Born in Rome from a soprano opera singer, Paolo decided to follow the footsteps of his musically acclaimed father, the three time Oscar nominee Carlo Rustichelli. Following his study of composition and orchestra conducting at Accademia Chigiana, as well as classical piano studies , Paolo bought the synth ARP 2600 and an organ Hammond C3 starting his "eclectic" career as a "virtuoso" classical piano player, a session man and a soundtrack composer. Aged 16, composed and recorded the rock-progressive album "Opera Prima" for RCA record label. That album is considered a rock-baroque masterpiece by some critics.
As a performer and arranger, has recorded with the top European Pop music artists. In 1995 released the solo album "Mystic Jazz" ( called Capri in the US release ) which was the first Italian jazz-rock album to be released worldwide by PolyGram records. In 1997 released in the US through Island Records "Mystic Man" which featured the legendary Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Andy Summers and the disco diva Jill Jones. In 1997, Gavin and R&R reported the song "Paisa" from the album "Mystic Man" having reached the Top 10 on the U.S. NAC chart (Smooth Jazz).In 2002 has composed and produced for Placido Domingo's Sacred Songs album the song "Kyrie". His last album "Neopagan" completely made with a state of the art "Plug Ins" technology released in July 2006 entered with the song "My Geisha" the top ten position in the R&R charts. As a Movie score composer has scored more than 100 movies.
"Neopagan is my first entirely solo album , except for my own voice takes,
all the rest was recorded with the aid of computer's digital plug-ins. As
for my previous album , with the exception of "Opera Prima" , I think
the best way to describe and listen to this music is to look at it as an
imaginary soundtrack compilation record. Most of the songs were composed and
recorded between Rome and Los Angeles during a period of eight years.
This album is dedicated to celebrate in music my love and
devotion for the divine universal forces and for the One , the unknown creator
of all."
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