MOVING is Danilo's first and personal aptly-titled CD: thirteen songs about his life-changing experience in England and the conclusion to move back to Italy, all written during a break from his usual non-stop working schedule where he decided to give himself a sort of high priority and leave the job behind for a while.
With the invaluable collaboration on drums of great musicians like Elio Rivagli and Andrè Ceccarelli, MOVING reveals a totally different direction from his highly-extimated past works, the start of a new road perhaps.
===============
Danilo Madonia was born in Genova, Italy to wonderful and proud parents. He excelled in his piano studies at the Antonio Vivaldi Conservatory in Alessandria and the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin. As a musician Danilo enjoyed a successful touring and recording career in Italy for more than 20 years, working with some of the most famous Italian artists (Ron, Renato Zero, Francesco DeGregori, Fiorella Mannoia, Anna Oxa, Eros Ramazzotti, Double You, Eugenio Finardi, etc). This enabled him to expand his knowledge of keyboards, programming and sound design.
After a period of further study, Danilo applied these skills to projects requiring both scoring and arranging. Coupled with an innate and extensive understanding of technology, he extended his portfolio of work to include mixing, sound engineering and producing.
In 1997 Danilo started a collaboration with well-known pop-rock British band "The Moody Blues" as a keyboard player, arranger, mix and mastering engineer. Since then 'The Moodies' have produced two studio albums, two live 5.1 DVDs and live CDs. For his essential contributions, Danilo has been credited as "unofficial member and producer" (All Music Guide).
In an interview in Music Connection Magazine's October 10th, 1999 issue, Justin Hayward, The Moodies' songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist said, "Madonia's contributions had more of an impact on our music than any of The Moodies' previous keyboardists".
Reviews of Moodies' records where Danilo collaborated as musician, arranger and engineer:
"Strange Times", the group's most consistent album since "Long Distance Voyager", emphasizes strong melodies and lush arrangements, showing the Moody Blues to be ultimately, finally, content with their identity - Ian McGrath, Barnes & Noble
"December" is an album about the spirit of Christmas but it sounds more like another chapter in the Moody Blues' legend .... it's beautifully orchestrated and produced .... as the latest Moody Blues album (...) it's unlike anything else out there - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
"Lovely To See You - Live at Greek Theatre" ... the audio quality is exceptionally good as well, and the annotation is reasonably thorough, right down to identifying every instrument used by the musicians, including their amplifiers - Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
"Hall of Fame - Live at Royal Alber Hall", The sound is very good, also a major surprise given that Royal Albert Hall, where it was recorded, is notorious as a poor venue for rock concerts - Bruce Eder, All Music Guide .... It's a good-looking DVD and one that sounds superb - James Anthony, WebWombat
Read more...