• hOME
• pROGRAMME
• aRTISTS
• pRESS rEVIEW
• wHO wE aRE
• cONTACTS

After the enthusiastic consensus gathered by the Italian Jazz scene both in terms of audience and critics in the last decades, Italian Nights is proud to bring to London the 2008 Extended Edition of Italian Jazz Festival, unique event that will be a memorable experience for jazz connoisseurs and concert goers coming from all over Europe. This festival is the natural evolution of the first edition organised by Italians of London in February 2005 at la Dolce Vita exhibition in Earls Court.

While not long time ago the strongest jazz scene outside the United States was Scandinavia, the new millennium is definitely Italy. Among the factors playing a role in the recent flowering of the Italian jazz it is certainly the popularity of country in the touring itineraries of major American artists, which provided young Italian performers with direct exposure to primary sources. Artists who began their careers as thoroughly- schooled and technically-accomplished classical musicians, then discovered jazz and underwent a metamorphosis. They emerged as artists uniquely capable of shaping wildly spontaneous improvisations into forms both elegant and passionate with Italian romanticism.

The finest formal and spiritual affinity between jazz and Italian popular music remarked by many critics is superbly interpreted by artists of the calibre of Antonello Salis and Paolo Fresu, just to quote two internationally recognised representatives of the "Sardinian school" or by Deidda Brothers - namely Sandro, Dario and Alfonso Deidda (who can play at least 3 instruments each) - known as the most promising and versatile musicians of the "Salerno school".

What is still not widely known outside of Italy is that many of the greatest piano players in jazz are Italian. Some, like Stefano Bollani, Enrico Pieranunzi and Riccardo Biseo (the latter studied jazz piano class in London with Brian Priestley and writing and arranging with Dick Walters at the Goldsmith University), have built their reputation mainly in the United States and now are finally gaining popularity among jazz lovers in Europe and in the U.K. Others are mostly unknown here to the London audience, like Stefano Battaglia (whose Re: Pasolini, on ECM, was one of the important jazz achievements of 2007), Danilo Rea (one of the great solo concert improvisers in jazz), Renato Sellani (the ageless Hank Jones of Italy) and Andrea Pozza - who at the age of 16 was called, together with other young musicians, to build the "THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY YOUTH JAZZ ORCHESTRA" based in London and cooperated with artists such as Enrico Rava, Steve Grossman, Scott Hamilton, George Coleman and Sal Nistico.

Also there are outstanding bassists in Italy like Enzo Pietropaoli, Giovanni Tommaso, Massimo Moriconi. And there are world-class horn players, a few of whom have been discovered by the U.K. jazz press, like trumpeter Enrico Rava, trombonist Gianluca Petrella and clarinetist Gianni Sanjust the latter playing in the notorious Biseo-Sanjust Quartet. Others are sadly still undiscovered by the U.K. audience, such as Giovanni Amato - whose highly aesthetic compositions and his moving trumpet solos are appreciated by the majority of jazz fans in Europe; Max Ionata (tenor sax), a young talent that alternates with great ability and experience the tenor and soprano saxes; Emanuele Basentini (one of the best Italian guitar players); Carlo Atti, tenor sax player considered as the "enfant prodige" of the Italian jazz scene.

Inspired by such a pool of enchanting jazz performers, yet unknown to the London scene, and backed by a well-respected jazz promoter such as Villa Celimontana Jazz, an association that boasts 25 years of experience in nurturing jazz talents and arranging a countrywide-known Festival in the Roman sweet scented summer season, Italian Nights created the unparalleled Five-Day Extended Programme of the 2008 Italian Jazz Festival. It will take place in the historical temples of London jazz, namely Ronnie Scott's, Pizza Express Jazz Club, The 606 Club, The Vortex Club and The Bull's Head. This extraordinary event will bring together top-class Italian jazz performers to express their sublime art and their love for a dream country for long nights of unforgettable live jazz.