Quartetto Cetra

Quartetto Cetra (Italian for 'Cithara Quartet', pronounced [kwarˈtetto ˈtʃeːtra]) was an Italian jazz vocal quartet established during the early 1940s and active until 1988.

Career

The band was based on the Mills Brothers and started performing under the name Quartetto Egie from the initials of the singers' first names: Enrico Gentile, Giovanni Giacobetti, Iacopo Jacomelli, and Enrico De Angelis. Although they sang American songs such as "Tiger Rag", they wrote songs and scatted in Italian. Quartetto Egie made its debut on 27 May 1940 at the Valle Theatre in Rome. They performed the song "Bambina dall'abito blu" ("Little Girl in a Blue Dress"). When Virgilio Savona replaced Iacopo Jacomelli, the band was renamed Quartetto Ritmo. Then in 1941, Felice Chiusano replaced Enrico Gentile and the group was renamed Quartetto Cetra and performed on the radio review Riepilogando in 1941

In October 1947, Enrico De Angelis left the group to join the Army and was replaced by singer Lucia Mannucci, the wife of Virgilio Savona. This group lasted for four decades. The first song they performed together was "Dove siete stata nella notte del 3 giugno?" ("Where were you on the night of June 3?"). In 1948 Quartetto Cetra dubbed the choruses for the Italian release of the Disney movie Dumbo. They received a complimentary note signed by Walt Disney. Afterwards they dubbed other movies in Italian, such as Make Mine Music, Melody Time, and The Wizard of Oz.