Louis Cennamo

Louis David Cennamo (born 5 March 1946, Hornsey, North London) is an English bass guitarist.

Career

He played with an early line up of The Herd (1965–66),[1] the original line-up of Renaissance (1969–70), and later Colosseum (1970), Steamhammer (1970–72), Armageddon (1974–75) and Illusion (the reformed Renaissance) (1977–79).[2] He also worked with his colleague from Renaissance, Jim McCarty in Stairway (1986-1995) and the short-lived Bogomas with Barry Wilson and Ivan Zagni from Jody Grind.[3]

The song "Bullet", on the first Renaissance album, includes an extended unaccompanied bass solo by Cennamo.

In 2001 the four key members of Illusion issued the album Through the Fire under the name Renaissance Illusion, which opened with Cennamo's bass-led introduction to "One More Turn of the Wheel".[4]

On 3 April 2014 he performed a one-off gig at the Eel Pie Club in Twickenham with Jim McCarty's "Flip Side" band, which included songs from the two Illusion albums and the Renaissance Illusion album.[5]

Special Edition

For a number of years Louis has played jazz with a variety of line-ups, most recently with Special Edition.

Special Edition was formed by Cennamo as a jazz band and was originally called Limited Edition. They featured jazz poetry written by Angela Elliott and include horn/harmonica player Graham Pike, who wrote the theme tune for the BBC children's show The Tweenies, and a number of their other 'hits'; keyboard player Barry Parfitt, and drummer Tim Stephens. In recent times Angela Elliott has moved away from poetry to focus on her other writing.

Instrument

When playing with Special Edition Cennamo's current (March, 2013) instrument of choice is a Warwick Corvette $$ fretless four-string - a model characterised by its double humbucker pick-up layout. This is a custom-built model whose body is unusually constructed of ovangkol wood - in contrast with the more common swamp ash or bubinga models. The result is a warmth and richness of tone which complements Cennamo's fluid jazz-style playing.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Carol Hynson. "The Official Mick Underwood website - biography of the UK rock drummer". Mickunderwood.com. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  2. ↑ http://mnbvcxzl.tripod.com/index2.html
  3. ↑ "The Musicians' Olympus". Musiciansolympus.blogspot.co.nz. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/renaissance-illusion-through-the-fire-mw0000455130
  5. ↑ http://www.jamesmccarty.com/event/jimmccarty-the-flip-side/

External links