On Friday evening,18th March, Rick Hutton and his band presented a personal history of Rock at the Barga Jazz Club in via Pretorio.

Rick, born in Liverpool in 1953, had lived through an era where talented musicians of the 60s, 70s and the 80s created an emotional musical crescendo of great creativity. All those present thoroughly enjoyed Rick’s music, many jumped to the dance floor and the air was filled with a buzz as the public remembered with affection the musical panorama of three decades.

Rick, after several experiences, arrived in Italy in 1978. Not long afterwards he got to know Clive Malcolm Griffith at the Ciocco and together they produced enjoyable programmes in English Language Teaching on Elephant TV. Following this, they became two main players in the rising Videomusic born in 1984. From 2011 Rick worked as a presenter of the rising Standby TV. For several years, he presented the Pistoia Blues Festival, the famous festival that takes place every July in piazza del Duomo in Pistoia. For 25 years, Rick has been presenting the Soul Festival of Porretta Terme in Emilia.

In Great Britain, as a young man, Rick formed his first band : the Laurel Canyon. Successively, in Italy, he founded the Groove and in 1988 he published his first album as a soloist. Unstoppable, Rick then formed a new band, the Tracks, with whom he recorded the album What’s the silence about. Today, he performs with a variety of groups, singing and playing guitar.

On Friday evening we experienced The Rick Hutton Band, composed of : Rick, voice and guitar; Gorby Marraccini, lead guitar; Dida and Cora, backing singers; Toni Marchesani, drums; Gherardo Grooveman, Bass guitar; Dock Rock, rhythm and lead guitar.