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{{Music of Italy}}

'''Italian jazz''' refers to [[jazz music]] that is played by Italian musicians, or to jazz music that is in some way connected to [[Italy]].

==Origins==
[[James Reese Europe]]'s military concerts in [[France]] in [[World War I]] in 1919 are claimed to have introduced Europeans to a new, "syncopated" music from America. Yet, Italians had an even earlier taste of a new music from across the Atlantic when a group of "[[Creole peoples|Creole]]" singers and dancers, billed as the "creators of the [[cakewalk]]" performed at the Eden Theater in [[Milan]] in 1904.  The first real Italian jazz orchestras and ensembles, however, were formed during the 1930s by musicians such as [[Arturo Agazzi]] with his ''Syncopated Orchestra'' and Carlo Andreis with his ''Quartetto Andreis'' (CETRA, 1937-1941), enjoying immediate success.<ref name="Mazzoletti">Mazzoletti</ref> In spite of the anti-American cultural policies of the [[Fascist Italy|Fascist regime]] during the 1930s, American jazz remained popular. (Even [[Romano Mussolini]], [[Benito Mussolini|Benito]]'s son, was a great jazz fan and then prominent jazz pianist.)  Also, in 1935, American jazz great [[Louis Armstrong]] toured Italy with great success.<ref name="Mazzoletti"/>

In the immediate post-[[World War II]] years jazz took off in [[Italy]]. All American post-war jazz styles, from [[be-bop]] to [[Free Jazz]] and [[Jazz fusion|Fusion]] have their equivalents in [[Italy]]. The most gifted exponents of [[jazz]] music in this period (from the 1940s to 1960s) are musicians like [[Gorni Kramer]], [[Giorgio Gaslini]], [[Lelio Luttazzi]] and [[Franco Cerri]], the composer [[Bruno Martino]] and great singers like [[Natalino Otto]], [[Jula de Palma]], [[Nicola Arigliano]] and [[Johnny Dorelli]]. The universality of Italian culture ensured that jazz clubs would spring up throughout the peninsula, that all radio and then [[television]] studios would have jazz-based "house-bands," that Italian musicians would then start nurturing a "home grown" kind of jazz, based on European song forms, classical composition techniques
and folk music (for example, in Sicily, where [[Enzo Rao]] and his group Shamal have added native Sicilian and Arab influences to American jazz).

The jazz recorded in Italy from 1912 to 1950 is practically unknown, though in those years a remarkable number of recordings were made by both Italians and foreign musicians in Italy. The [[Phonograph record|records]], all of them [[78 rpm]], are rarities for collectors, as their original matrixes were destroyed either in the devastating bombings of World War II (most of the record companies were located in [[Milan]] and [[Turin]], two cities severely damaged by the war) or due to the foolishness of the many record company directors who sent to the rettery the remaining recordings of the period. Notwithstanding, thanks to few collectors, the best jazz recorded in Italy from 1912 to 1955 has been re-edited (by Riviera Jazz Records - www.rivierajazz.it). The story of Italian jazz, from the beginning, has been written by [[Adriano Mazzoletti]] : "Il Jazz in Italia. Dalle origini alle grandi Orchestre" and "Il Jazz in Italia. Dallo swing agli anni Sessanta", published by  E.D.T., Turin.  (www.edt.it).  A photographic book with all the Italian musicians from the origins, “L’Italia del Jazz”  have been published by Mastruzzi Editore, Rone (www.slms.it).

==Contemporary Italian jazz==
Currently, several Italian music conservatories have jazz departments, there are dozens of jazz festivals each year in Italy, the best-known of which is the [[Umbria Jazz Festival]], and there are [[Music media in Italy|prominent publications]] such as the journal, ''Musica Jazz''. In Italy, today, it is virtually impossible to find a medium-sized city without a jazz club.

Notable contemporary Italian [[jazz]] Musicians include [[Franco Cerri]], [[Pino Rucher]], [[Dino Betti van der Noot]], [[Enrico Rava]], [[Antonello Salis]], [[Massimo Urbani]], [[Paolo Fresu]], [[Enrico Intra]], [[Stefano Bollani]], [[Antonio Farao]], [[Roberto Ottaviano]], [[Dado Moroni]], [[Aldo Romano]], [[Stefano di Battista]], [[Pino Presti]], [[Tullio De Piscopo]], [[Fabrizio Bosso]], [[Luigi Grasso]],  bassists [[Giorgio Rosciglione]], [[Riccardo Del Fra]],  [[Pippo Matino]], [[Mauro Gargano]], [[Giovanni Tommaso]] and [[Rosario Bonaccorso]]; [[Giovanni Falzone]], [[Guido Manusardi]],<ref name=Grove-Manusardi>{{cite web| last=Zenni| first=Stefano |title= Manusardi, Guido |website=[[Grove Music Online]] |publisher=Oxford Music Online |url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J631600| access-date = 28 June 2017}} {{subscription required}}</ref> [[Giovanni Mirabassi]], [[Enrico Pieranunzi]], [[Mario Schiano]],<ref name=Grove-Schiano>{{cite web| last=Zenni| first=Stefano |title=  Schiano, Mario  |website=[[Grove Music Online]] |publisher=Oxford Music Online |url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J686800| access-date = 28 June 2017}} {{subscription required}}</ref> [[Gianluigi Trovesi]], [[Pippo Lombardo]], [[Daniele Scannapieco]], [[Gianfranco Campagnoli]], and other members and collaborators of the [[Italian Instabile Orchestra]].

[[Gianluca Petrella]] is internationally considered one of the best young jazz trombonists.<ref>Thomas Conrad [http://jazztimes.com/articles/24289-umbria-jazz-08 Umbria Jazz '08] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429000821/http://jazztimes.com/articles/24289-umbria-jazz-08 |date=2009-04-29 }} ''[[JazzTimes]]'', 08/05/08</ref> Italy has many young and promising jazz musicians including [[Rosario Giuliani]], [[Claudio Quartarone]], [[Claudio Ottaviano]], [[Marcello Giuliani]], [[Mauro Gargano]], [[Francesco Bearzatti]], [[Michel Rosciglione]], [[Massimo Biolcati]] and [[Flavio Boltro]].

''[[Piano, solo]]'' (2007) is a biographical movie by Riccardo Milani based upon the life of [[Luca Flores]], an Italian jazz piano player.

[[Richard Galliano]], [[Michel Petrucciani]], [[André Ceccarelli]] and [[Alfio Origlio]] are notable French musicians whose families come from Italy.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book
|last      = Mazzoletti
|first     = Adriano
|year      = 1983
|title     = Jazz in Italia. Dalle Origini al dopoguerra
|location  = Rome
|isbn        = 88-7063-704-2
|publisher      = EDT
|language=it}}
* Ricordandi I Trii Vocali "Quartetto  Andreis"
* {{cite journal
|last      = Cerchiari
|first     = Luca
|year      = 1988
|publisher = Institut Mathildenhöhe
|title     = Jazz in Italien
|journal   = Exhibit Catalogue: That's Jazz. Der Sound des 20. Jahrhunderts
|pages     = 469–476
|location  = Darmstadt
|language=de}}

==External links==
* [http://www.umbriajazz.com/ Umbria Jazz Festival]   In Perugia, generally in July (the largest such event in Italy)
* [http://www.sienajazz.it Siena Jazz] The first and still most prestigious Italian jazz school, hosting the most rich specialized library and sound archive of the country, and organizing a Summer festival (July 24/Aug 8th)
* [http://www.jazzitalia.net/ Running updates on jazz events in Italy]
* [http://www.palazzoducale.genova.it/naviga.asp?pagina=188  Jazz museum in Genoa]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081205020839/http://jazz.com/dozens/the-dozens-italian-jazz "Italian Jazz: Twelve Essential Recordings"] by Thierry Quénum ([http://www.jazz.com Jazz.com])
* [http://romajazz.it/ ROMA JAZZ] Complete jazz concert listing for Rome

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[[Category:Italian jazz| ]]
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