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Maria Pia De Vito

Maria Pia De Vito - vocalist, composer, arranger

Maria Pia De Vito is a standout in the contemporary European jazz scene. She began her on-stage activity in 1976 as a singer and player (plectra, percussions, piano) in research groups committed to ethnic music as well as ethnic and non-ethnic polyphony, mostly related to the Mediterranean, Balkan and South-American areas.

Since '80 she has been active in the jazz sphere, collaborating steadily with musicians like John Taylor, Ralph Towner, Rita Marcotulli, Ernst Rejiseger, Paolo Fresu, Norma Winstone, Steve Swallow, Gianluigi Trovesi, David Linx, Diederik Wissels and gigging with musicians having the calibre of Joe Zawinul, Michael Brecker, Miroslav Vitous, Uri Caine, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Eliot Ziegmund, Cameron Brown, Steve Turre, Maria Joao, Ramamani Ramanujan, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Nguyen-le and many others, participating to the most important international festivals, and running European and overseas tours.

After 15 years of jazz practice, a long work on the great American songbook, on scat and be-bop, the first trespassing into free form and the meetings with European jazz, since ‘94 she begins a new phase of her work with the project Nauplia, conceived and directed together with Rita Marcotulli. The recovery of vocal textures from the deep matrixes of the sound, which will see the encounter between the hybrid of jazz and the multi-shaped peculiarities of Neapolitan singing ("Nauplia", "Fore Paese", "Triboh")The work about improvisational possibilities of the voice in contact with several cultural contexts becomes the matrix of her "new course", whose first step is "Phonè", a work about the voice preceding the language, about the rhythm and the dance in their different cultural inflexion; it's a project which marks the beginning of the collaboration with John Taylor.

Since 1996 she has collaborated with the British composer Colin Towns; with his Big Band, the "Mask Orchestra." She played live at the major festivals in England and Germany including the remarkable exhibition at the Queen Elizabeth Hall of London with the "Mask Symphonic" (70 musicians) and the participation of Norma Winstone.

In 1997 there's the birth of the trio with John Taylor and Ralph Towner, with which she recorded the CD "Verso", did several tours in Italy and a long European tour during 2001. In that year the name of Maria Pia has been lauded, by the most celebrated signatures of American jazz press, in the category "BEYOND ARTIST" of the 49th DOWN BEAT CRITICS POLL; in this list, her name appears near the ones of outstanding artists such as Caetano Veloso, Joni Mitchell, Cesaria Evora, Olu Dara, Carlos Santana, Uri Caine and Marisa Monte. This very important acknowledgement has definitively catapulted her to an international level.

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Live Review

Bergamo Jazz 2021

Read "Bergamo Jazz 2021" reviewed by Libero Farnè


Bergamo Varie sedi 16—19.9.2021 Nel febbraio 2020 su questo sito apparve una bella ed esaustiva intervista a Maria Pia De Vito, in qualità di neo nominata alla direzione artistica di Bergamo Jazz, prima donna dopo oltre quaranta edizioni del festival. Fra l'altro, in quella circostanza si colse opportunamente l'occasione per disquisire sul ruolo della donna nel mondo del jazz e non solo. Poche settimane dopo l'inaspettata esplosione del fenomeno Covid costrinse a cancellare tutte le manifestazioni ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Maria Pia de Vito, Becca Stevens, Elan Mehler, Daniel Casimir & More New Releases

Read "Maria Pia de Vito, Becca Stevens, Elan Mehler, Daniel Casimir & More New Releases" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


The year ended as it started, and as if COVID-19 never were, with a heart-warming slew of great new releases. Here's the last installment for 2020 acting as a great omen for an equally rewarding 2021 jazz year.Happy listening!PlaylistBen Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Various Artists [Dr. John] “Walking by the River" Our New Orleans (Nonesuch) 0:16 Host talks 4:01 The Claire Daly Band “Volunteered Slavery/Everyday People" Rah! Rah! (Ride ...

Interview

Maria Pia De Vito: Bergamo Jazz and Beyond

Read "Maria Pia De Vito: Bergamo Jazz and Beyond" reviewed by Libero Farnè


Non tutte le cantanti, attraverso l'espressione interpretativa, riescono a mettere in piena evidenza il mondo socio-culturale che sta all'origine delle singole canzoni da loro proposte. Proprio questa sembra essere la preoccupazione irrinunciabile di Maria Pia De Vito, che col suo lavoro ha sempre teso a esaltare l'interconnessione, strettissima, indispensabile, fra il livello colto e quello popolare, fra la tradizione folklorica di varie provenienze e l'approdo alla composizione scritta. A questo approccio costante si è aggiunto di volta in ...

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In Pictures

Maria Pia De Vito at Bergamo Jazz

Read "Maria Pia De Vito at Bergamo Jazz" reviewed by Roberto Cifarelli


Photos from the Maria Pia De Vito concert at the Bergamo Festival in Lazzaretto on June 18th. Featuring Huw Warren, Ralph Towner, Tino Tracanna, Julian Oliver Mazzariello, Luca Bulgarelli and Alessandro Paternesi. ...

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Interview

Maria Pia De Vito e Michele Rabbia: Pergolesi Revisited

Read "Maria Pia De Vito e Michele Rabbia: Pergolesi Revisited" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Già riunire quattro personalità tutto sommato piuttosto eterogenee come la violoncellista tedesca Anja Lechner e il pianista francese François Couturier da un lato, la cantante napoletana Maria Pia De Vito e il percussionista saviglianese Michele Rabbia dall'altro, appare di primo acchito operazione alquanto ardita. Farli misurare con l'opera di Gianbattista Pergolesi, iesino trapiantato a Napoli (e morto a Pozzuoli appena ventiseienne, nel 1736) può apparire poi un azzardo ulteriore. Manfred Eicher non è però certamente uomo che ...

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Album Review

Maria Pia De Vito & Huw Warren: Dialektos

Read "Dialektos" reviewed by Chris May


Italian jazz, world and classical singer Maria Pia De Vito has a penchant for British pianists. Before hooking up with Huw Warren, in the late 1990s/early 2000s she made three albums with John Taylor, including her breakthrough set Phone (Egea, 1998).

For his part, Warren has an affinity with singers. A long-time accompanist and musical director for June Tabor, his other collaborations include the sublime Duw A Wyr (God Only Knows) (Babel, 2005), a collection of Welsh-language hymns ...

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Extended Analysis

Maria Pia De Vito: Phone

Read "Maria Pia De Vito: Phone" reviewed by Dennis Hollingsworth


Maria Pia De Vito Phone EGEA Records 1998

Maria Pia De Vito is bit of an enigma here in the US. She is well known in Italy and has performed throughout Europe. Vito possesses a rare combination of vocal prowess and adventuresome spirit. Her music is often experimental, yet grounded in traditional forms of harmony and melodic patterns. Like Norma Winstone and Theo Bleckman, she often forgoes lyrics altogether, using her voice as an ...

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Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Il Pergolese

Radioton
2013

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Nomas

Radioton
2012

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'O Pata Pata

Radioton
2011

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Mind the Gap

EmArcy
2009

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Dialektos

Parco Della Musica
2008

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