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Giuseppe Paradiso

Giuseppe Paradiso is a drummer, recording artist and composer active both as a bandleader of MERIDIAN 71, a world-jazz music project based in Boston, as well as a freelance recording and live musician across different music genres.

As a leader, Giuseppe has released three albums: Otherness Collection (2012), Metropolitan Sketches (2020), and the latest Parallel Dimensions (2022) under the UBUNTU MUSIC record label (UK). All albums feature his original compositions.

Since 2021, Giuseppe is a voting member of the prestigious Recording Academy (Grammy- Awards).

Born in Santeramo in Colle (Bari, Italy) in 1983, Giuseppe started his musical studies on drums at the age of five years old. In 2007, he graduated with full marks and honors from the Italian conservatory of music N. Piccinni in Percussion Instruments, where he also studied mallets, classical piano for eight years and the Contemporary & Experimental Composition program (five years); successively, in 2011 he graduated with magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) in Performance, drum set. Having the opportunity to study with some of the finest musicians and educators in the world, such as Grammy-award Terri Lyne Carrington, Antonio Sanchez, Jamey Haddad, “Ra-Kalam” Bob Moses, Mark Walker, Ian Froman, Ralph Peterson, Evelyn Glennie, Ed Saindon, Victor Mendoza and Dave Samuels (to name a few), Giuseppe continued to develop his versatility as a musician and composer. At Berklee, he has also worked as a drummer for the Strings Department, Guitar Department, Voice Department, Piano Department, Ensemble Department and Special Programs in 2010 and 2011. He attended lectures by Herbie Hancock at Harvard University, the Siena Jazz and Umbria Jazz workshops in Italy, where he studied with Massimo Manzi and Ettore Fioravanti.

His international collaborations across a wide variety of music genres include seven-time Latin Grammy- award Javier Limón; Grammy-award Arto Tuncboyaciyan (Peter Gabriel, Chet Baker, Joe Zawinul); pioneer guitarist David Fiuczynski (Jack Dejohnette, Jo Jo Mayer); Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari; jazz trumpeter Phil Grenadier (John Scofield, Kenny Barron, Steve Swallow); Marco Pignataro (Director of the Global Jazz Institute at Berklee College); four- time Grammy-award Oscar Stagnaro; jazz bassist John Lockwood (Gary Burton, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard); award-winning Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh (Yo Yo Ma) and Chinese virtuoso Yazhi Guo; British songwriter William Topley; gospel artist Gabriel Eziashi; Italian artists Cettina Donato, Vince Abbracciante, Mario Rosini, Vito Di Modugno, Daniele Sepe.

Over the past two decades, Giuseppe has performed at major international venues, festivals and institutions such as Panama Jazz Festival (Panama City); Newport Jazz Festival (Newport, RI); as a soloist at Les Journee de la Percussion at Conservatoire Superior de Paris (France) and the Equinox Music Festival at Berklee College, where he premiered his composition, commissioned for the same festival. Other performances include Festival Duni (Matera, Italy), Teatro Piccinni and Stadium San Nicola (Bari, Italy); Percussion Days at the Conservatory G.B. Pergolesi (Fermo, Italy); Museum of Fine Arts, Northeastern University, Harvard University and Agganis Arena at Boston University; Public Theater (New York City, NY); Turkish Embassy of Washington D.C.; Regatta Bar Jazz Club (Cambridge, MA), Gregory’s Jazz Club (Rome, Italy), to name a few.

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Album Review

Giuseppe Paradiso: Parallel Dimensions

Read "Parallel Dimensions" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Parallel Dimensions steers the listener's imagination through a luxurious multicultural tapestry woven in music by drummer, vocalist, composer, arranger and producer Giuseppe Paradiso and his sextet. It explores broad musical horizons that can sound radiantly bright or dark, often features several instrumental or melodic voices at the same time, and is strongly colored and shaped by African rhythms. Parallel Dimensions sort of sounds the way that the cover of Miles Davis' landmark Bitches Brew looks. Two drum pieces ...

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“Giuseppe is an outstanding and unique musician with a definite direction in his art. He is a very creative artist combining contemporary music and folk influences from around the world with jazz. In his new recording he brings to the music not only new and fresh ideas with his spontaneity and enthusiasm, but also a very distinctive and unique voice.” Victor Mendoza Vibraphonist, composer Director of Contemporary Performance Programs Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus

“I am very impressed with the musicality that Giuseppe expresses in his music with such great touch and sensitivity. I look forward to hearing more from the mind of a masterful musician.” Skip Hadden Drummer, author, educator Professor at Berklee College of Music Percussion department

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Primary Instrument

Drums

Location

Boston

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

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Music

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