Artist description Tom Salvatori, guitar, is the composer of the lullabies featured on this mp3 site. Tom has collaborated with prominent arrangers to add additional instrumentation to each piece with the goal of creating beautiful, timeless standards that will be enjoyed for generations to come!

Music Style guitar based lullabies

Musical Influences Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Eric Tingstad, David Qualey

Similar Artists Steve Hackett, Eric Tingstad

Artist History The lullaby CD featured on this page and on lullabymusic.net came into being after years of serenading my own children to sleep at night. Please visit lullabymusic.net, which features the full background of the CD.

Group Members Tom Salvatori plus various featured arrangers

Instruments Classical Guitar, plus assorted background instrumentation

Albums Late Night Guitar

Press Reviews GUITARIST HOPES HIS MUSIC WILL BE TIMELESS by Jane Charmelo, LOMBARDIAN NEWSPAPER, 2002. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom Salvatori wants his guitar music to be heard and enjoyed, yet he doesn't "fret" over spotlights and fame. The Lombard resident and composer wants to be remembered as having written "timeless standard" pieces that will sound the same both now and in the future, without regard to generation or era. That, said the composer, is the reason his music doesn't contain words, because "lyrics put a time and date stamp on a song." "Instrumental music, he added, "is where I go for a timeless feel." Salvatori has just released his sixth CD, "Late Night Guitar," and he was featured in the Lombardian and Villa Park Review back in 1995, after recording his first CD, "Under Cover of Darkness," which introduced a few well-placed microphones, a guitar, and an August thunderstorm in Lombard. The self-taught guitarist, who picked up a guitar in his early teens and played with a few bands back in his high school and college days, said back then that he was influenced by the sounds of Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, and others, and still maintains that rock music definitely left its mark on him. However, to listen to "Guitar," one might wonder where that influence appears, because the music is slow, fluid, and more suitable for the "rock" that lulls a baby to sleep. In fact, it's the lullaby effect of the music that Salvatori said he is trying to achieve, with his own unique style, because, after searching around, "Nobody is really focused on that market." Rather, he added, most CDs are typically "a compilation of standard and traditional lullabies." Not that he started out as a lullaby composer, necessarily. Recording his music was mainly due to a desire to capture - for prosperity and his family - the songs he'd written late into the night, "lying on my back in bed, looking up at the ceiling fan." You see, Salvatori can neither read music nor write it down, and "I had so many things in my head, I needed to document them somehow." So he had his music recorded, "primarily for documentation," he reiterated, "to give the kids something to remember down the road." After all, he continued, pointing to his head, "It's all up here. If I get hit by a bus, it's gone." Salvatori sold some 800 copies of "Darkness," which he said his brother, (production artist and arranger) Mike Salvatori, affectionately referred to as "doodling." The guitarist then moved forward with his second CD, "Tucker’s Lullaby," a 1996 release, which he said was more "fully developed," but more importantly, was dedicated to the memory of his friends' baby boy, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Salvatori said the CD was a personal gift to his friends, along with sale proceeds going to SIDS awareness. It also served as "a healing process for me, and for him and his wife," he stated. "Lullaby" became one of a series of catalysts for the guitarist. Salvatori realized then, that "there are not a lot of guitarists that look for the quiet side of the guitar," and that became a serious focus for the musician. He discovered, too, that with no time for performing - "my kids were my audience" - recording became "a creative outlet for me." "I fell in love with recording," he added. His brother Mike added an "ensemble" (synthesized) version of the title song's guitar solo track to the CD, which would later help pave the way toward adding other instruments to Salvatori's pieces. Salvatori recalled the next few years, 1996-97, as "a difficult period in my personal life," which, he added, "has a tendency to manifest in your hobby. "Salvatori described his 1997 release, "Invoking the Veiled Reference," as "minimal and raw," "presented as they [songs] were originally composed," yet "soothing and melodic." It was a time of reflection about his life, the guitarist shared, adding that also during this time, Mike pointed out to his younger brother that his music was full of "Tom-isms." Not having a clue what that meant, Salvatori said his brother never did define specifically what a Tom-ism was, except, he added with a chuckle, that Mike was "as evasive as he could possibly be." However, he figured out that it meant his guitar style was "unique," but admits that "I never really understood that I had a 'style.'" Again, here was an opportunity for self-reflection. Many of Salvatori's songs use minor chords, and when this was pointed out to him, he responded that "minor chords," in his opinion, "are natural tranquilizers." The music "is a mirror of life," he continued. "When you can't express things in words, sometimes it comes out in music." In 1998, "Whispering for Your Attention" was released, and this CD, for Salvatori, was a "transition" of sorts, when his outlook took a more positive turn. Some of the music was written during 1997, and "leaning into nineteen ninety-eight," so certain songs were melancholy; but others, he said, were "pretty upbeat - for [my guitar style]." All in all, he summed up, "Whispering" was a "turn-the-corner CD." With the creative juices still flowing, "Walking the Rider-less Bike" emerged in 2000, sold through the Web-based MP3.com. It included some songs from his previous CDs, and Mike's ensemble version of the title song. The guitarist explained that he began uploading his music onto the Internet, "for people to listen to," and he began reaching a larger audience. "I made a lot of friends," Salvatori continued, adding that "a lot of people were 'kicking the tires' and listening." The Internet forum was now proving to be a catalyst, too. The CD's title and title song were inspired by a friend's participation in a bike ride for AIDS, Salvatori related, and it commemorated "those who cannot ride anymore." Once again, he donated proceeds from sales of the CD; this time, to AIDS research. Also in 2000, Salvatori launched his independent web site, www.lullabymusic.net, and he began toying with the idea of adding other instrumentation to his solo guitar work. The guitarist invited other artists to contribute their own instrumental arrangements to 19 songs, letting them know he was looking for arrangers, who would help create "a beautiful, timeless standard." Salvatori indicated, too, that "it had to have magic." Folks from all over, including Italy, California, New York and Tennessee, offered their contributions, and the seeds of "Late Night Guitar" were planted. Mike got involved when the guitarist presented his brother with what he thought was a complete product. "When I thought I was finished, the project had just begun," Salvatori said, adding that Mike told him, "'You haven't even started yet!'" "My brother was the 'evil' producer. His ear heard something completely different," Salvatori quipped, adding with a laugh that, looking back, "instrumentally, it was all over the map" with varying musical quality and sound. "He took the project away. I told Mom on him," the guitarist joked. Mike became the "editor" for the upcoming CD, as Salvatori described, and his brother's input included the idea of using real instruments in place of the synthesized sounds created by the majority of contributors. While that sounded like a great idea, Salvatori said that Mike "made me give the bad news [to contributors] that the arrangements were being cut from the CD! "On a more serious note, the guitarist realized that "he [Mike] wanted to bring a thread of similarity and continuity to it." "We had many discussions" about which pieces to use, he recalled. The CD was narrowed down to 13 tracks, but some of the original arrangers' music was retained. For instance, Laura Saunders, of Lombard, arranged three of the pieces, and Salvatori was pleased that Mike chose to keep all of them. Salvatori recorded his guitar solos at Perry Mascetti's Audio Access studio in Glen Ellyn, and while the recorder and cello parts were recorded in Nashville, Tenn., the remainder of the instruments were added at Mike's studio in Chicago. Besides the Nashville work and Lombard's Saunders, other local talent can be heard on the CD, including Natalie Kellner (oboe), from the western suburbs; Gary Polkow (piano), of Warrenville; and Eileen Heise (flute), of Lombard. In fact, Salvatori credited that Heise is considered to be "one of the most sought-after flute players in the western suburbs." Salvatori admits that "there were setbacks along the way," but finally, the CD came together, and the finished product was released earlier this year. But not before Mike fine-tuned the music, Salvatori quipped, describing his brother as picky, like "the Mikey in the Life [cereal] commercial." "It's hard to have a big brother in the business," he said, noting that his brother is a music producer by profession. Then, it was a matter of getting the CD out in public, and Salvatori said that "Guitar" can now be purchased at Anderson's book stores (Naperville, Downers Grove and Elmhurst); and Morning Star (after he sought some 'endorsement' from his parish priest), Beanstalk and Gwen's Hallmark in Lombard. Ultimate Hair in Lombard has been playing the CD for customers, and so has St. Germain's chiropractic office, Salvatori said, where some 20 copies have been sold. All together, Salvatori has sold about 120 copies of "Guitar," and he hopes his CD will make appearances in such stores as Borders, Barnes and Noble and The Baby's Room. By featuring the CD outside the immediate community, Salvatori said he is looking to add "the next layer of distribution." The CD can be purchased and heard on Salvatori's Web site, which has had over 30,000 visitors from all over the world. He joked that while people from France were frequent visitors three months ago, the current country boasting many visits is the Netherlands. "I must be the U-2 of the Netherlands," he said with characteristic humor. Some 10,500 visitors have listened to "Guitar," and according to the guitarist, "the Internet orders are starting to come in." And while the guitarist has developed a following, and is considering performing live, he joked that he's "lost" his two older boys to their own typical teenage music preferences. However, he shared, Louis, his youngest son, still wants to hear Dad play the guitar, because "that's his way of falling asleep," Salvatori said. The artwork on the CD cover was created by Lombard resident Stephen Ravenscraft, and the guitarist said that it captures "the intimacy of sitting on the bed, playing my son to sleep." All told, looking back - from a thunderstorm to a lullaby, from a microphone in the living room to a series of trips to the recording studio - the guitarist's philosophy is that the reward of making music "had nothing to do with the footlights at Carnegie Hall, celebrity, or glowing reviews in the papers." "I didn't understand it right away, but after countless nights of playing my little ones to sleep, I slowly came to realize that I had received all the validation my music would ever really need. "Salvatori said he has some 20 new pieces he's looking to record, which is not surprising, because he plays nearly every night, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. When he goes off by himself to play quietly, "my wife will tell you, it drives her crazy!" he said with a laugh. But for Salvatori, the sleepless nights spent composing "Late Night Guitar" were worth it. He feels confident the CD will turn out to be the "bull's eye" he was aiming at; a "timeless standard," and for once, he thinks Mike "believes it too." "I believe it will have a mark in the children's lullaby genre. It will have a mark somewhere," but hopefully without the composer having to "decompose" first, said the guitarist modestly.

Additional Info Visit mp3.com/salvatori for other works by Tom

Location Lombard, IL - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).