FRANCESCO CAFISO ALL STARS REUNION

eni presents a group of big stars who testify to the international vitality of contemporary Italian jazz. On stage a canonical quintet with the sonic richness of a full orchestra from which musical elegance, drive, swing flow. Francesco Cafiso is one of the young talents who have recently contributed to eni´s communication.

FRANCESCO CAFISO

Born to Vittoria in 1989 and a precocious jazz talent, he met Wynton Marsalis during the 2002 Pescara Jazz Festival and followed him on the 2003 European tour. from since then he has played in the most important Jazz Festivals and Jazz Clubs around the world. He has received important awards such as 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 many other prestigious awards. to New Orleans played with Ellis Marsalis, Jason Marsalis, Thadeus Richard, Bob Franch, Maurice Brown and other important musicians, receiving special lessons from Alvin Batiste. In 2004 he participated as a guest at the San Remo Festival, in 2005 the Swing Journal - Japan's authoritative jazz magazine - gave him the New Star Award, an award reserved for emerging foreign talents. Top Jazz - a referendum of the Italian magazine Musica Jazz - voted him best new talent of the year. He has played with such great musicians as Hank Jones, Cedar Walton, Dave Brubeck, Mulgrew Miller, Ronnie Matthews, Jimmy Cobb, Ben Riley, Ray Drummond, Reggie Johnson, Doug Sides Lewis Nash, James Williams, Joe Lovano, George Mraz, Joe Locke, Adam Nussbaum, Enrico Rava, Gianni Basso, Dado Moroni, Franco D′Andrea, Franco Cerri and many others. In 2006 he received a Diploma in Flute Traverso with highest honors from the Liceo Musicale V. Bellini in Catania. Since 2008 he has been artistic director of Vittoria Jazz. In 2009 he played to Washington D.C. during the celebrations in honor of President Barak Obama and on Martin Luther King Jr. day. Umbria Jazz named him "ambassador of Italian jazz music in the world."

ENRICO PIERANUNZI

Born to Rome in 1949, he is from many years among the best known and most appreciated protagonists of the international jazz scene. Pianist, composer, arranger, he has recorded more than 70 CDs ranging from solo piano to trio, duo to quintet and collaborating, in concert or in the recording studio, with Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, Charlie Haden, Chris Potter, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron. A multiple winner as the best Italian musician in Top Jazz, an annual referendum of Musica Jazz magazine (1989, 2003, 2008) and as best European musician (Django d′Or, 1997), Pieranunzi has performed at the most important international festivals, from Montreal to Copenhagen, from Berlin and Madrid to Tokyo, from Rio de Janeiro to Beijing. to beginning in 1982, he has given concerts in many American cities including New York, Boston, San Francisco. Of note is his participation to Spoleto Festival USA 2007 (Charleston, North Carolina) in solo, duo and trio piano concerts. He is the only Italian musician and one of the very few Europeans to have played and recorded (July 2009) in the historic "Village Vanguard" in New York. The prestigious American magazine Down Beat included his CD Live in Paris, in trio with Hein Van de Geyn and André Ceccarelli (Challenge), among the best CDs of the 2000/2010 decade. He′s been written about:

Pieranunzi is a pianist of intense lyricism, capable of swinging with energy and freshness and, at the same time, never losing his poetic ability. His music sings (Nat Hentoff).

Enrico Pieranunzi injects new blood into contemporary jazz (Ray Spencer, Jazz Journal).

Remember his name, get lost in his music (Josef Woodard, Jazz Times).

ROBERTO CAT

Born to Rome in 1958, he made his debut in 1975 with the Rome Trio (Danilo Rea, Enzo Pietropaoli). Among the most interesting contemporary drummers and composers, he has played in Europe and the rest of the world with his own groups and with international artists. The ensembles to his name, with impeccable playing technique and interesting timbral research, express the typical warmth of Mediterranean culture. Numerous are his collaborations with Bob Berg, Steve Lacy, Johnny Griffin, George Coleman, Dave Liebman, Phil Woods, James Moody, Barney Wilen, Ronnie Cuber, Sal Nistico, Michael Brecker, Tony Scott, Paul Jeffrey, Bill Smith, Joe Lovano, Curtis Fuller, Kay Winding, Albert Mangelsdorff, Cedar Walton, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Kirkland, Mal Waldron, Ben Sidran, Enrico Pieranunzi, Franco D´Andrea, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Billy Cobham, Bobby Hutcherson, Didier Lockwood, Richard Galliano, Christian Escoudè, Joe Zawinul, Bireli Lagrene, Pat Metheny. As a leader he has nine albums to his credit: Notes, Ask, Luna, Jungle Three, Improvvisi, Sing Sing Sing, Roberto Gatto Plays Rugantino. from years he also devotes himself to composing music from films. With Maurizio Giammarco he created the music for Nudo di donna (directed by Nino Manfredi), with Battista Lena those for Mignon è partita, a film that won five David di Donatello awards, for Verso Sera, and for Il grande cocomero (directed by Francesca Archibugi). In 1983 he won the Fare Musica magazine referendum as "best Italian drummer." With the group Lingomania, in 1985 and 1987 he ranked "best group" in the Top jazz referendum of Musica Jazz magazine. In 1988, 1989, 1990, as part of the survey "your favorites" to edited by the monthly magazine Guitar Club, he gets first place in the "drummers" category. In 1993 he made two instructional videos entitled Drums vol. 1 and 2. He was artistic director of the Teatro Dell´Angelo in Rome for the Jazz in Progress festival and recently performed at the prestigious Town Hall in New York.

ROSARIO BONACCORSO

Among the most appreciated and representative Italian double bassists, he is engaged from years on the prestigious international scene (New York, Tokyo, Paris, La Scala in Milan, the Statt Opera in Vienna) and collaborates regularly with jazz stars such as Enrico Rava and Stefano di Battista. He has gained important experience alongside hundreds of European and American artists of the caliber of Lucio Dalla, Gino Paoli, Elvin Jones, Benny Golson, Billy Cobham, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Mark Turner, Gato Barbieri, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Stefano di Battista, Steve Grossman, Red Holloway, George Robert, Frank Vaganee, Steve Wilson, Vincent Henning, Ivan Lins, Dianne Reeves, Adrienne West, Sandy Patton, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Flavio Boltro, Jimmy Owens, Charles Tolliver, Franco Ambrosetti, Kenny Davern, Bob Wilber, Tony Scott, Slide Hampton, Mark Nightingale, Bruce Forman, Kenny Barron, Jacky Terrason, Cedar Walton, George Cable, Ralph Sutton, Stefano Bollani, Eric Legnini, Dado Moroni, Riccardo Zegna, Antonio Faraò, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Billy Cobham, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Vernel Fournier, Naco, Mark Taylor, Aldo Romano, Dedè Ceccarelli, Tommy Campbell, Sangoma Everett, Tullio de Piscopo, Dre Pallemaertz, Luis Nash, Roberto Gatto, Peter Schmidlin, Herlin Riley, Adam Nussbaum. He participated to major international art projects including, in 1996-7-9, Rising Star projects in over fifty major European cities from Hamburg to Zurich. In 1996 he was hired from Enrico Rava for a series of concerts with the group Electric Five, in 1997 he played and recorded to London with Steve Grossman. He has recorded with Lee Konitz and with Enrico Rava. With Stefano di Battista´s group he recorded the album Volare for the French label Label Bleu, winning the nomination to best jazz group in the prestigious Victorie de Musique award. In 1998 he played in the groups of Benny Golson, James Moody, Jon Faddis and then continued with Slide Hampton , Vincent Henning, Jimmy Cobb and Franco Ambrosetti. With the group Un incontro in jazz (Gino Paoli, Enrico Rava, Rosario Bonaccorso, Danilo Rea, Roberto Gatto) he has recorded a record that interprets some of Paoli's best-known hits in a jazz key, planning a tour of fifteen concerts next summer.

FLAVIO BOLTRO

Born to Turin in 1961 and immersed in jazz from an early age (his father is a trumpeter and a great jazz enthusiast), to nine years old he began to playing the trumpet and to thirteen he enrolled at the Conservatory, where he studied with Carlo Arfinengo (first trumpet of the Turin Symphony Orchestra). In 1986 he joins the band Lingomania (with Roberto Gatto on drums, Furio Di Castri on double bass, Maurizio Gianmarco on sax, Umberto Fiorentino on guitar), which wins two consecutive awards for best record and best group of the year. In the same period he collaborates with Steve Grossman and performs regularly with him in international clubs and festivals: in quintet with Cedar Walton, Billy Higgins, David Williams and also with Clifford Jordan and Jimmy Cobb. He becomes part of an original trio with Manu Roche on drums and Furio Di Castri on double bass, then quartet with Joe Lovano. In 1984 he was elected "best talent" by Musica Jazz magazine; in the early 1990s he performed at the Calvi Festival with Antonio Faraò, Manu Roche and Paolo Dalla Porta. With saxophonist Stefano Di Battista he is chosen in 1994 from Laurent Cugny for the Orchestre National de Jazz and later joins Michel Petrucciani′s sextet. From 1997 is the quintet with Di Battista, Eric Legnini on piano, Benjamin Henocq on drums, Rosario Bonaccorso on bass.

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