NEW CD
CUBAN FIRES
An imaginary journey into the various styles and traditions of Cuban music.
NEW CD
CUBAN FIRES
An imaginary journey into the various styles and traditions of Cuban music.
BIOGRAPHY
Composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Born in Lecce in 1958, I grew up in Naples, and although I did not have a formal musical training as a child, I started to play guitar and piano at an early age, and composed my first songs in the early seventies.
In 1974 I began to set to music the William Blake’s poems, as a result of which I made my first concert in Naples in 1978.
In 1979 I formed a group in Rome for performing my Blake songs. I sang and played guitar and lute with Andrea Damiani, lute; Alessio Colarizi, recorder, crumhorn; and Miranda Simmons, voice. The band performed at the Folk Studio, Fonclea and other clubs in Rome.
In 1982 I spent many months in India and Nepal, where i studied sarod in the Hindustani tradition with blind sarod master Mohan Sundar, and khyal vocal style with Chetnath Sharma.
In 1986 I collaborated with Costantino Albini in the soundtrack of the TV movie “Cinque Piccoli Indiani” by Paolo Brunatto, playing sarod, hammered dulcimer, and percussions.
In 1991 I went to Varanasi, India to study the dhrupad vocal style with Ritwick Sanyal.
In 1996 Amiata Records published my audio tape “Akashmani: Across the Sky”, minimalistic music in the tradition of Terry Riley and Steve Reich performed on Yamaha and Roland keyboards.
In the late nineties I formed the Vajra Trio with Costantino Albini (sitar, percussion) and Bernhard Siegel (flute, megaharp). In this trio, which performed in Arcidosso, I played sarod and santur.
In 2000 I began to study jazz piano with Alessio Buccella in Grosseto, Italy.
In 2004 I started to play the Venezuelan harp and compose music that was performed in Isla Margarita with a band including sitar master Steven Landsberg, saxophone player Jey Clark, percussionist Pancho Company and guitarist Alex Pollack.
In 2010 I began to study soprano sax and improvisation with Emanuele Cannatela, Grosseto, Italy.
In 2011 I set up the Akashmani Jazz Ensemble to perform at the Merigar 30th Anniversary, in Arcidosso (GR), Italy. The Akashmani Ensemble, at that time, consisted of ten musicians and two singers who performed my original compositions: Rosie Wiederkeher, voice; Nina Suza Reiss, voice; Harvey Kaiser, tenor sax, clarinet; Jasna Jovicevic, alto and soprano sax; Romano Consoli, tenor and soprano sax; Massimo Muratori, trumpet and flugelhorn; Massimiliano Santella, trombone; Fabio Tomassoni, flute; Massimiliano Ottaviani, double bass; Pancho Company, drums; Enzo Ciacci, percussions, and me, Adriano Clemente, harp.
In 2013 my Akashmani Jazz Ensemble played in various locations in the Amiata area, and especially at the Teatro degli Unanimi, Arcidosso, with a band including: me, Adriano Clemente, soprano and alto sax; Harvey Kaiser, tenor sax, baritone sax, clarinet; Massimo Muratori, trumpet; Federico Manini, trombone; Stefano Pioli, piano; Carlo Bellucci, double bass; Claudio Sbrolli, drums.
In april 2015 I had my Mingus Suite recorded by an Italian all-star band including: Marco Guidolotti, clarinet, bass clarinet, baritone sax; Daniele Tittarelli, alto sax; Francesco Lento, trumpet; Mario Corvini, trombone; Riccardo Fassi, piano; Dario Rosciglione, double bass; Andrea Nunzi, drums.
The CD Mingus Suite, including a composition recorded as a duet with Roberto Ottaviano, soprano sax, has been issued by Dodicilune in May 2016.
In November 2014 I performed again at the Teatro degli Unanimi, Arcidosso, where I presented for the first time my Mingus Suite, with a band consisting of: Harvey Kaiser, tenor and baritone sax, clarinet; Andrea Lagi, trumpet; Piero Bronzi, alto sax; Fabio Tomassoni, flute; Federico Manini, trombone; Alessio Buccella, piano; Rossano Gasperini, double bass; Francesco Favilli, drums; Ida Landsberg, voice.
In December 2014 - January 2015 I studied latin rhythms and percussions in Isla Margarita with Venezuelan percussionist Sergio "El Gato" Gallardo.
I wanted to explore different moods and sonorities, and for this reason on the occasion of the second trip to Havana in December 2016 I contacted Eduardo Sandoval, a young and gifted musician and trombone player whose CD “Caminos Abiertos” had particularly impressed me.
I conceived the CD "Cuban Fires" as a sequel to my first CD on Latin Jazz, “Havana Blue”, with the idea of deepening some aspects of the Cuban musical heritage. With the help of Eduardo Sandoval I hired trumpet player Thommy Lowry, saxophonist Michel Herrera - well-known in Cuba as leader of his own jazz project “Madre Tierra”, - and Alejandro Falcòn, a worthy heir of the great tradition of Cuban pianism, and leader of his own band “Cubadentro”. For tenor sax and clarinet I called Emir Santa Cruz, who had already collaborated in the first CD. The bass player is Roberto "El Chino" Vàsquez, while Eduardo Silveira and Deivys Rubalcaba play respectively congas and timbales, plus various percussions. For the title track I invited percussionist Degnis Bofill, who plays the sacred batà drums.
The CD "Cuban Fires" was published by Dodicilune in July 2018.
Among other projects, a series of compositions has been recorded in Havana in December 2015 with top Cuban musicians: Leyanis Valdes, piano, daughter of Chucho Valdes and granddaughter of Bebo Valdes; Emir Santacruz, tenor sax, clarinet; Yuniet Lombida, baritone sax, alto sax; Victor Guzman, baritone and alto sax; Santiago Ceballos, trumpet; Heikel Trimino, trombone; Yandy Martinez, double bass; Augusto Lage, congas; Lennon Ruiz, timbales; Adel Rodriguez, bongos, guiro, cowbell.
The CD Havana Blue was published by Dodicilune in February 2017.
I started to write the first compositions of my new CD "The Coltrane Suite and Other Impressions" around 2013 having the idea of assembling more compositions and writing new music to prepare a suite dedicated to Coltrane’s spiritual reawakening. For the main Coltrane character, I was looking for a voice that could carry the whole tradition of the jazz saxophone and that had a big, vibrating sound.
During the spring of 2021, in the last stage of the lockdown, I heard that the great tenor sax legend David Murray was traveling in Italy with his wife Francesca, and when I contacted him to propose our collaboration he immediately responded positively. The way he interpreted my music and the profound levels of expression he reached through his horn are nothing short of marvellous.
Hamid Drake is a great drummer who can genuinely convey the polyrhythmic features of African drumming. I had thought of him as the right musician for this project from the outset. David Murray and Hamid Drake are two exceptional musicians that I really admire for what they contributed to the recording. I am grateful to both of them.
The rest of the musicians are all skilled Italian jazz performers, and as in the case of the CD Mingus Suite, the organization of the band was mostly thanks to the leadership of Marco Guidolotti. After the recording session in Rome in September 2021, I started to work on editing of material together with Piero Lanza, and then I decided to enrich the musical textures by inviting new musicians and overdubbing other parts to the original recording. I played many instruments myself, including my beloved Venezuelan harp, for the same purpose. Three songs were performed a cappella on the alto sax.
My new double CD "The Coltrane Suite and Other Impressions" was recently released by Dodicilune in May 2023.
I live in Italy, in the Amiata area, Tuscany, with my beautiful family, and work as a translator of Tibetan text for the Kater Translation Project.
