Accordionist/composer Tom Torriglia has released a new album, “Limoncello Time.” Tom shares, “What time is it? Why, of course, It’s limoncello time!! “Limoncello Time” is the name of my new album that coincidentally contains the whimsical and reggae-flavored The Limoncello Song, co-written by myself and Those Darn Accordions’ maestro of musical mischief, Paul Rogers. After countless hours of brainstorming with the album’s bassist and marketing director, Mary Keydash, we felt this name captured the spirit of the entire album – and with other fun songs including “Gelato Joe”, “I’m Zeneize”, and “The Pinocchio Song”, it’s easy to see why. Principal recording was done in Genova and more recording and mixing in San Francisco. Look for a June release to all the usual streaming platforms.”

Tom Torriglia is a multi-Grammy-nominated songwriter, musical entertainer and president of both Festa Records and Pierce-Beach Publishing. Excerpts from his website: Tom has been delighting audiences with his music since 1969. Tom primarily plays the accordion, but can also play piano, keyboards, bass and guitar. Tom performs with an Italian-American band (Bella Ciao), and has performed with an oldies band (Gold Lame’), a wedding band (Stardust), a 10-piece accordion band (Those Darn Accordions) and a traditional polka band (The Squeegees). Tom composes Italian-American music – a musical genre that he has been trying to re-invigorate over the past 20 years.

Tom has recorded four albums (“Legends of the Italian Lounge”, “Festivus Italiano”, “La Lanterna” and “Antipasto Rock”) that contain many new classic Italian-American songs. Tom’s “The Pasta Song” was re-recorded and used for three straight years in a Carrabba’s Restaurant national TV commercial. Another one of his many food-related songs, “The Cannoli Song”, can be heard at the website of the Brooklyn Cannoli Company. Over the years, he has also written and recorded rock, pop, polka and even Christmas songs!  

Tom came up with the idea and spearheaded the effort to make the accordion San Francisco’s official musical instrument. The measure passed in 1990. Tom is the sponsor of National Accordion Awareness Month (NAAM) which is June. Tom’s efforts in promoting the accordion have seen him featured in People Magazine, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and countless other newspapers both domestically and internationally; and TV stations/programs including ESPN, Good Morning America, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc.

On a non-musical note, Tom is a total grammar geek; adjunct professor of American business English; business ESL instructor; author of the Nighttime, Good-Time Guide to San Francisco (1988,1990); founder of the National Association for Good Grammar (NAGG) and chief of the grammar police in San Francisco. Tom was born in San Francisco and is of northern-Italian (Ligurian) descent. He holds dual citizenship with both the United States and Italy and currently lives in Genova, Italy.

Since 2000, Tom Torriglia has been performing with Bella Ciao, hot retro Italian and Italian-American hits including “Tu Vuo’ Fa l’Americano”, “Nessuno”, “It Had Better Be Tonight”, and “Mambo Italiano” – as well as the most popular Italian-American hits of today including first-ballot Grammy-nominated songs  “Blue Italian Skies’ and “ Mambiambo”; “The Pasta Song”, “Monica from Monaco” and more, in a fun-filled, all-ages show.

Bella Ciao has played both the Italian National Anthem and American National Anthem at a major league baseball park. In 2007, they played the American National Anthem the night Barry Bonds broke the all-time home-run record. Bella Ciao has performed numerous times at the Cotati Accordion festival, San Jose Italian festival, San Francisco Italian festival and more. Out-of-state appearances include the Reno Italian Festival, Virginia Beach (VA) Italian festival and Portland Italian festival.

For further information: tom.torriglia@yahoo.it