Piero Bittolo Bon is a rising star in Italian jazz. He was voted as one of the best Italian jazz musicians in 2010 Musica Jazz critic's poll and seemingly plays every possible instrument - and has one of the best musician's websites we've ever seen. Now he is connecting with a global audience in order to crowdfund his upcoming record.

We chatted with Piero, all the way from Italy, about his project and the lessons of global fundraising:

What was the inspiration behind the international music project you are currently running on RocketHub?  Why is it important to you?

This is the second album of Jump The shark, a sextet (formerly a quintet) playing my compositions. I really love playing with this band, mainly because Domenico, Pasquale, Danilo, Federico and Gerhard are such great musicians and great friends, so I can really trust them and let them put their own personality in my music, which is heavily charted but leaves a lot of space for individual and collective improvisation. I loved to record the first album, "Sugoi Sentai! Gattai!!" which had a great success in the jazz and avantgarde music scene, and I felt I had to record a new one to futher develop my musical thoughts and to be a better composer and bandleader, and hopefully to make this band play live a lot more! Also, I'm looking forward to print this cd because Dottor Pira from www.fumettidellagleba.org, one of my favourite comic artists, agreed to draw the artwork for the album. This is gonna be a masterpiece!

We can't wait to get our copy. How has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of music and Italy - how are your supporters responding?

I was surprised how fast the first funds arrived! RocketHub is really a thrilling new way for supporting music and arts in general, especially in a country like Italy where culture sadly has every day less and less money. I have a little but always increasing fanbase, which is responding well to this RocketHub project. I'm a little late in the schedule, but I'll do my best to convince everybody that this is a project worth fueling! Beside of the cd, I'll be glad to exchange my musical skills for lessons and home concerts for the help my supporters will give me.

Any advice for Creatives looking to crowdfund a similar project?

Be creative about your rewards! Be convincing and inform your fanbase about every little news about your project! Use everything the internet gives at your disposal, social networks in particular, to reach and convince new fans!

Thank you Piero for the international perspective. For lovers of jazz and good new music, check out this project.

-Vlad