Joe Castellano

Joe Castellano is  my favourite Sicilian artist. I love his great personality . Thanks to him  I have learned a lot about music and wine .

I had a special lunch with Joe Castellano, who is called “Dr. Joe”,  at “OceanoMare” during  my Christmas holidays in Sicily,  This is  a gorgeous pub & restaurant nestled on a quiet beach looking out to a marvellous tract of clear blue sea in Agrigent, Sicily!

Enjoying that pleasant atmosphere with Joe Castellano between an octopus salad and a glass of “Franciacorta wine”, I listened intently as he described the beginning of his passion, which is music! Follow me ! Read my post about a life dedicated to a man who loves what to do!

The history of Joe Castellano 

Musician, composer and arranger of international fame, Joe  Castellano has been  now in the limelight of Italian blues since 18 years. He has led his “Joe Castellano’s Super Blues Band” on the most prestigious stages of the best music festivals .

From year 2004, he and his own “Super Blues & Soul Band”  were awarded as “Best European new original Big Soul Band” by the “National Italian Radio – RADIO 1 RAI” – and by so many international radios and legendary American artists.

In the June 2009 his last double live record “Blues & Soul with my Latin side” was  inserted  in the special hit “Top 25 album of the year” for the biggest “American Blues/Soul Radio”, “Blues Critic Soul Radio”.

His success in America

Joe Castellano took up a career as musician when he was only 14 and after several experiences, always connected with black music.

In 1994  he debuted with his  “Super Blues & Soul Band” together with its special guest, the American sideman Arthur Miles (nephew of Jack McDuff and contributor to the first Zucchero‘s releases). During the summer of the same year, he performed the opening act for the great king of soul Solomon Burke.

The  “Super Blues Band”

Since many years Joe Castellano has been regarded as one of the most representative musicians of European “Soul/Blues Music”. He has reached such a high level with his “Super Blues & Soul Band”, that it has aroused enthusiasm also in the most expert public and in the most exigent critics in the world.

Active since more than 18 years on the blues stage, Joe Castellano has played with and has hosted in his band some leading international musicians, such as:

• “The Blues Brothers”;
• “The Holmes Brothers”;
• Johnny Adams,;
• Sherman Robertson,;
• Eddie Floyd;
• Sugar Blue;
• Pee Wee Ellis;
• Matt ‘guitar’ Murphy;
• Al Mckay;
• Chris Cain;
• Lenny Castro;
• Keisha Jackson;
• Bobby Durham;
•  Arthur Miles.

Famous collaborations in Italy

Joe Castellano  sometimes hosted in his shows also some of the best  Italian Soul/Blues Musicians, such as:

• Roberto Ciotti; 
• James Senese;
• Giulio Todrani (Giorgia‘s father);
• Paolo Belli.

Joe Castellano has performed the opening act for :

• Solomon Burke (1994); 
• “The Blues Brothers”, (1995 and 2003);
• “Earth Wind and Fire”  (2006 and 2007).

Since 2003 he has been awarded “Best soul performer in Italy” by “Radio 1 RAI”every year . Moreover, he was finalist in the prestigious “International Songwriting Competition” (Nashville), which is a festival devoted to the best composers in the world.

His performance in Europe

Joe Castellano performed in the best Italian and European blues festivals from Nancy to Munich for many years. 

Since 1995 he has been organizing promotional events and side-events for “Blues & Wine Soul Festival”, playing in some celebrated theatres and famous cities such as: Rome, Naples, Florence, Milano, Taranto, Cesenatico, Trieste, L’Aquila, Ruffano (Lecce), Agrigento, Lamezia, Palermo, Cefalù, Siracusa, Marsala, Noto and many others. 

Joe Castellano took also  part in and organized several concerts all around Italy and abroad, such as: 

• “Agrigento Blues Festival” (1994); 
• “La Ferrari e la Musica” (2006)

Since 2010 on he has also presented the show “Joe Castellano & The Super Soul Legends”.

“Blues & Wine Soul Festival” of  Joe Castellano  started in  Sicily 15 years ago. Its aim was, and still is,  not only to revive  the best of the worldwide “Blues & Soul Music“ performing  an itinerant circuit through Europe, but even to export wine & good excellences from Sicily to Italy and from Italy abroad.

This is done by programming the realization of workshops, conferences, meetings with the wine-makers and journalists  during the days of his shows in Italy,  Europe and in the USA.

Joe Castellano and his love for Sicily

Joe Castellano wrote sound tracks for important films during last years contributing to spread the best essence of what it means to be Sicilian:

• Character, passion, determination, kindness .

Mixing Sicilian and  soul music for first time, he  discovered and renewed  the authentic and genuine Sicilian spirit through his innovative notes.

The song of Joe Castellano for Francesco Lama. a Sicilian film director

An example of the successful  attempt of Joe Castellano  is a list of beautiful tracks written for the soundtrack of two important films directed by the Sicilian Director Francesco Lama:

• “Lo Sposalizio” (“The Sicilian Marriage”):  with the songs “Circannu Amuri” (“Looking for some kind of love”), “A Caminata” (“The Walking”) and “Rosa” ;
• “I Siciliani” :  with “Juliette”, Old images”, “I wanna talk you about a woman”, “Rosa”.

It’s really difficult to sum up his carreer of Joe Castellano , who is also   a manager at the “Administrative Court of Agrigent”. 

Joe Castellano, freedom is to be able to choose!

At the end of December, I  had a special lunch with  Joe Castellano  and other nice friends at the amazing restaurant “Arrhais” in Finale di Pollina .

I asked him : “could you give up your present job to go on only with music?”. His  answer was clearly:  “No”!

Music is pure art!

As he  said, one of the biggest challenges facing musicians is generating income, because  a band could rely solely on music sales and touring to earn a living! The worse risk is  to submit music to the law of market.

Joe Castellano likes to see himself as an artist much more than a musician, because he is a free spirit looking for that intimate sense of beauty.

The essence of  his kindness  is his poetry called  “Sunny”, which is about the traditional tomatoes farming in Sicily with the vivid images of an hot and  pleasant working day.

Bye Bye Joe Castellano , see you soon in Sicily!