Il Balletto Di Bronzo

Il Balletto di Bronzo (The Ballet of Bronze) started as the Naples beat group Battitori Selvaggi (Savage Batters), becoming Il Balletto di Bronzo in 1969. Their debut LP Sirio 2222 (1970) is acclaimed as the first Italian prog album, although it was clearly a product of the 1960's, ranging flower-power pop through to experimental freak-out. Although no musician credits are given it is known that keyboard wizard Gianni Leone (ex-Volti di Pietra and the pre-Osanna band Città Frontale) joined during the sessions and features on about half the album. Some themes from the LP and the song "Ti risveglierai con me" were made in collaboration with well-known musical maverick Piero Umiliani, and feature in the soundtrack to Mario Bava's psychedelic Giallo film Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970).

From the original band only Gianchi Stringa and Lino Ajello continued here on, relocating to Rome, adding bassist Vito Manzari, with Gianni Leone becoming a fully-fledged member. This quartet spent the next year composing and developing YS (1972) - one of the landmark symphonic rock albums of the 1970s, a grand opus in five parts that is extremely complex and powerful.

After the band split Gianni Leone continued as a soloist (working under the name Leo Nero at one point) releasing a number of albums. He also more recently in 1996 reformed Il Balletto di Bronzo along new musicians performing a repertoire from YS and his solo albums, in a more modern heavy style.

1969-70
o Marco Cecioni – vocals, guitar
o Lino Ajello – guitar
o Michele Cupaiolo – bass
o Giancarlo "Gianchi" Stinga – drums

1971-73
o Gianni Leone – keyboards, vocals
o Lino Ajello – guitar
o Vito Manzari – bass
o Giancarlo "Gianchi" Stinga – drums

2020
o Gianni Leone – keyboards , vocals
o Riccardo Spilli – drums
o Ivano Salvatori – bass