Alessandro Lanzoni Trio
with Enrico Morello and Matteo Bortone
feat. Francesco Cafiso
Alessandro Lanzoni and Francesco Cafiso are now among the leading Italian musicians, enjoying great prestige worldwide. They both were child prodigies who entered the jazz world at a young age and became mature artists of indisputable depth: in their case, promises have been fulfilled.
Florentine pianist Alessandro Lanzoni graduated at the Conservatory “Cherubini”. His brilliant career started at the age of 14, confirmed with the Premio “Massimo Urbani” (2006) and then reconfirmed with the “Primo Premio” dedicated to “Luca Flores” of Florence (2008) until being awarded the “Best Young Soloist” at the prestigious “Martial Solal” competition of Paris (2010). He received the Top Jazz Award as Best New Talent of the Year in 2013. This prize launched him at a European level, too. His musical education is the result of an intense journey developed in two directions: his “classical” studies, leading to his Diploma of Piano obtained in 2012 with the highest marks, and the study of the jazz language at the summer courses of Siena Jazz and those of Berklee College of Music at Umbria Jazz with a scholarship. Alessandro establishes himself as a leader also internationally. He achieved excellent results in Europe, Latin America, Israel, and the USA. After listening to him in piano solo at the UN Building, with her 70 years of pure jazz history, Ira Gitler stated: “He shouldn’t be judged as a young musician. He is already exceptional and with every probability he will become even more so”.
Francesco Cafiso is the special guest of the Lanzoni trio, an old friend of the Festival. Umbria Jazz helped launch him when he was an extraordinary promise and not the successful musician he is now. Umbria Jazz allowed him to record an album about Charlie Parker’s Verve recordings with a string orchestra. Umbria Jazz presented the project for a week at Birdland, the historical New York club named after Parker.
Cafiso has received many prestigious awards, including the Top Jazz Award (Musica Jazz), the Premio “Massimo Urbani”, and the Django D’Or. He was awarded the International Jazz Festivals Organization Award in New York in 2004. The same year, he won the World Saxophone Competition in London. The list is long, but it’s worth mentioning when President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella awarded him the title of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
What matters most is the esteem and affection jazz fans worldwide have shown him from his first appearances until today.
