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Born in 1967 in Rosario, Argentina, Sergio Mottura has devoted his life to
music. Sergio obtained his degree in music education in Argentina in 1989.
He studied with music masters such as Santiago Grande Castelli, Peter
Press (New York Philharmonic) and Bohdan Sochan (Sochan Quartet). Steve
Harris of Iron Maiden gave to Sergio a different point of view on bass
playing. Jaco Pastorius and Billy Sheehan soon followed.
Sergio's vast knowledge of music doesn't stop at other players' style. His
tremendous ability to explore and perform any style of music is quite
amazing. Thousands of hours as a studio musician and hundreds of live
shows add to Sergio Mottura's experience.
In
1987 Sergio's first band Spectro was very active playing shows in Rosario,
Argentina. Later that year Spectro recorded "The Angel Of The
Castle" album, which include the cut "Nigromante" a song
written by Sergio about the occult. This song became the first local radio
hit for the band. Fellow band mates included singer Daniel Sanguinetti,
guitarist Paul Bessolo and drummer Gustavo Barges. In 1988 Sergio released
his first instrumental demo entitled "The Fall Of An
Idol", which made it to the hands of Anne Leighton, a writer for Hit
Parader magazine. Anne was very impressed with Sergio's playing and
composition skills and started spreading the word in the United States
about the "Argentine bass player".
Sergio's music took a dramatic turn towards instrumental and bass solo
compositions. In 1988 "Bass Solo Live" was recorded at Normal
No3 in Rosario, Sergio's old high school where hundreds of people attended
the show. In 1990 Sergio recorded "That Crazy City" in Sagitario
estudios in Rosario. Once again, this recording made it to Anne Leighton
hands whom strongly suggested that Sergio moved to New York.
Sergio finally arrived to the States on May 25, 1990 accompanied by his
wife Silvina. They immediately settled in Westchester County, New York.
Sergio got to work right away, having a busy schedule. The word spread
around rather quickly that a new bass player was in town. Interestingly
enough the Gulf War broke up and Sergio's first release in the States was
commissioned by poet/writer Jeff King. Sergio Mottura composed the music
for the release of "The Butcher Of Baghdad". In 1991 Sergio
decided to work on yet another instrumental composition called
"Wonderland", which was featured in Guitar Player Magazine's
Spotlight, with an impressive review by Mike Varney.
Victims of Volume was Sergio's first effort to expose his playing joining
an established NYC band. Vocalist Dino Orlando (who had a big following)
lead the band and "Dead Man's Drive" was recorded in 1991.
Parallel to this, Sergio already started working and releasing the first
Bass Pro Tips lessons, which in time would grow to 20 books, 27 recordings
and 2 CD-roms.
Sergio's next two albums were truly musically daring: "Mental
Symphony" (1992); a raw metal album with songs and instrumental cuts,
featuring 17 year old singer Morgan Smith and Paul Bessolo on guitar, and
"Standing Alone" (1993); a collection of bass songs. Both albums
are still available on the market.
Sergio was thrilled to perform with singer/songwriter Rek Anthony during
1993 and 1994, releasing the songs "Valley Of The Kings" and
"Revelation" and the album "Underground." Rek replaced
Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson as the vocalist of the British Quartet
"Samson" in the late 1980s.
"The
Wizard", Long Island's heavy metal child, invited Sergio to record a
remake of James Brown's "I Feel Good" in 1994. Sergio's
fusion/jazz recording and performances were highlighted by the studio work
he did with Bohdan Sochan, one of the most versatile and well-know jazz
pianists and composers in New York.
In 1995 Sergio was expanding his composition style and writing a lot of
orchestral music. He recorded "Melody of Love" which was so
broad that he decided not to release it, in fear that people would
misunderstand the style and this piece of music would go to waist. Sergio
still insists that "Melody of Love" is one of his finest
compositions and that some day will be released.
Mike Grande, probably one of the busiest and most-revered guitar teachers
in New York (nick-named by some of his fans the real Satriani), recorded in 1995 with Sergio "Crusin' On Radio
Airwaves", in Brooklyn’s ATG Studios. They were accompanied on this
album by two talented brothers, Eddie Pearl on keyboards and Mike Pearl on
drums. The result was an outstanding instrumental album, followed by dozen
of shows in some of New York's major venues like The Limelight, The Lion's
Den, Kenny's Castaways and The Pit.
Sergio's most renowned album is "New
Millennium Nemesis." This album was released in late
1997 and took almost a year to be completed. The result is an incredible
collection of songs, instrumental cuts, bass solos, a live track recorded
in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the title track played with classical pianist
Glen Kirchoff (yes, piano and bass, no fuzz, no doubs!). The reviews were
unanimous and immediate, this album was to become a classic, especially
among bass players. The fan response was also amazing, the first release
of "New
Millennium Nemesis" was sold out in just weeks. Sergio
played bass, piccolo bass, keyboards and did backup vocals, and was
accompanied by some of the finest musicians he ever played with, including
guitarist Paul Bessolo, singer Rek Anthony, drummer Don Foreman, pianist
Glen Kirchoff, keyboardist Bohdan Sochan and guitarist Bruce Taylor.
Sergio never stops innovating and having fun with his music. In 1998 he
recorded "Prophecy" at his home studio. A Spanish style
extravaganza of exquisite melodies and tasteful crafted solos. What's so
special about this album? Well, Sergio played piccolo bass throughout.
While mixing this album, Sergio's friend and producer Konstantine stop by
the studio to hear what the fuzz was all about. He listen to one of the
songs and said, "Sergio you've outdone yourself. The music is
great and the tone of that guitar player is great, very warm. He's an
amazing player." Sergio laughed and responded, "There's
no guitar on this recording."
In The Pink, Londin Maye's 1998 downtown-funk project produced a
video and recording, "Live @ Orchard Street." The cool
improvisational nature of this band captured fresh and innovative grooves
and vocals.
Sergio's love for teaching and exploring bass pushed him to create BASS
PRO TIPS. Dozens of books later, BASS PRO TIPS changed bass instruction
forever.
After a much needed 2-year-break from the music scene, Sergio
is back to teaching full-time and he is currently working on more
instructional material.
Sergio was featured in Guitar Player's
Spotlight, and also appeared as an artist and writer in Guitar World,
Guitar, Musician's Monthly, Music Paper, Music scene and Bass Player,
among others.
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