Piero Umiliani

Even though they were often writing for low budget exploitation films, the new wave of 1960s and '70s Italian soundtrack composers were a massive influence on film soundtracks across the globe. Piero Umiliani wasn't as well-known as his contemporaries Ennio Morricone or Nino Rota, but was a prodigious talent. Learning to play the piano at the age of five, he later spent several years in a jazz band touring across Italy, Norway and Europe before producing some wonderfully jazzy soundtracks to a series of horror, spaghetti western, action and even soft pornography films. His early credits include "Big Deal on Madonna Street" (1959), Lucio Fulci's comedy adventure "Two Public Enemies" (1964) and the bloody western "Return of Django" (1966).