Well... all stories begin somewhere and this one begins in Sweden, where Nino was born on february 9th ,1973 in the town of Boras. From an early age Nino's mother encouraged him to sing and enjoy music. When he was seven years old he auditioned for a spot in the much revered boys choir Domkyrkans Gosskor in Lund and was accepted. It was there he took his first steps into the world of music.
A few years later he moved to the windy city of Malmoe. At the age of fourteen his first major musical impression occured. It was the albums "The week Peps came to Chicago", by Swedens most recognized blues musician Peps Persson and "The blues alone" by John Mayall. This was the first time Nino had ever heard the blues and the sounds of harmonica.
With his best friends, Fredrik Liungman (bas), Niclas Borg (drums) and Sven Bertil Kaa Hedberg (guitar) Tax Free Blues was formed. The youngest bluesband in Sweden at the time. In spite of their ages they were invited to play in clubs such as Fredmans, Hellsingborgs Jazzklubb and Bro's Jazz Café. At the first Jazz & Blues Festival in Malmoe, Tax Free Blues played for a full house in Hedmanska Garden.
A couple of years later Nino left Tax Free Blues and met his first musical mentor Lester Jackman, one of the greatest steel pan players to come out of Trinidad and Tobago. Thru Jackman, he was introduced to the inner circles of the music scene in Malmoe. Jackman had a great musical and spiritual influence on Ninos life and music.
At nineteen he had already played with many local and regional groups and appeared on two albums as a sideman. That year he met his second mentor guitar player Fjellis Fjallstrom, who opened up the vast world of roots music to him. He was then invited to play at Folkfesten with a long lineup of swedish blues giants such as Fjellis Fjallstrom, Bosse Skoglund, Bengan Blomgren, Nicke Strom, Bernt Andersson and Peps Persson to name a few.
Shortly after he joined the Fjellis Red Devils with Micke Elofsson (bas) and Bosse Johansson (drums). The group played successfully around Sweden and appeared on national television.
After a hectic couple of years Nino took 5 months off to travel in south east asia. During his time abroad he started to write original material, and when he returned he formed Tabacco Road with Pontus Snibb (drums), Pascal Bjerrehus (upright bas), Magnus "Gravedigger" Norrenberg (Organ, Piano) and Joakim Barfalk (guitar). Then Nino started to collaborate with Maxe Axelsson from Pama Records and together they produced Tabacco Roads last recording. After some time Tabacco Road dismantled and Nino kept busy playing and recording as a sideman for various artists and groups like Three Studs and a Stone, The Fabulous Flintstones, Mikael Neumann, The Mescaleros, Totta Naslund and Boogie Woogie piano player Diz Watson from the UK.
Late one night in a hotel lobby Nino stumbled upon guitar player Carl Alberto Bettini. It turned out that Bettini had seen Nino perform and wanted to start a swing band. That resulted in the ten piece band Joe Spinaci & The Brookolino Orchestra, the first band in sweden playing gangster swing. This was right in time when swing dancing began to be popular again, which gave the band a good start on it's path to success.
While Nino was a member of Joe Spinaci & The Brookolino Orchestra he got married to an american and a year later he moved to the United States where he still lives today. His first two years in the states he devoted to his wife and newborn son.
Then he teamed up with guitar player Josh Barber, a young and upcoming blues player on the Rhode Island scene. Together with Chad Souza (drums), John Leeper (bas) and later on Papa Dick Souza (upright bas) and Mark Taber (piano) the core of Smokestack Lightnin' was formed. Thru relentless effort, Smokestack Lightnin' was awarded Best Local Blues Act, and Nino was nominated for Best Male Vocalist by the Providence Phoenix in their first year. After a few years of playing around the New England area and performances on television and radio, the Smokestack Lightnin' period came to an end.
Now he plays with various groups and is writing new music. Nino has had the honor to play with many great musicians including Roomful of Blues alumnis such as Doug James (sax), Carl Querfurth (trombone) and blues guitarist Duke Robillard.
John Dough - Pigweed Mud
