The awarding of the "Top Jazz 2013" as the best new talent of the year, attributed by the most qualified Italian journalists for the magazine Musica Jazz, now to fully places Alessandro Lanzoni among the artists of greater personality in Italian jazz, also on the strength of a curriculum that, already being able to boast of experiences of absolute prestige, from several years has imposed him to the attention of the musical world. Lanzoni also established himself very early as a leader, and can already boast of significant international experience in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the United States, where he has received flattering and unusual reviews for a foreign musician. His most recent project features him in a trio together to Thomas Morgan (bassist for Steve Coleman, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Craig Taborn) and Eric McPherson (a stable member of Fred Hersch's trio and formerly the drummer for Andrew Hill and Jackie McLean). They recorded their first album Unplanned Ways at New York's famed Samurai Hotel recording studio. Other discs to his name such as Diversions in piano solo Dark Flavour (in trio with Enrico Morello and Matteo Bortone) and Seldom ( in trio with Ralph Alessi on trumpet) have been hailed by critics as evidence of an artistic growth that now makes that enfant prodige label that marked the beginnings of a career that began to just 14 years old with his achievement at the Massimo Urbani Prize (2006) and continued with First Prize at the Luca Flores in Florence (2008) completely misplaced, to the awarding of the Best Young Soloist prize at the prestigious Martial Solal competition in Paris (2010). In 2014, he was the winner of the 13th edition of the Tullio Besa Memorial Prize, an award given annually to the young Italian musician who has most distinguished himself for ability and talent, awarded for the second time to a jazz musician after Francesco Cafiso's 2006 victory. In 2015 he was awarded the Renato Sellani Prize, on the occasion of the First Edition of this recognition. His training as a musician is the result of an intense path, developed in two directions: classical studies, culminating in the Piano Diploma obtained in 2012 with top marks, Praise and Honorable Mention at the Cherubini Conservatory of Florence under the guidance of Giovanna Prestia, and the deepening of the jazz language: from the first lessons with L. Pieri and M. Grossi to attending the summer courses of Siena Jazz and Berklee in Boston as a scholarship holder of the Umbria Jazz Clinics, to the InJam Biennial Course, as part of Siena Jazz, thanks to which he was able to benefit from the teachings of such masters as Danilo Perez, Kenny Werner, Aaron Goldberg, Steve Kuhn, John Taylor, Franco D'Andrea, Stefano Battaglia, Danilo Rea. In addition, to testifying to an uncommon versatility as a musician, the study of cello and composition: in February 2015, he received his Master's Degree in Jazz Composition and Arrangement from the Conservatory of Florence with highest honors. Present since from very young on the billboards of the most important Italian festivals, his activity has led him to to play alongside prestigious musicians such as Enrico Rava, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Seamus Blake, Joe Sanders, Lee Konitz, Aldo Romano, Roberto Gatto, Ralph Alessi, Jeff Ballard, Larry Granadier, Ambrose Akinmusire, Aaron Goldberg, Miguel Zenon, Michael Blake, Barbara Casini, Ares Tavolazzi, Nico Gori, Walter Paoli, Lello Pareti, Cocco Cantini, Maria Pia De Vito, Fabrizio Bosso, Fabrizio Sferra, Gianni Basso, Renato Sellani, Rosario Giuliani and many others... Abroad, he has already had the opportunity to perform in Germany, Austria (Porgy and Bess Jazz Club-Wien), Israel (Haifa and Eilat International Festival), China, Colombia, Panama Jazz Festival, United States (Morgan Library Auditorium and Roulette Theater, New York), France (Paris-Sunset Sunside, Savoie Jazz Festival, Les Mans....) and in Spain.

Also numerous are his performances as soloist of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, with orchestras such as the Oriental Symphony Orchestra of Shanghai conducted from Xu Zhong, the Philharmonia of Oviedo conducted from Marzio Conti, the Camerata Strumentale of Prato conducted from Christopher Franklin, etc. He collaborates permanently with Roberto Gatto, with whom he recorded in trio the album Replay for the Auditorium parco della Musica label and in octet the album Pure Imagination (Albore), and with Aldo Romano, who wanted him with him in the group New Blood together to Michel Benita and Baptiste Herbin to make the CD Connection (Dreyfuss) and for a long series of concerts in the most important French festivals. His activity is followed closely by the media: his appearances to Rai radio broadcasts are frequent (La stanza della musica, Piazza Verdi, Doctor Djembé, Radio Three's Radio3 Suite, Radio Two's Rai Tunes). Many newspapers (Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Il Tirreno, Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione, L'Unità, etc.) have dedicated several articles to him, and major trade magazines (Jazzit, Musica Jazz, Jazz Magazine, the U.S. Jazz Times, the French Jazz Hot and the German Neuen Musik Zeitung) have reviewed his record works. The monthly Jazz Magazine gave him the cover and a lengthy interview. He is currently Lecturer in Jazz Piano at Siena Jazz University and Adria Conservatory in Veneto.

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Already to nine years old he moves his first steps making experiences with internationally renowned musicians such as Bob Mintzer, Maria Schneider, George Gruntz, Gianni Basso and many others. Decisive for his career is the meeting, in July 2002, during the Pescara Jazz Festival, with Wynton Marsalis who, amazed by his musical qualities, takes him with him on the 2003 European tour. from then, Cafiso plays in the most important Jazz Festivals, theaters and Jazz Clubs in the world. He wins several prestigious awards, including the National Massimo Urbani Award to Urbisaglia, the EuroJazz Award to Lecco, the International Jazz Festivals Organization Award to New York, the World Saxophone Competition to London, the Django d'Or to Rome, and receives many other important awards. To experience new musical experiences, he goes to New Orleans, where he plays with Ellis Marsalis and many other important local musicians. In 2004 he participates as a guest at the Sanremo Festival. In 2005, the Swing Journal, Japan's influential jazz music magazine, gives him the New Star Award, an award reserved for emerging foreign talents, and soon after, he is featured in Top Jazz, a referendum of the Italian magazine Musica Jazz, which recognized him as the best new talent of the year. He plays with such great musicians as: Hank Jones, Dave Brubeck, Cedar Walton, Mulgrew Miller, Jimmy Cobb, Ben Riley, Ray Drummond, Lewis Nash, James Williams, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, George Mraz, Kenny Wheeler, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani and many more. In 2006, he obtained a Level I Diploma in Flute Traverso at the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali V. Bellini in Catania. Since 2008 he has been Artistic Director of the "Vittoria Jazz Festival" to Vittoria, his hometown. On January 19, 2009 he plays to Washington DC during the celebration in honor of President Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. day. On July 17, 2009 Umbria Jazz names him "ambassador of Italian jazz music in the world." In 2010 he received his Master's degree in Jazz from the Corelli Conservatory of Messina and soon after performed in China during the festival "The best of Italian Jazz" at Expo to Shanghai. In 2012 he arranges Don't Stop, the background music for the ENI Station commercial. In July 2012, on the occasion of the Olympic Games, he is invited to to perform to London, at the headquarters of Casa Italia, in the presence of the Italian Ambassador to London and the CONI top management. In September 2012, during an extended stay in the United States, he gave a series of saxophone masterclasses at UPenn, the prestigious University of Philadelphia. In early June 2013, at the behest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and expressly chosen by the Consul General of Philadelphia, in collaboration with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Francesco is chosen to represent Italy to perform as part of the celebrations for the Year of Italian Culture in the United States. On February 20, 2014, to New York receives the "Grand Award of Merit" from the American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit for Francesco's contribution, representing Sicilian musicians, to the development and diffusion of Jazz in the world. In March 2015, the ambitious opera record label called (Alfredo Lo Faro Produzioni) was released, consisting from three profoundly different albums: La Banda, Contemplation and 20 Cents Per Note. Released simultaneously, the three records feature Cafiso in the guise of composer, arranger and performer. In 2016 he created his own record label named "EFLAT records." In 2017 he records at the Vittoria Jazz Festival the album We play for tips, an album that will be released in 2018 under his own record label EFLAT Records, gaining numerous acclaim and recognition from specialized critics. In 2019 she again enters the recording studio with the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra to bring to life her project Irene of Boston - Conversation avec Corto Maltese, which is released in 2020. On Dec. 27, 2022, President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella bestows on him the honor of Knight of the Order "Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana." On May 19, 2023, Cafiso receives the Artist Diploma in Jazz Music from The Juilliard School of Music in New York. He continues to to give concerts around the world with a variety of musical ensembles from him directed.

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Born to Rome in 1988, he approached music early and began to devoting himself to the study of drums to nine years. His training follows a long path that officially begins at the Scuola Popolare di Musica di Testaccio in Rome and culminates in the two-year In.Ja.M - International Jazz Master Program "Master Of Higher Education In Jazz Improvisation Tecniques" in Siena, within which he obtains full honors and a full scholarship for the entire duration of the course. During his formative years he has the opportunity to deepen his study of the instrument with some of the most distinguished international musicians and teachers, including: John Riley, Greg Hutchinson, Eric Harland, Adam Nussbaum, Ferenc Nemeth, Ben Perowsky, Jeff Ballard, Billy Drummond, Billy Hart. He leads from years an intense professional activity that has earned him a prominent place among the most sought-after and interesting jazz musicians in Italy. Since 2014, he has been a founding member of Enrico Rava's quartet with whom he carries on a long and fruitful international concert activity crowned by the recording of an album Wild Dance (ECM Records). In 2019 the New Quartet, already named Group of the Year by Musica Jazz magazine, is transformed into Enrico Rava Special Edition with the addition of Giovanni Guidi, Gianluca Petrella and Francesco Bearzatti. This lineup, created to celebrate Enrico Rava's 80th birthday, will see him engaged in a long and prestigious international tour that is still ongoing. There are also many relevant international experiences. Already as a student, in 2010, he was selected among the best young students at In.Ja.M. to participate in the Panama Jazz Festival and in a tour of the United States as a member of the representative sextet as part of an exchange program with the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston, the New England Conservatory, the Puerto Rico Conservatory and the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris. In 2014, as a member of Alessandro Lanzoni's trio, he filled the role of soloist in the performance of George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue with the Oriental Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Xu Zhong, at the Grand Theatre in Shanghai; an experience replicated in 2018 with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra at the Concert Hall in Suzhou, China. On March 19, 2021, his first work as composer and band leader entitled Cyclic Signs was released on the "Auand Records" label. This lineup involves some of the most creative and appreciated jazz musicians in Italy: Francesco Lento on trumpet, Daniele Tittarelli on saxophone and Matteo Bortone on double bass. Since 2018 he has been engaged, in addition to his main activity as a professional musician, as a teacher of instrument and ensemble music at the three-year university course at the National Jazz Academy - Siena Jazz University.

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Young bassist who is making a name for himself to nationally and beyond as an instrumentalist but also as a composer and leader, particularly after being elected "TOP JAZZ Best New Italian Talent 2015" by Musica Jazz journalists. Growing up musically to Paris, with a background anchored in jazz but also ranging in pop and rock, Bortone already has four record productions to his credit as leader; his compositions reflect an approach where acoustic and electric coexist and influence to each other, creating a musical universe of contrasts and dialogues with an almost cinematic result. In addition to his intense from leading activity with the acoustic trio "ClarOscuro" (together to Enrico Zanisi and Stefano Tamborrino) and the French/Italian electric quintet "No Land's," Bortone plays regularly in numerous Italian and French bands: Roberto Gatto's quartet, Maurizio Giammarco's quintet, Alessandro Lanzoni's trio, the music and dance project 'Una Crepa' together to Lucia Guarino, Julien Pontvianne's European sextet ABHRA, and Enrico Morello's quartet. Born to Otranto in 1982, he began his musical journey on piano, continuing later with guitar, electric bass and finally double bass. After obtaining a degree in Tourism Science to Milan in 2005, he moved to Paris where he had the opportunity to study at one of the most prestigious conservatories in Europe, the Conservatoire National Supérieur, from which he obtained a Master's degree in "Jazz and improvised music" in 2011. He also perfected himself by attending the summer seminars of Siena Jazz where he won two scholarships: the first, in 2007 and the second, in 2008, edition in which he was selected to to represent Siena Jazz and Italy at the 19th IASJ (International Association of Schools of Jazz) directed from David Liebman. During his years in France, Bortone had the opportunity to play with several ensembles with which he won several awards including first prize in the REZZO (Jazz à Vienne 2008) and Les Trophées du Sunside 2008 (Paris) competitions. In addition to playing in Italy and France, he has also performed in Spain, Portugal, Norway, UK, Ireland, Malta, Germany, Belgium, China, USA, South Korea. Among his many collaborations, he has played with: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Leon Parker (Inception Trio), Cyrille Aimée, Anne Ducros, Ben Wendel, Tigran Hamasyan, Ralph Alessi.