The charming town of Orvieto, Italy, will soon resonate with the vibrant and soul-stirring sounds of jazz as Umbria Jazz Winter #31 unfolds on December 28, 2024. This year's festival promises an eclectic lineup ranging from youthful orchestras to seasoned jazz masters, each offering their unique spin on this timeless genre. From the spirited performances by youth orchestras to the captivating showcases from emerging talents, the festival offers a rich tapestry of events that celebrate both tradition and innovation in jazz. Whether you're a seasoned jazz aficionado or a curious newcomer, Umbria Jazz Winter #31 is set to captivate your heart and ears.

Jazz Reverberates Through Orvieto: Umbria Jazz Winter #31

There’s no need to introduce Funk Off to those who attend Umbria Jazz. The Tuscan street band has become very popular with its original and recognizable formula: to overcome the concept of a marching band in the New Orleans tradition by proposing enthralling, spectacular, modern, and engaging music written and conducted by Dario Cecchini.

This is how Funk Off has become the audience favorite since Umbria Jazz

Funk Off Umbria Jazz

Centro Storico

The Benedict Gospel Choir  from South Carolina is a dynamic and energic group of 30 elements. Created by Reverend Darryl Izzard, the choir has become an icon among the greatest exponents of gospel music in the USA. The winner of five out of seven editions of the prestigious Black Music Caucus Choir Competition of New York, the Benedict Gospel Choir draws on various genres (gospel, spiritual, blues, reggae and African traditional music). The choir performed together with many renowned artists such as Tramaine Hawkins, Shirley Caesar, Donald Lawrence (Tri-City Singers), Ricky Dillard (New Generation Chorale of Chicago), Norman Hutchins, O’landa Draper & The Associates, and participated in important events such as the Christmas Concert in the Vatican (2000) and the Christmas Concert in Monte Carlo. Internationally speaking, the choir has toured Ghana, West Africa, Caracas, Venezuela, and Bogotá. The choir has recently performed for the Prince and Princess of Monaco. The group has been seen and listened to by millions of people through TV and radio performances worldwide. It has been the number one choir among the college gospel choir in the USA for more than a decade, obtaining important awards from the National Black Music Caucus of New York and the HBCU National Hall of Fame.


“Gospel Explosion” Benedict Gospel Choir

Teatro Mancinelli

“After Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jazzmeia Horn, and Samara Joy, who debuted at Umbria Jazz, Ekep Nkwelle will join this list.” Here’s how Artistic Director Carlo Pagnotta presents this 25-year-old Cameroonian-American singer, the new revelation among the female jazz vocalists. No wonder she was honored with the prestigious Juilliard Career Advancement Grant.

From the vibrant streets of Washington, DC, to the heart of New York City’s jazz scene, Ekep’s artistic path through the esteemed Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Howard University, and The Juilliard School has been quick and without uncertainty. She has quickly won the esteem of Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Russell Malone, Cyrus Chestnut, Peter Washington, and Emmet Cohen. She performed in renowned venues such as the Radio City Music Hall, where she shared the stage with pianist Lang Lang, the Library of Congress, Marian’s Jazzroom, the Kennedy Center, and the Lincoln Center. She also performed at the Newport Jazz Festival. She collaborated with Dee Dee Bridgewater during the fourth year of her exclusive, all-women artistic residency, The Woodshed Network.

Ekep Nkwelle

Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer and critic: an authentic music intellectual. Iverson has become famous in the jazz world for being a member of The Bad Plus. The trio had the merit to renovate – Iverson’s contribution was fundamental – the language of the classic piano-double bass-drums formula. Iverson has performed multiple times at Umbria Jazz, in piano solo at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria and with Joshua Redman. He has also played with the quartet of cult musician Billy Hart. For Umbria Jazz, Iverson has created interesting projects with the Festival orchestra: the latest one is “Simply Cinematic”, a reinterpretation of film music. Iverson also performs in trio at Umbria Jazz Winter, with Thomas Morgan on double bass and Kush Abadey on drums.

Ethan Iverson Trio

He is a songwriter and pianist from Naples who won the 2007 Carosone Prize. Lorenzo Hengeller takes inspiration from Renato Carosone, Lelio Luttazzi, Gorni Kramer, Fred Buscaglione, and Vittorio De Sica, both in his songs and the reinterpretation of the great classics of the Italian songbook of the 30s-60s, with a particular focus on the Neapolitan repertoire. Swing and irony are combined to produce an elegant, easy-going, relaxing lightness during his concerts – he will perform in trio in Orvieto. He is a gentle entertainer who rests on a solid musical foundation.

Lorenzo Hengeller Trio

Palazzo dei Sette

Nico Gori is an incredibly talented and experienced musician. If you think of clarinet, Gori should be the first to come to mind in the Italian jazz scene. The Young Lions’s sophisticated arrangements and energy generate jazz music with a tremendous emotional impact, tied to tradition but with eyes open to modernity.

The Florentine musician has performed (even on saxophone) at the highest levels in any situation – big bands, symphony orchestras, and jazz groups – both as a leader and a highly-requested sideman, ranging from classical music to jazz, from funky to acid jazz, and performing in theaters, clubs, festivals, radio and TV shows all over the world.

Nico Gori Young Lions Quartet

Jazz is commonly seen as a “serious” genre of music that is often complex, hard to play, and out of any temptation of easy listening. It’s not always like that. There has always been a kind of jazz that has fun, entertains, creates a good mood, seeks a relaxed approach, and encourages people to dance. The Good Fellas – with their rockin’ swing – are part of it. They are good musicians who know how to play swing and rock & roll, perfectly stepping into the role, recalling the 50s, and taking inspiration from icons such as Louis Prima, Louis Jordan and Elvis. Our mind goes back to that Italian-American genre by Fred Buscaglione and Renato Carosone and to Italy dreaming of America and its myths.

The Good Fellas

Palazzo del Popolo

He has produced successful compilations under the aegis of The Nightfly and Monte Carlo Nights, but he also loves to play music, both with the Monte Carlo Nights Orchestra and a smaller band like the quintet. Nick is a lovely and dynamic figure (artistic director of Blue Note Milano, festival organizer, producer and talent scout) who is well known by the public of Umbria Jazz for his live radio broadcasts of the Festival in Perugia and as presenter and performer.

Nick The Nightfly Quintet

It all started with early jazz and its charm: the soundtrack of the Roaring Twenties of the first capitals of jazz music, from New Orleans to New York and Chicago. The Chicago Stompers are the most internationally renowned Italian hot jazz ensemble. These young musicians have specialized in performing philologically the repertoire of the American and European orchestras between the 20s and the 30s.

Chicago Stompers

Francesca Tandoi – pianist, singer, composer and bandleader – is one of the most brilliant artists of the jazz scene in recent years. She has collaborated with important musicians but has dedicated herself to the trio over the last few years. Her trio performances are an explosion of swing in which energy, musicality and elegance merge (not to mention her excellent mastery of technique). This formula allows her great freedom and a connection with the tradition of great jazz pianists.

Francesca Tandoi Trio feat. Max Ionata

Museo Emilio Greco

A leading exponent of the thirtysomething generation, Emmet Cohen is a pianist who is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition. For his Masters Legacy Series, he has hosted legends such as Ron Carter, Benny Golson, George Coleman, and Houston Person, the tenor saxophonist with 70 years of career behind him. Cohen shows an attitude towards tradition and the history of American music, adding his freshness, personality and taste. Cohen is a brilliant and technically flawless pianist who recalls the virtuosity of Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson with smooth and elaborate phrasing.

Emmet Cohen w/ Philip Norris & Kyle Poole

The Benedict Gospel Choir  from South Carolina is a dynamic and energic group of 30 elements. Created by Reverend Darryl Izzard, the choir has become an icon among the greatest exponents of gospel music in the USA. The winner of five out of seven editions of the prestigious Black Music Caucus Choir Competition of New York, the Benedict Gospel Choir draws on various genres (gospel, spiritual, blues, reggae and African traditional music). The choir performed together with many renowned artists such as Tramaine Hawkins, Shirley Caesar, Donald Lawrence (Tri-City Singers), Ricky Dillard (New Generation Chorale of Chicago), Norman Hutchins, O’landa Draper & The Associates, and participated in important events such as the Christmas Concert in the Vatican (2000) and the Christmas Concert in Monte Carlo. Internationally speaking, the choir has toured Ghana, West Africa, Caracas, Venezuela, and Bogotá. The choir has recently performed for the Prince and Princess of Monaco. The group has been seen and listened to by millions of people through TV and radio performances worldwide. It has been the number one choir among the college gospel choir in the USA for more than a decade, obtaining important awards from the National Black Music Caucus of New York and the HBCU National Hall of Fame.

Mass for Peace & Gospel w/ Benedict Gospel Choir

Duomo di Orvieto

A theater, some musicians, and words used as signage are combined to connect jazz and its creativity with feelings, passion and obsessions that have defined our time and return in the images that document them, from the imagery of cinema to the search of art beyond the common sense of things.

The Feeling of Jazz – A Century

Teatro del Carmine

A very popular DJ and radio host, Nick The Nightfly (his real name is Malcolm MacDonald Charlton, while his stage name is an homage to Donald Fagen’s album title) begins as a musician and singer. When he was young, Malcolm was a promising soccer player (the Scottish U18 national team selected him) and a badminton player, but the music was his real love.

An Italian citizen since 1982, he is a star of Radio Monte Carlo for his cultural and ironic radio show, in which people can always listen to great music. He has hosted Sting, Pat Metheny, Peter Gabriel, Ryūichi Sakamoto, Herbie Hancock, Miriam Makeba, Caetano Veloso, Enya, Donald Fagen, Pino Daniele, Annie Lennox, and many others.

There’s no need to introduce Funk Off to those who attend Umbria Jazz. The Tuscan street band has become very popular with its original and recognizable formula: to overcome the concept of a marching band in the New Orleans tradition by proposing enthralling, spectacular, modern, and engaging music written and conducted by Dario Cecchini.

Funk Off

Centro Storico Orvieto

The Good Fellas – Festival Closing Dinner

The concert focuses on Paolo Fresu’s creativity and wisdom as a leader. Some of Fresu’s closest colleagues join him in two great small bands – the trio and the quartet – reflecting his personality and perfectly translating the inspiration. These artists usually perform with Fresu on his label’s records, Tǔk Music, and tours. Over time, they have created a profound harmony so much that imagining other musicians for those projects would be hard. Despite the different personalities, musical chemistry is always at the root of good music.

Paolo Fresu Trio & Devil Quartet

Joel Ross is the latest rising star of vibraphone. After the common thread uniting Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson and Gary Burton, this extraordinary instrument didn’t have a chance to rejoice. There were not many important players, until Joel Ross. Originally from Chicago, he shouldn’t be seen only as an expert in this instrument but also as a leader and composer jazzman. His talent as a soloist can be fully appreciated in the trio.


Joel Ross Trio w/ Jermaine Paul & Jeremy Dutton

The Hot Gravel Eskimos, led by multi-instrumentalist Mauro L. Porro – one of the main representatives of Italian hot jazz – rediscover the joy of tradition by performing well-known and lesser-known tunes of the 30s and 40s of the 20th century. It is a philological operation: period instruments, faithfully reproduced orchestrations from the old 78 rpm records and a stage presence inspired by the fashion of the Swing era. An authentic journey through time!

Hot Gravel Eskimos

The concert focuses on Paolo Fresu’s creativity and wisdom as a leader. Some of Fresu’s closest colleagues join him in two great small bands – the trio and the quartet – reflecting his personality and perfectly translating the inspiration. These artists usually perform with Fresu on his label’s records, Tǔk Music, and tours. Over time, they have created a profound harmony so much that imagining other musicians for those projects would be hard. Despite the different personalities, musical chemistry is always at the root of good music.


New York is their home now, but they come from all over the world: Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Greenwich Village, Madagascar, France, Jamaica, and Hawaii. They are Mwenso and the Shakes. Michael Mwenso is their charismatic leader, a vocalist from Sierra Leone who moved to London. After a late-night jam session at Ronnie Scott’s, Wynton Marsalis hired him as a musician.

Mwenso and the Shakes form a group (more than a band) of global artists whose music aims at merging the highest form of entertainment and artistry.

“A Soulful Christmas” hosted by Mwenso & The Shakes

Happy New Year! A dinner to celebrate the New Year with good live music will take place at the Palazzo dei Sette with:

New Year’s Eve Dinner

Happy New Year! A dinner to celebrate the New Year with good live music will take place at the Palazzo del Popolo – Sala Expo with:


“After Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jazzmeia Horn, and Samara Joy, who debuted at Umbria Jazz, Ekep Nkwelle will join this list.” Here’s how Artistic Director Carlo Pagnotta presents this 25-year-old Cameroonian-American singer, the new revelation among the female jazz vocalists. No wonder she was honored with the prestigious Juilliard Career Advancement Grant.

Ethan Iverson, is a pianist, composer and critic: an authentic intellectual of music. Iverson has become famous in the jazz world for being a member of The Bad Plus. The trio had the merit to renovate – Iverson’s contribution was fundamental – the language of the classic piano-double bass-drums formula. Iverson has performed multiple times at Umbria Jazz, in piano solo at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria and with Joshua Redman. He has also played with the quartet of cult musician Billy Hart. For Umbria Jazz, Iverson has created interesting projects with the Festival orchestra, such as the one on Bud Powell and “Ritornello, Sinfonias & Cadenzas”, a reinterpretation of classical structures with the jazz language. He then arranged Burt Bacharach’s famous songs for Dianne Reeves, always with the Umbria Jazz Orchestra. This new project, “Simply Cinematic”, consists of a reinterpretation of film music. Iverson performs in this project with his trio, including Thomas Morgan on double bass and Kush Abadey on drums.

“Simply Cinematic” Ethan Iverson & UJ Orchestra feat. Thomas Morgan & Kush Abadey

Teatro Mancinelli Orvieto

Hot jazz in the 1920s New Orleans experienced its golden age and was the starting point for the following development of swing and bebop. Despite his young age, Mauro Porro is considered one of the most important musicians of hot jazz, which is philologically performed with instruments and techniques of that time.

The concert is a tribute to the 1920s hot jazz in its various styles (Dixieland, Chicago, New Orleans, New York), with the typical ensemble including trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, tuba bass, banjo and drums.

Brilliant performances of well-known and lesser-known tunes from the golden age of jazz take place through free improvisation and meticulous transcriptions from 78 rpm records.

Dixie Blue Blowers

For some years now, this house band has performed at the most recent summer and winter editions of Umbria Jazz as a resident band and the heart of the night-time jam sessions. The rhythm section now includes Luca Mannutza on piano, Jason Weaver on double bass, and Willie Jones III on drums.

The House Band

Jazz is commonly seen as a “serious” genre of music that is often complex, hard to play, and out of any temptation of easy listening. It’s not always like that. There has always been a kind of jazz that has fun, entertains, creates a good mood, seeks a relaxed approach, and encourages people to dance. The Good Fellas – with their rockin’ swing – are part of it. They are good musicians who know how to play swing and rock & roll, perfectly stepping into the role, recalling the 50s, and taking inspiration from icons such as Louis Prima, Louis Jordan and Elvis. Our mind goes back to that Italian-American genre by Fred Buscaglione and Renato Carosone and to Italy dreaming of America and its myths.


Joel Ross is the latest rising star of vibraphone. After the common thread uniting Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson and Gary Burton, this extraordinary instrument didn’t have a chance to rejoice. There were not many important players, until Joel Ross. Originally from Chicago, he shouldn’t be seen only as an expert in this instrument but also as a leader and composer jazzman. His talent as a soloist can be fully appreciated in the trio.

Dino Rubino, Marco Bardoscia and Stefano Bagnoli usually perform together in Paolo Fresu’s live and studio projects and for his label, Tǔk Music. Their chemistry is well established, and the piano trio may be the best formula to let the three artists express their full potential. An album of the trio, “Solitude”, was released a few months ago.

Rubino’s triple album of new songs seems to meet the need to set a key moment in his career with such a challenging and ambitious product. It’s Dino Rubino’s seventh album on Tǔk Musi, the first in trio after 11 years, and it has a specific structure: the first two records include original compositions written by the pianists in the latest years, while the third one mainly contains standards. The album takes its title from one of these standards: Solitude by Duke Ellington.

Dino Rubio Trio w/ Marco Bardoscia & Stefano Bagnoli

There’s no need to introduce Funk Off to those who attend Umbria Jazz. The Tuscan street band has become very popular with its original and recognizable formula: to overcome the concept of a marching band in the New Orleans tradition by proposing enthralling, spectacular, modern, and engaging music written and conducted by Dario Cecchini.

This is how Funk Off has become the audience favorite since Umbria Jazz introduced them in 2003. The reason for such popularity is straightforward: the group is fun, it plays well, and its sense of entertainment, together with its musical innovations, manages to renew a centuries-old genre such as the marching band, which is part of the dawn of jazz music.

“L’Arcobaleno: I colori dell’amicizia”
Concert by Banda Giovanile della Filarmonica “Luigi Mancinelli” Orvieto. Project SaràBanda

Uj4kids

New York is their home now, but they come from all over the world: Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Greenwich Village, Madagascar, France, Jamaica, and Hawaii. They are Mwenso and the Shakes. Michael Mwenso is their charismatic leader, a vocalist from Sierra Leone who moved to London. After a late-night jam session at Ronnie Scott’s, Wynton Marsalis hired him as a musician.

“A soulful Christmas” hosted by Mwenso & The Shakes

A very popular DJ and radio host, Nick The Nightfly (his real name is Malcolm MacDonald Charlton, while his stage name is an homage to Donald Fagen’s album title) begins as a musician and singer. When he was young, Malcolm was a promising soccer player (the Scottish U18 national team selected him) and a badminton player, but the music was his real love.

The Feeling of Jazz is the history of a century or a language experiment to tell the centuries-old history through music, images and words.

A theater, some musicians, and words used as signage are combined to connect jazz and its creativity with feelings, passion and obsessions that have defined our time and return in the images that document them, from the imagery of cinema to the search of art beyond the common sense of things.

Traveling event of music and stories by Scuola Comunale di Musica “Adriano Casasole”, Collettivo Teatro Animazione, Nuova Biblioteca Luigi Fumi.

Paolo Fresu’s trio, along with Dino Rubino and Marco Bardoscia, is one of his most evocative projects. This great small chamber-like trio is capable of unlimited nuances in sound. Their music is intimate but moving and highly communicative: such different personalities find perfect harmony on stage. Fresu, Rubino and Bardoscia are different musicians, but perfectly assimilable and complementary. A refined three-part dialogue, with a great emotional and intellectual impact that consists of Fresu’s warm sound and vivid and creative mind, the powerful and engaging lines of Bardoscia’s double bass and the elegant and vibrant Rubino’s pianism. Fresu formed this trio for the theatrical project “Tempo di Chet – La versione di Chet Baker” produced by the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano. The trio is now on tour with another theatrical work. This time, the project is focused on another great trumpeter, Miles Davis: a work in which music and lyrics tell a cross-section of the “major” history of jazz music. As it’s always time for Chet, it’s always time for Miles.

Paolo Fresu Trio w/ Dino Rubino & Marco Bardoscia

Nico Gori is an incredibly talented and experienced musician. If you think of clarinet, Gori should be the first to come to mind in the Italian jazz scene. The Young Lions’s sophisticated arrangements and energy generate jazz music with a tremendous emotional impact, tied to tradition but with eyes open to modernity.

New York is their home now, but they come from all over the world: Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Greenwich Village, Madagascar, France, Jamaica, and Hawaii. They are Mwenso and the Shakes. Michael Mwenso is their charismatic leader, a vocalist from Sierra Leone who moved to London. After a late-night jam session at Ronnie Scott’s, Wynton Marsalis hired him as a musician.

Mwenso and the Shakes form a group (more than a band) of global artists whose music aims at merging the highest form of entertainment and artistry.

Their genre connects jazz and blues, expressed through African and Afro-American music. They are inspired by Fats Waller, Muddy Waters, James Brown and other American music legends. The New York Times calls their show “intense, prowling, and ebullient”. Their performance encourages people to dance and be part of it. This mix of creative energy, timbre and rhythm works best live. No wonder their debut album, “Emergence”, is a live recording. The band musically preserves the Afro-American music tradition – Louis Armstrong and other icons – but feels free to push the limits.

The Devil Quartet was conceived by Paolo Fresu to develop an idea of a quartet, in a different and dialectical way, that grew out of his earlier “electric” Angel Quartet, which enjoyed great success across Europe. The Devil Quartet includes Bebo Ferra on guitar, Paolino Dalla Porta on bass and Stefano Bagnoli on drums. They are all great players in their own right, but as always happens when jazz is played well, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Fresu’s skillful direction governs a kind of music that he defines as “melangé”, which is the result of crossing different styles and languages, which is open and curious. Fresu’s music – live and in records – is full of different moods: it is varied but logical in its entirely acoustic warm atmosphere. There are no special effects in his music. The Devil Quartet formula seems to receive signals and influences, is open, curious and constantly evolving despite the unflappable calm. Everyone contributes to this game of balance and true synergy, so much that it’s hard to imagine even a partially different lineup.

Paolo Fresu Devil Quartet

For some years now, this house band has performed at the most recent summer and winter editions of Umbria Jazz as a resident band and the heart of the night-time jam sessions. The rhythm section now includes Luca Mannutza on piano, Jason Weaver on double bass, and Willie Jones III on drums.

They are experienced jazzmen, among the top players of their instruments. This band can recreate live the fervent atmosphere beloved by night owls.

“Emozioni in musica”
A project by the students of the Scuola primaria di Ciconia dell’Istituto Comprensivo Orvieto – Montecchio

On the 50th anniversary of Umbria Jazz, Funk Off  celebrated their 25th birthday as a band.

There’s no need to introduce Funk Off to those who attend Umbria Jazz. The Tuscan street band has become very popular with its original and recognizable formula: to overcome the concept of a marching band in the New Orleans tradition by proposing enthralling, spectacular, modern, and engaging music written and conducted by Dario Cecchini.

Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer and critic: an authentic intellectual of music. Iverson has become famous in the jazz world for being a member of The Bad Plus. The trio had the merit to renovate – Iverson’s contribution was fundamental – the language of the classic piano-double bass-drums formula. Iverson has performed multiple times at Umbria Jazz, in piano solo at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria and with Joshua Redman. He has also played with the quartet of cult musician Billy Hart. For Umbria Jazz, Iverson has created interesting projects with the Festival orchestra, such as the one on Bud Powell and “Ritornello, Sinfonias & Cadenzas”, a reinterpretation of classical structures with the jazz language. He then arranged Burt Bacharach’s famous songs for Dianne Reeves, always with the Umbria Jazz Orchestra. This new project, “Simply Cinematic”, consists of a reinterpretation of film music. Iverson performs in this project with his trio, including Thomas Morgan on double bass and Kush Abadey on drums.

Piano and guitar are usually considered alternative instruments. However, some encounters between pianists and guitarists have remained in history (Bill Evans and Jim Hall, Brad Mehldau and Pat Metheny). Such encounters produced exciting results. This all-female piano-guitar duo is performed by brilliant musicians Francesca Tandoi and Eleonora Strino, who are the protagonists of the new Italian and European jazz scene.

Francesca Tandoi – Eleonora Strino D.U.O.

Dino Rubino, Marco Bardoscia and Stefano Bagnoli usually perform together in Paolo Fresu’s live and studio projects and for his label, Tǔk Music. Their chemistry is well established, and the piano trio may be the best formula to let the three artists express their full potential. An album of the trio, “Solitude”, was released a few months ago.

“The Mystery of the Missing Eraser”
A fantastic musical tale promoted by UNITRE Orvieto, the “Adriano Casasole” School of Music, the Opera del Duomo of Orvieto, the “Gianni Rodari” Study Center, and the “Luigi Fumi” Public Library.


Music critic and journalist Ashley Kahn – one of the greatest writers of contemporary jazz literature – will subject Ethan Iverson to a Blindfold Test. Leonard Feather invented these tests for the historic magazine DownBeat more than sixty years ago.

Blindfold Test: Ethan Iverson – hosted by Ashley Kahn

Exploring Music with the Students of Section A at the Scuola dell’Infanzia di Ciconia – Istituto Comprensivo Orvieto – Montecchio

Piano and guitar are usually considered alternative instruments. However, some encounters between pianists and guitarists have remained in history (Bill Evans and Jim Hall, Brad Mehldau and Pat Metheny). Such encounters produced exciting results. This all-female piano-guitar duo is performed by brilliant musicians Francesca Tandoi and Eleonora Strino, who are the protagonists of the new Italian and European jazz scene. Tandoi is a talented musician from Rome, a big fan of Oscar Peterson and the greatest virtuoso swinging piano players. She started her career studying classical music and then discovered her vocation for jazz. She moved to the Netherlands in 2009, where she studied at prestigious academic institutions such as the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and achieved her first success. Her artistic path belongs to the glorious tradition of pianists-vocalists. Eleonora Strino has been acclaimed as a breath of novelty in a setting that had been waiting for a guitarist like her: she is inspired, musically cultured and technically prepared. She studied guitar as a teenager. After listening to Jim Hall on his famous record in duo with Bill Evans, she knew she wanted to become a jazz guitarist. Her career has been swift.

Hot jazz in the 1920s New Orleans experienced its golden age and was the starting point for the following development of swing and bebop. Despite his young age, Mauro Porro is considered one of the most important musicians of hot jazz, which is philologically performed with instruments and techniques of that time.

The young jazz talents will play the first notes at Umbria Jazz Winter #31 on Saturday, December 28th.

As usual, Umbria Jazz Winter offers a prestigious showcase for emerging musicians. The program includes two bands. The Scannapieco – Geremia 5et won won this year’s Conad Jazz Contest. The Berklee/ Umbria Jazz Clinics Award Group is the band that includes the best students of the Berklee classes.

Scannapieco – Geremia 5et

The young jazz talents will play the first notes at Umbria Jazz Winter #31 on Saturday, December 28th.

As usual, Umbria Jazz Winter offers a prestigious showcase for emerging musicians. The program includes two bands. The Scannapieco – Geremia 5et won won this year’s Conad Jazz Contest. The Berklee/ Umbria Jazz Clinics Award Group is the band that includes the best students of the Berklee at Umbria Jazz Clinics 2024 classes.

Berklee/Umbria Jazz Clinics Award Group

“Cappuccetto vestito di Rosso”
Concert by the Youth Orchestra of the “Adriano Casasole” School of Music in Orvieto.

George Cables is considered a monument of modern jazz. This 80-year-old New Yorker has played, both live and in the studio, with Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, and Dizzy Gillespie throughout his long career. His “collection” of drummers is extraordinary: Art Blakey, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, and Tony Williams. Two central partnerships: the quartet of Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper (Cables was undoubtedly his favorite pianist). Pepper used to call him “Mr. Beautiful”. Their collaboration is documented by a series of records for Contemporary and Galaxy, including the latest studio session, in duo, of the great alto saxophonist: an artistic will to share with a trusted companion.

George Cables Trio feat. Piero Odorici

SINA Brufani

Charles Lloyd was nominated “Jazz Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor the United States can award a jazz musician. Behind this recognition is a long history that makes Charles Lloyd a legend of world music, not just jazz.

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