Trovajoli, Armando

(1917-)

   Musician and composer. After learning to play the violin at home as a child, Trovajoli graduated in piano at the Conservatory of Saint Cecilia in Rome before undertaking further studies in composition under Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. He was, however, most attracted to jazz, and by the age of 20 was playing with some of the best Italian jazz ensembles of the period. After the war he continued his career as a jazz pianist and had occasion to perform with such internationally renowned musicians as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and Django Reinhardt. In the early 1950s he began an extensive series of recordings while at the same time working with Piero Piccioni, presenting regular jazz programs on national radio.

   Although already introduced to composing for film by Lavagnino himself, Trovajoli's first real foray into music for cinema was the song "El Negro Zumbon," which Silvana Mangano sang in Alberto Lattuada's Anna (1951) and which subsequently became a huge international hit when released as a single. From this point on, Trovajoli's crowded career alternated between performing and directing music himself, writing highly popular musical revues such as the legendary Rugantino (1962), and composing the soundtrack of literally hundreds of films. He worked at various times with practically all the major directors (with the notable exeption of Federico Fellini), including Vittorio De Sica, for whom he scored La ciociara (Two Women, 1960), Ieri, oggi, domani (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, 1963), and Matrimonio all'italiana (Marriage Italian Style, 1964), and Giuseppe De Santis, with whom he collaborated on the war epic Italiani brava gente (Attack and Retreat, 1964). He established an especially close relationship with both Dino Risi, for whom he scored over 30 films, and with Ettore Scola, contributing the music to all of Scola's films and winning the Nastro d'argento for Una giornata particolare (A Special Day, 1977) and La famiglia (The Family, 1987) and the David di Donatello for Ballando ballando (also known as Le Bal, 1983). At the same time he also embraced all the popular genres, writing the music for everything from Toto and peplum films to horror and Western all'italiana movies.

   With over 300 film scores to his credit, Trovajoli continues to be one of Italy's most acclaimed film composers. His international popularity was underscored by Quentin Tarantino's decision to incorporate a section of Trovajoli's score for the spaghetti Western I lunghi giorni della vendetta (Long Days of Vengeance, 1966) in his Kill Bill, Vol. I (2003).

   Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema by Alberto Mira