Matt Bianco ready for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival free concert
Matt Bianco is a UK group formed in 1982 by Mark Reilly (vocals), Danny White (keyboards) and the late Kito Poncioni (bass), all originally members of the band Blue Rondo A La Turk, they are known for their jazz, Latin style music.
Listen to the Steve Taylor interview with Mark Reilly.
For their first album "Whose Side Are You On ?" they hired polish vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska.
Her vocal arrangements gave the album a jazzy dimension that Reilly and White couldn't anticipate and hits like "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed" and "Half a Minute" turned Matt Bianco into one of the biggest acts of the 1980s .
In 1988 they hired Gloria Estefan's husband and producer Emilio Estefan and recorded the album "Indigo", which included the singles "Don't Blame It On That Girl" and "Good Times". Another song "Wap Bam Boogie" became European dance single of the year.
The bands name suggests that Matt Bianco is a personal name, but Matt Bianco is a fictitious character they invented from the spy, secret agent world that laid the concept for their music and imagery. "We loved spy TV themes and film scores from the 50s/60s/70s" said Mark Reilly
Matt Bianco will be performing at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival tonight at 8pm. The seven piece band will be playing most of their hits.
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