The sextet Arti & Mestieri was formed in 1974 in Torino, Italy, by drummer Furio Chirico, following his departure from The Trip. Drawing membership from the cream of the local jazz rock scene, Arti & Mestieri frequently found themselves sharing a bill with Area, the long-running kings of that particular arena. However, their renown was such that they also opened for a number of visiting acts, most notably Gentle Giant.
Arti & Mestieri's debut album in 1974, Tilt, received a lot of attention, but it was the following year's Giro Di Valzer Per Domani that established Arti & Mestieri as a force to be reckoned with, all the more so since the recruitment of former Procession vocalist Gianfranco Gaza, who brought a new and welcome dimension to the sound, so much so that the band's label, Cramps, even released a single from the album, "Saper Sentire", backed by the instrumental &"Valzer per Domani"}.
Despite this breakthrough, it would be another four years before a new Arti & Mestieri album appeared. 1979's Quinto Stato, while featuring many of the same players as its predecessor, was a very pedestrian jazz-rock excursion that preceded the band's break-up.
