Pianist, drummer/percussionist, and composer Mick Rossi is known for his diverse, progressive work in the New York Downtown scene, and has been described as “one of the most courageous, gifted and charismatic musicians in New York and beyond” (All About Jazz Italy). Recent recordings include “They Have A Word For Everything“ (Knitting Factory), “Nosferatu” (Dreambox), “Inside The Sphere“ (Cadence), “New Math” (ToneScience), and “One Block From Planet Earth” (OmniTone), about which Down Beat gives “Four Stars” and All About Jazz describes as “Life relishing and unpretentiously profound.” Rossi’s music has been spotlighted on numerous top-ten lists, including All About Jazz, Downtown Music Gallery, and Village Voice Choices. His ninth recording “Songs From The Broken Land” for solo piano was just released on Orange Mountain Music. He was also nominated for a GRAMMY in 1998. In addition, Rossi music directed and conducted the Public Theatre’s Shakespeare Festival production of “The Bacchae” (directed by JoAnne Akalaitis) in Central Park. He has served as music director and curator of the MATA Festival in New York (for which he was featured in TimeOutNY), just completed his third string quartet, and recently conducted Philip Glass’s “Book Of Longing” in Milan, Melbourne, and the Sydney Opera House. Other recent Glass projects include “Orion,” “Music in 12-Parts,” and “Einstein On The Beach” at Carnegie Hall. He has appeared on seven Glass recordings.
A longtime Philip Glass collaborator/ensemble member as pianist, percussionist and conductor, Rossi has also performed and recorded all over the world with artists including Alex Acuña, Steven Bernstein, Theo Bleckman, Angela Bofill, Kelly Clarkson, Leonard Cohen, Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, Kermit Driscoll, Billy Drewes, Peter Erskine, Renee Fleming, Erik Friedlander, Vinny Golia, Eddie Gomez, Hall and Oates, Gerry Hemingway, Peter Herbert, Russ Johnson, Carla Kihlstedt, Andy Laster, The Mahavishnu Project, Arif Mardin, Pat Martino, Randy Newman, Jenny Scheinman, Carly Simon, Wadada Leo Smith, Foday Suso, Johnnie Valentino, Cuong Vu, and Wendy Sutter, among others. Performances include the Knitting Factory, Fringe, and Montreux jazz festivals, WNYC’s New Sounds with John Schaefer, NPR’s All Things Considered, WKCR’s Musicians Show, John Zorn’s The Stone, Tonic, Joe’s Pub, Carnegie Hall, Jazz At Lincoln Center, Iridium, Barbes, Roulette, Metropolitan Opera, Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater, Jay Leno, David Letterman, and The Colbert Report. Recent films include “The Vagina Monologues” (HBO), “Standing In The Shadows Of Motown” (Artisan), and his scores for the award winning independent films “Born Again” (Markie Hancock), “The Other Side Of The River,” and “Journey” (both by Lin Chien Ping).
