Sabato 11 maggio ore 21.00 FABBRICA GRASSI
“THE ITALIAN JAZZ QUARTET”
PAOLO PELLEGATTI – Batteria
LUIGI BONAFEDE – Pianoforte
GIANCARLO PORRO – Saxofoni
RICCARDO FIORAVANTI – Contrabbasso
The members of this quartet have in common years of festivals, concerts, recordings and collaborations with important musicians from all over the world, still maintaining a great love for jazz without prejudice to genres.
The intent of the group, thanks also to the different personalities and the pianist's original compositions, is to create an emotional tension capable of involving any type of audience, leaving the music the protagonist role.
Luigi BONAFEDE pianist and drummer, trained in jazz in the second half of the seventies at the "Capolinea" in Milan, where he had the opportunity to meet the most famous and representative Italian jazz musicians, in particular Larry Nocella, who had a decisive influence on the his life and career. He has participated as leader of his own groups in the most important national and international festivals: Umbria jazz, San Remo, Pescara, La Spezia, Alassio, Ciak in Milan, Siena, Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw, Dhurarn festival ( North Carolina), Montreaux, Amsterdam, Belgrade, Paris. He has taken part, both permanently and occasionally, in numerous concerts, tours and radio and television broadcasts with the following musicians: Gianni Cazzola, Enrico Rava, Massimo Urbani, Claudio Fasoli, Tullio De Piscopo, Pietro Tonolo, Francesca Oliveri, Roberto Gatto, Maurizio Giammarco, Gianni Basso, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Flavio Boltro, Kenny Clarke, Lee Konitz, Steve Grossman, Sal Nistico, Pat Labarbera, James Moody, Joe Newman, George Coleman, Lew Tabackin, Curtis Fuiler, Bob Berg, Kay Winding.
Also as a drummer he participated in concerts and recordings with Riccardo Zegna, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Franco D'Andrea, Guido Manusardi, Pietro Tonolo, Bob Berg, Tony Scott, Rita Marcotulli, Antonio Faraò, Rossana Casale. He won the Barga arrangement competition in '97.
Paolo PELLEGATTI Born in Milan on May 22, 1957. An internationally renowned drummer who comes from the school of Enrico Lucchini and the teachings of Ed Kaspick and Joe Hunt, he also attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. His first professional experiences are linked to the «Il Capolinea» club in Milan and to collaborations with the greatest international jazz men: Enrico Rava, Giorgio Gaslini, Massimo Urbani, Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Berg, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, and many others. Between 1979 and 1981 he was part of Franco Cerri's quartet, with the latter and with Enrico Intra he then played until 1996. Since 1997 he has led various formations which he brings together under the name of «Natura Mediterranea» and in which he often involves also international guests.
His activity as a teacher and organizer of prestigious musical and theatrical events is also intense. It was his idea to create, in 2000, "LA DRUMMERIA", a super band of drummers, with Ellade Bandini, Walter Calloni, Maxx Furian and Christian Meyer.
He carries out numerous tours abroad; he is the protagonist in: Bulgaria, Former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Ireland, England, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Sudan, Angola, Lebanon, Jordan, Holland, Jamaica, Caribbean (St. Thomas – Antigua – Santo Domingo). He performs several times in the United States: Boston in 1978-79, New York (Jazz Forum) in 1981, North Carolina (Duke University) in 1989 and 1998, again in New York (Town Hall) in 1994-2000.
He has a fervent collaboration with the musicians of the TEATRO LA SCALA in MILAN and signs two albums: “Drummeria e i Musicisti del Teatro La Scala di Milano” and the other under his own name “The Snare Duets”. From 2016 to 2019 he teaches at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice.
Giancarlo PORRO Active as a session musician since 1979, he plays the sax and the clarinet, also collaborating with pop music artists (Alberto Fortis, Enrico Ruggeri, etc.) and with the orchestras present in television shows. In the jazz field, he is also linked to Capolinea and was part of the club band from 1981 to 1983. He was also among the founders of the Big Band Jazz Class, the only Italian jazz orchestra that collaborated on a permanent basis with the opera company « I Pomeriggi Musicali» in Milan, with more than 200 concerts and prestigious guests such as: R. Cuber - B. Mintzer – B. Kessel P. Woods - F. Boland - E. Morricone - F. Ambrosetti - Lee Koniz. In 1992 at the "Palatrussardi" he played for Steve Wonder in the only Italian date of the "Natural Wonder tour". Since 1997 he has been playing in the JW Orchestra directed by the multi-instrumentalist and arranger Marco Gotti, playing all the saxes, clarinets and flute in numerous projects. In recent years, JW, in addition to hundreds of concerts, has recorded numerous albums with original projects (L. Armstrong – Beatles – E. Morricone – G. Verdi – W.A. Mozart – G. Mahler) hosting historical figures of African-American music.
Riccardo FIORAVANTI He studied double bass at the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory in Milan.
He began working in the jazz field with: Giorgio Gaslini, Franco Cerri, Gianni Basso, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, Dado Moroni and many others. In the world of Pop music, his countless collaborations are with Ennio Morricone, Mina, Antonella Ruggiero, Fabio Concato, Enzo Jannacci etc. With the great international artists he played with: Ray Charles, Gino Vannelli, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stevie Wonder etc.
He has been a valuable collaborator in seminars with performances with Billy Cobham, Paul Vertico, Joe La Barbera etc. The CDs in his name such as “Far Wes” “Bill Evans Project” Duke's Flowers”.
He chairs the chair of Electric Bass at the Como Conservatory, where he also teaches Double Bass, Ensemble Music and History of Jazz Music.