He is one of the main protagonists of jazz history in Italy. Unless you write a book, it’s even hard to retrace the career of Franco D’Andrea, who has spent 61 of his 81 years (he started playing as a professional in 1963 with Nunzio Rotondo for RAI television and released his debut album in 1964 with Gato Barbieri) helping to develop Italian jazz like few others. Italian jazz gained an original identity thanks to artists like the pianist and composer from Merano. D’Andrea has recorded more than 200 albums, also for foreign labels, composed dozens of songs that others used, played on all the continents, among festivals, theaters, and clubs, been a professor of specialized seminars in Italy and abroad, created any formulas, from piano solo to larger groups, played jazz following the tradition and exploring innovative paths, been honored with prestigious awards. Above all, he met an impressive number of important musicians: Pepper Adams, Gato Barbieri (they recorded the soundtrack for “Last Tango in Paris”), Don Byas, Perigeo (they performed at the first edition of Umbria Jazz in 1973), Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Dave Liebman, Hank Mobley, Jean-Luc Ponty, Enrico Rava, Max Roach, Martial Solal, John Surman, Toots Thielemans, Charles Tolliver, Miroslav Vitous, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Douglas, and many others.
D’Andrea says: “The piano solo represents jazz: one of the most suitable occasions to seek new musical combinations by improvising, with unpredictable outcomes. Normally, musicians have many prepare pieces of the mosaic. In my case, they can be original compositions or songs from my favourite authors (Kid Ory, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tristano, John Coltrane) with the scent of the different jazz ages they belong to. However, the final result is yet to be invented, the story on the stage will always be different every night.”
