Marcello Carelli - The Era (2022)

My debut release is the culmination of my first four years as a composer, with seven of the eight tunes being my original compositions. This memorable era was filled with challenges, tension, and uncertainty. However, I believe this time in my life has only been a vehicle for my creativity and self-growth. I had little desire to write music four years ago, but I now look forward to each time I get to sit down and compose at the piano or the drums. From slow ballads with cyclical harmony to up-tempo afro-cuban arrangements, “The Era” captures the rhythmic and harmonic authenticity that I strive for as a young artist.

“Marcello Carelli’s debut outing is courageously melodic, gentle, warm, smart, and yes…Resilient! Embedded in the music is both a sincere reverence for tradition and an honoring of the present. Carelli’s leadership provides steady, yet sensitive musical guidance, and the band’s performance and interpretations are equally mature. This group is unafraid to swing, bop, whisper, walk, strut, “sing”, and serve whatever the musical moment asks for.”

~John Daversa, multiple Grammy Award winning trumpet-player and composer

“Marcello Carelli is a rare triple threat: talented drummer, bandleader, and composer, and it really shows in his wonderful debut album “The Era”. With beautiful original compositions and inventive arrangements of standards, Marcello and this talented band of young musicians play with creativity, energy, and maturity. Marcello’s virtuosity as a drummer is clearly evident, but always in deference to the music. A fantastic first effort by a musician to watch out for!”

~Martin Bejerano, pianist for Roy Haynes and Russell Malone