Attaining just the right balance between mellow and titillating, Piero Umiliani was on to a scorcher when he wrote Lady Magnolia.
With a sound that transcends it’s original 1971 issue date, this track whacks out some ultra cool flute melodies and super-fine earthy beats! You can see why this song has been sampled over the years!! It feels like walk in a fantasy park where bubble trees of marshmallow softness are adorned with multicoloured birds and leaves of velvet…or whatever form of escape your mind happens to take as this song whisks you off into dreamy realms.
Although he is best known for his lounge-oriented film scores like Svezia Inferno E Paradiso and Angeli Bianchi…Angeli Neri, Italian composer Piero Umiliani was also a prolific composer of easy listening jazz and pop. Like many of his Italian colleagues at that time, he composed the scores for many exploitation films in the 1960’s and 1970’s, covering genres such as spaghetti western, Eurospy, Giallo, and soft sex films. Although not as widely regarded as the likes of Ennio Morricone or Riz Ortolani, he helped form the style of the typical European ’60s/’70s jazz-influenced film soundtrack that later experienced a revival in films like Kill Bill and Ocean’s Twelve.
Some say that one of the finest album’s he released was his 1971 instrumental double LP, To-Day’s Sound. This adventurous release dishes up 21 tight, punchy instrumentals that fuses lounge, jazz, easy listening and very funky pop hooks all in equal measure. Another notable feat is that it incorporates the then-new Moog synthesizer into a large number of its tracks, adding what would have been (and still is) an exciting and contrasting texture of sound – Not to mention just how funk-filled this record is!!!
Lady Magnolia has become a favourite of remixers on the modern lounge music scene thanks to its effective combination of funk rhythms and sizzling synth lines. Appearing on To-Day’s Sound, the song is one of the album’s 21 jazz/funk offering’s and if you like the sound of this, I can pretty much recommend you check out the rest! This record is packed full of deliciously intriguing and wonderfully groovy instrumental delights; I LOVE it!!!
Listen above and take a listen to the whole album here.
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