Alberto Baldan Bembo, a Milan-born multi-instrumentalist of Venetian heritage, was a gifted vibraphonist, organist, pianist, arranger, and composer whose career spanned jazz, pop, and film music. By the early 1960s he was performing with leading Italian ensembles such as I Menestrelli del Jazz and Bruno De Filippi’s group, soon becoming an in-demand session player. He later toured with Mina, experiences that sharpened the cinematic sensibility which would define his soundtrack work throughout the 1970s.

Originally released in 1969 on CGD, Io E Mara was the debut album from the young maestro. Conceived as the soundtrack to an unmade film, it unfolds as a continuous suite of ten tracks tracing a single day in the lives of two lovers. Lounge, bossa, and jazz motifs intertwine with Baldan Bembo’s piano and organ, Mara’s airy vocals, and atmospheric sound effects of waves, seagulls, and rain. Contributions from Bruno De Filippi (guitar, sitar), Carlo Milano (bass), Rolando Ceragioli (drums), and Pasquale Liguori (sound effects) complete the ensemble.

A sophisticated yet intimate work, Io E Mara offers an early glimpse of a composer who would soon join the ranks of Italy’s golden age of soundtrack and library music. Its cult status is further heightened by the striking pop art cover designed by Guido Crepax.