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Franco Ambrosetti

Franco Ambrosetti (player and composer), son of Flavio Ambrosetti, is born december 10, 1941 in Lugano (Switzerland). He studied piano from 1952 until 1959, then he taught himself the trumpet from 1959. In recent years he also plays fluegelhorn. He made his professional debut in 1961, when at the age of 20 he made his first public appearance. In the early mid '60s he led a group in Zürich. In 1968 earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Basel. He recorded with George Gruntz in '64 and also with Gato Barbieri under leadership of the bass player Giorgio Azzolini. In 1966 he won the first prize for trumpet at Vienna International Jazz Competition under the direction of Mr. Fiedrich Gulda. The US debut is with father's quintet in '67 (Flavio Ambrosetti, leader alto-sax player in the 50's and 60's) performing at Monterey Jazz Festival. From 1963 to 1970 he played with his father's quintet. In 1972 he formed The Band with his father, George Gruntz (pianist and composer), Daniel Humair (drummer). This group later became known as the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band with whom he performs regularly. Freelancer in Europe from the '70s, Ambrosetti played in many different countries with Phil Woods, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Henderson, Michael Braker-Mike Stern, Hal Galper, Kenny Clarke, etc. He also recorded as leader with sidemen including Michael Brecker, Kenny Kirkland, John Scofield, Ron Carter, Bennie Wallace, Phil Woods, Dave Holland, Kenny Barron, Victor Lewis, Seamus Blacke. He leads a quartet with Italian top musicians like Alfredo Golino, Antonio Farao and Dado Moroni.

Franco Ambrosetti today is active as a free-lance soloist (mainly in Europe and in the U.S.) as well as a leader of his own group continuing his longtime collaboration with close friends such as George Gruntz, Daniel Humair and J.F. Jenny Clarke.

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Liner Notes

Dino Betti van der Noot: Here Comes Springtime

Read "Dino Betti van der Noot: Here Comes Springtime" reviewed by AAJ Staff


There are some musicians whose instrument is the orchestra. They hear multiple voices, textures, harmonic designs. And if they are jazz composers, they hear the sweet and pungent tension between the orchestra and the improvising soloist. If, moreover, they are composers interested in more than self-gratification, they hear, as they write, particular players so that the ultimate scores reflect a range of individual personalities, each of them telling their own stories as well as that of the composer.

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Album Review

Franco Ambrosetti: Nora

Read "Nora" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Franco Ambrosetti's album is called simply Nora. Short and sweet, four letters, two syllables. But it could easily have been called “Franco Ambrosetti with Strings," as the Swiss flugelhornist & trumpeter follows the orchestral path of alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and his groundbreaking Charlie Parker With Strings (Verve, 1950), trumpeter Chet Baker's Chet Baker with Strings (Columbia, 1953) or trumpeter Clifford Brown's Clifford Brown with String (Verve, 1955). Those early forays into orchestral jazz set the template of ...

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Album Review

Franco Ambrosetti: Lost Within You

Read "Lost Within You" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Lost Within You is a masterpiece of smoldering passion and beauty ignited by the exquisite trumpet and flugelhorn melodies of Franco Ambrosetti. Ambrosetti assembled an enviable ensemble: bassist Scott Colley and drummer Jack DeJohnette in the rhythm section, plus guitarist John Scofield, and Renee Rosnes and Uri Caine switching turns as pianist. But the star of Lost Within You is Ambrosetti's haunting, delicate and graceful sound, revealed in one masterful ballad after another. “Miles Davis was ...

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Album Review

Franco Ambrosetti: Lost Within You

Read "Lost Within You" reviewed by Doug Collette


The Franco Ambrosetti Band Band's Lost Within You is a supremely unassuming listening experience. An all-star band helps the trumpeter composer conjure a sensuous mood that only grows progressively engrossing over the course of the seventy-plus minutes playing time of the album. The seductive sensation is an inexorable process that commences with the very first cut. The second-longest track on the record next to “Body and Soul," Horace Silver's “Peace" features drummer Jack DeJohnette at the piano and ...

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Interview

Franco Ambrosetti: Busy Businessman, Exquisite Artist

Read "Franco Ambrosetti: Busy Businessman, Exquisite Artist" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


Franco Ambrosetti, a horn player from Switzerland, has a unique perspective on music and art. Because his vantage point is different than many musicians, having held the position as CEO of a significant company in Europe. He plays trumpet and flugelhorn with a rich tone and an approach that has matured over time, shifting from a propensity to blaze through bebop runs to a more thoughtful approach where the listener is taken on a smoother ride--not less meaningful, but different. ...

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Album Review

Franco Ambrosetti Band: Lost Within You

Read "Lost Within You" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Swiss trumpeter / flugelhorninst Franco Ambrosetti opens his Lost Within You with “Peace," from the pen of pianist Horace Silver. The original rendition comes from Silver's Blowin' The Blues Away (Blue Note, 1959). It was a composition that Silver stumbled upon when he was “doodling around on the piano, and it just came to me." It featured Blue Mitchell's characteristically brassy trumpet tone. It was unusual in the Silver songbook—an introspective, patiently deployed ballad, instead of the normal hard-charging, romps ...

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Album Review

Franco Ambrosetti: Long Waves

Read "Long Waves" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti balances in the middle of three jazz generations, the father of saxophonist Gianluca and son of saxophonist Flavio, who once played opposite Charlie Parker at the Paris Jazz Festival. Although he grew up studying classical piano, which you strongly hear in the long lines of his lyrical playing, he picked up trumpet at age 17. Ambrosetti was profoundly changed when he inevitably discovered Miles Davis. “Miles sometimes was playing just three notes but with so ...

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Recording

Franco Ambrosetti: Nora

Franco Ambrosetti: Nora

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

When Alan Broadbent isn't playing extraordinary jazz piano with his trio, he's typically hard at work arranging and conducting a large orchestra for a jazz artist or vocalist. In the case of Swiss flugelhornist Franco Ambrosetti's new album, Nora (Enja), Alan is at the helm of a 22-piece string orchestra, and the result is gorgeous, reflective and perfect for this time of year. The album also features guitarist John Scofield, bassist Scott Colley, pianist Uri Caine and drummer Peter Erskine. ...

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Recording

Franco Ambrosetti In Splendid Company

Franco Ambrosetti In Splendid Company

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

The Swiss trumpeter and flugelhornist assembles a group of contemporaries to play his compositions and a couple of cherished standard songs. Ambrosetti’s fluid improvisations, sometimes with a Miles Davis bent, are consistently impressive. So, too, is the work of the star-filled rhythm section of pianist Uri Caine, guitarist John Scofield, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Among the highlights are Ambrosetti’s “Silli’s Waltz,” named for his wife. Although one may usually think of Scofield as an earthy player, his ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Nora

Enja Records
2022

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Lost Within You

Unit Records
2021

buy

The Nearness Of You

Unit Records
2019

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Long Waves

Unit Records
2019

buy

Cheers

Enja Records
2018

buy

Cheers

Enja Records
2017

buy

Aphrodite

From: Aphrodite
By Franco Ambrosetti

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