texts related to "Isole Sonanti"
Can archetypes be heard?
Liner Notes to "Outings"
Liner Notes to "Anadyomene"

texts related to "Frank Zappa domani"
Liner Notes to "Riccardo Fassi Tankyo Band plays the music of Frank Zappa"
Twenty Small Cigars

"Techno-Trance"
Introduction
Dea ex machina

Gianfranco Salvatore's body of work has long been well received by music critics in Italy and beyond for its theoretical and structural innovation (see reviews in the Books Section). Notably, his biography of Charlie Parker (Bird e il mito afroamericano del volo) focuses on how the mythical meaning of human flight in African and African-American folklore is reflected in styles and patterns of musical improvisation.

His study of Miles Davis's 'electric' period (Lo sciamano elettrico 1969/1980), published in 1995, is one of the premiere studies on this subject to appear in international jazz literature (see also Oltre il mito del jazz-rock).

His 20-year critical chronicle of composer Frank Zappa's pre-eminence as one of the 20th century's foremost independent cultural thinkers has produced numerous written works including Frank Zappa e il ritmo, Frank Zappa domani (a multi-authored collection considered a milestone in musical analysis), and an as-yet-unpublished 800-page book on this fascinating musical figure.

Salvatore's theoretical approach to song structure and aesthetics, under the definition of 'L'alchimia del verso cantato' (the alchemy of sung poetry), has opened new territory in the analysis of popular music.

His study of ancient Mediterranean musical civilization (Isole sonanti) is based on an original theory called 'musical archetypes,' i.e. that people living under the same mythical and cosmological world views share primary musical symbols (see also Can archetypes be heard?).

An extension of this theory is the concept that music-making is a human action charged with symbolic and metaphysical meaning (Musica pagana), which idea has critical implications for jazz and modern improvised music.

Salvatore's studies on the 'power of music' perceived in ancient and modern times, treat the process of music-induced trance and altered states of consciousness, and have been lauded by luminaries such as Gilbert Rouget and Georges Lapassade.

Phoenix "Fronne"
Liner Notes

Steve Lacy "Outings"
Liner Notes

Roberto Laneri "Anadyomene"
Liner Notes