BIOGRAPHY
 
Vincenzo Pastano was born in the south of Italy in 1978, where, at the young age of 8 years he started receiving training in classical guitar and music theory. Throughout the following years he attended the music conservatory and supplemented his musical education with studies in harmony and different guitar playing styles.
Although he was classically trained, Vincenzo soon became interested in the electric guitar and started practicing on both instruments.

 
Throughout his life he never stopped listening to all types of music, from rock and metal to fusion, jazz, blues, folk and contemporary experimental music. One of his key strengths lies indeed in his versatility and musicianship, which led him to become a highly acclaimed and sought after session guitar player in his country and abroad.

 
His recording debut was in 1993, at age 15, with the local cross-over band General Store, while in 1995 he release his first solo demo tape of instrumental blues titled "First", followed by the southern-rock demo " B.S.D." in 1998.
In the meantime, he also formed the band Quasar and released a demo and two CDs in 2001 and 2003.  Quasar also contributed songs to a number of CD compilations that were released throughout the years. Quasar is still active in and around the city of Bologna, and when time allows Vincenzo plays with them.

 
In 1999 Vincenzo released his critically acclaimed debut CD "Zuppa Incontaminata" (instrumental rock/fusion) which received rave reviews in the national press. The following year history was repeated with the release of his instrumental rock/fusion CD "Inquinamento Espressivo". While "Zuppa Incontaminata" was given a Top Demo Award by the magazine Metal Shock, one of the songs from the subsequent CD was selected and won the "Emergenza Chitarre" competition held by the illustrious guitar magazine "Chitarre". The song was re-released in a CD compilation entitled "Emergenza Chitarre" (Playgame Music Rec).
The same month Vincenzo's rock band Quasar won the Moebius Award and Vincenzo was awarded "Best Guitar Player" in the contest.

 
Between 2001 and 2004 Vincenzo Pastano started a series of collaborations with musicians and bands from the Italian music scene which allowed him to extend his reach and turned him into a first-call hired gun musician. Some of these included playing guitar with/for:
- Lucio Dalla [www.luciodalla.it], one of Italy's most respected and best-selling songwriters, with whom he recorded a song for the "Tosca Amore Disperato" musical (Dalla's theatrical revisitation of the famous "Tosca" opera written by italian composer Giacomo Puccini in 1896) arranged and orchestrated by  Beppe D'Onghia (conductor, pianist, writer and arranger for some of Italy's most prominent pop stars, such as Lucio Dalla, Stadio, Luca Carboni, Samuele Bersani);
- Hiroko Kouda [www.nikikai.net], world famous Japanese opera singer and conductor  Beppe D'Onghia [www.beppedonghia.com], who hired Vincenzo Pastano for the "InCanto" project with the  Dimi Orchestra of Rome [www.dimi.it] and Marco Formentini (guitar player with Lucio Dalla);
- Piero Balleggi [www.perrysboogie.com], renowned rock'n'roll singer and piano player of the Emilian region who also worked with Little Tony;
- Radiocity [www.radiocitybologna.com], one of Bologna's historic rock bands (also featuring Ligabue's guitar player  Federico Poggipollini), with whom he recorded the CD "Neuropa";
- the band of Federico Poggipollini [www.federicopoggipollini.com];
- Mauro Patelli [www.mauropatelli.it], guitar player of Italian pop star Luca Carboni;
- Gianni Drudi [www.giannidrudi.com], singer and writer who hired Vincenzo for a TV show;
- Conestogas, a country band of the Veneto area;
- Marcello Forlani, a local singer/songwriter;
- Muppet Suicide [www.muppetsuicide.com], Italy's most booked Guns n' Roses tribute band;
- the official Queen tribute band with Freddy Mercury's official double Fernando Altavilla;
- Il Mio Canto Libero [www.soundspettacoli.com], a Lucio Battisti tribute band;

 
In 2004, Luca Carboni, one of Italy's chart-topping pop stars, asks Vincezo Pastano to join the band for the "Autoritratto live" tour and played Italy's biggest stages. In 2006 they finished recording Luca Carboni's latest studio album. Vicenzo played the only guitar solo on the album, as well as many other rhythm guitar parts, in collaboration with the other guitarist Mauro Patelli.

 
Many new collaborations and opportunities presented themselves to Vincenzo in light of his connection with Luca Carboni. Most notably, Vincenzo also played with/for:
- Ignazio Orlando (bass player for Luca Carboni and programmer/engineer for world famous Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli), who hired Vincenzo to play on the CD "l' Inde vol.2", on  S.D.J. (Suoni di Jato), BMG distribution;
- Roberto Terzani [www.robertoterzani.it] (member of Italy's Top10 rock band Litfiba and their singer's solo project Piero Pelù Band) with whom he promoted his new CD "Roberto Terzani.hits" and opened for Piero Pelù in Florence;
- Frontiera [www.ifrontiera.it], pop/rock band produced by Roberto Casini (previously drummer with Italy's no.1 rock star Vasco Rossi);
- Progetto R [www.progettor.com], alt-pop band who hired Vincenzo for a promotional tour in support of their CD "Giostra" (co-produced by Giorgio Canali, guitar player with C.S.I., one of Italy's historic rock bands);
- BarockProject [www.barockproject.com], prog/rock band from Bologna;
- Stef Burns [www.stefburns.com], Los Angeles-based guitar player for Alice Cooper, Y&T, Vasco Rossi and many others;
- George Mann [www.georgeandjulius.com], New York City-based folk singer/songwriter, who hired Vincenzo to play on his 2006 CD;
- Adrienne Arno, New York City-based singer/songwriter, who hired Vincenzo to play and co-arrange all the guitar parts on her newest album;

 
Currently Vincenzo's main gig is playing guitar with Italian pop-star, singer and songwriter Luca Carboni [ www.carboni.it].
However, Vincenzo also has his own band, Pulp Dogs [www.pulpdogs.it], a five-piece pulp-rock band inspired by pulp culture and directors (Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez).  Pulp Dogs released their debut CD "Songs Of Jealousy" in 2006 and opened for blues icon Elliot Murphy.
Vincenzo also works on a separate duet-project with Pulp Dogs' other award-winning guitar player Antonello D'Urso [ www.antonellodurso.com].  They play jazz, country, bossa nova, tango and Balkan music.

 
Often times, Vincenzo flies to New York City, where he has repeatedly been hired by two-time Grammy Award winning producer and engineer Marc Urselli [ www.marcurselli.com], whose credits include Les Paul, Eric Clapton, Sting, Jeff Beck, Joss Stone, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Luther Vandross and many others. Marc Urselli has chosen Vincenzo's sound and talent for records by several artists he has produced and/or recorded, including, most recently Adrienne Arno and George Mann. While in New York, Vincenzo and  Marc Urselli write and perform together as Past the Mark, an electronic-rock laptop & guitar duo. They are working on their debut CD.

 
Back in Italy, Vincenzo's other projects include playing guitar for  Barbara Cola [ www.barbaracola.com], a singer from Bologna, Italy, who won the prestigious Sanremo Festival in 1995 with the song "In Amore", a duet with singer/songwriter icon Gianni Morandi.
And last but not least, to satisfy his jazz/fusion-throbbing heart, Vincenzo also formed the band Resto D'Istante [ www.myspace.com/restodistante], who played some of Italy's most prominent industry events (DismaMusicShow in Rimini, sponsored by Galli strings company) and concert venues (Klakson, Ferrara).