recording studio in Milan and recorded all the songs live
in the studio. We don't have much time, so we also rehearsed all the songs in the
studio. I always made a joke and said, our album has the same budget that The
Rolling Stones had for their breakfast during the recording of “Blue & Lonesome”
[laughs]. But we put there all our passion, love and respect for those two wonderful
musicians. Sometimes during the recordings, I felt like that Sonny and Brownie were