Pino Minafra (born 21 Juli 1951 in Ruvo di Puglia) is an Italian trumpeter and flugelhorn player who is associated with free improvisation, avant-garde jazz. A founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Minafra has recorded with such musicians as Gianluigi Trovesi, Mario Schiano, Han Bennink, Ernst Reijseger, Willem Breuker and Michel Godard. [1]
Han Bennink is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing clarinet, violin, banjo and piano.
Misha Mengelberg was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz, Mengelberg is known for his forays into free improvisation, for bringing humor into his music, and as a leading interpreter of songs by fellow pianists Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols.
Enrico Rava, is an Italian jazz trumpeter. He started on trombone, then changed to the trumpet after hearing Miles Davis.
Paul Lovens is a musician. He plays drums, percussion, singing saw, and cymbals. He has performed with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra.
Joëlle Léandre is a double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in new music and free improvisation.
Alexander von Schlippenbach is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing free jazz in a trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens and as a member of the Globe Unity Orchestra. Since the 1990s, Von Schlippenbach has explored the work of more traditional jazz composers like Jelly Roll Morton or Thelonious Monk.
Gianluigi Trovesi is an Italian jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He has won various Italian jazz awards. He also teaches in Italy.
Michel Godard is a French avant-garde jazz and classical musician. He plays tuba and the predecessor of the tuba, a brass instrument known as the serpent.
Italian jazz refers to jazz music that is played by Italian musicians, or to jazz music that is in some way connected to Italy.
Ernst Reijseger is a Dutch cellist and composer. He specializes in jazz, improvised music, and contemporary classical music and often gives solo concerts. He has worked with Louis Sclavis, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Gerry Hemingway, Yo-Yo Ma, Albert Mangelsdorff, Franco D'Andrea, Joëlle Léandre, Georg Gräwe, Trilok Gurtu, and Mola Sylla, and has done several world music projects working with musicians from Sardinia, Turkey, Iran, Senegal, and Argentina, as well as the Netherlands-based group Boi Akih.
The Beijing Jazz Festival is China's first and largest jazz festival. It was founded in 1993 by Udo Hoffmann, a German national living in China. The festival is hosted by the Beijing Midi School of Music and Beijing Midi Productions.
Lucilla Galeazzi is an Italian folk singer. She performs modern versions of traditional Italian folk music. She has also performed in operas.
Paolo Damiani is an Italian jazz cellist and double-bassist. Performing primarily avant-garde jazz, he has worked with Gianluigi Trovesi, Kenny Wheeler, Tony Oxley, Paolo Fresu, and John Taylor. Damiani has also recorded on the albums of Deep Forest and Bauhaus.
The Italian Instabile Orchestra (IIO) is an eighteen piece experimental big band that performs orchestral jazz and avant-garde jazz. Its members include Alberto Mandarini, Bruno Tommaso, Carlo Actis Dato, Daniele Cavallanti, Eugenio Colombo, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Gianluigi Trovesi, Giorgio Gaslini, Giovanni Maier, Guido Mazzon, Mario Schiano, Martin Mayes, Paolo Damiani, Pino Minafra, Sebi Tramontana, Tiziano Tononi, Umberto Petrin, and Vincenzo Mazzone.
Mario Schiano was an Italian alto saxophonist and soprano saxophonist associated with avant-garde/free jazz.
Eugenio Colombo is an Italian saxophonist and flautist most associated with avant-garde jazz. A founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Colombo has worked with such musicians as Mario Schiano, Giorgio Gaslini, Steve Lacy, Bruno Tommaso, Maurizio Giammarco, Giancarlo Schiaffini and the band Area.
Giancarlo Schiaffini is an Italian jazz trombonist and tubist most associated with avant-garde music, free improvisation and free jazz. A member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Schiaffini has worked with such artists as Mario Schiano, Lol Coxhill, Andrea Centazzo and also Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Also, he has collaborated with the Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza.
Bruno Tommaso is an Italian jazz double-bass player and composer, the cousin of fellow double-bass player Giovanni Tommaso. The first president of the Italian Association of Jazz Musicians and a founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Tommaso has performed with such musicians as Enrico Rava, Mario Schiano, Franco d'Andrea, Eugenio Colombo and Enrico Pieranunzi, among others.
Sebi Tramontana is a jazz trombonist most often associated with avant-garde jazz and free improvisation music. A member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Tramontana has also recorded with such musical artists as Jeb Bishop, Joëlle Léandre, Mario Schiano, and Carlos Zingaro.
Carlo Actis Dato is an Italian jazz saxophonist and composer. His Actis quartet toured worldwide in the 1990s.