Javier Girotto

Javier Edgardo Girotto plays soprano, baritone saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, quenas, sicus. He was born in Cordoba, Argentina and took an interest in music thanks to his grandfather A.L.Caroli, band director, first playing snare drum, then clarinet in E flat in the Infanto Juvenil de Cordoba and in the band of Villa del Rosario, then he changed to clarinet in B flat. For a musician to change from clarinet to saxophone is quite natural. Having chosen sax alto, in Buenos Aires, he looked for someone who could introduce him to jazz, but had no luck. Once again in Cordoba he created his first jazz- inspired groups, and dedicated himself also to commercial music known as “Quartetos”. At sixteen he studied the classics, enrolled in the Provincial De Cordoba Conservatory and as a saxophone class did not exist, he attended a clarinet and flute class obtaining an average level in both instruments.. Together with his studies at the conservatory he collaborated with various groups, among which the Vertiente, a mixture of fusion and argentinian folklore, the Jazz 440, “Jam”, Enzo Piccioni Quartet and the Juan Ciallella Quartet. At age 19 he won a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music and at last all the jazz doors opened. He stayed in the prestigious bostonian school for four years, graduating in Professional Music “Magnum Cum Laude”. These four years in the US are important, a period in which he deepened his composition, arrangment, sax and improvisation studies with teachers of the calabre of Joseph Viola, George Garzone, Hall Crook e Jerry Bergonzi. He then learned the “profession”, playing with Danilo Perez, George Garzone, Hall Crook, Bob Moses, Herb Pomeroy and many other musicians from whom he took a spark of their experience. The Italian adventure of Javier Girotto started at age 25, when he took care of his family affairs in Puglia. In a short time he decided to start his professional career in this country. In Italy he alternated his collaboration between commercial latin groups and jazz groups with which he started his restless composer and arranger activity. His first roman group was “Tercero Mundo” together with Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez in the tracks of latin jazz, a sextet with piano, bass, percussions, drums, trumpet and sax. Then soon followed the “Six Sax”, a saxophone quartet with bass and drums composed of Paolo Recchia and Daniele Tittarelli alto, Gianni Savelli tenor, Javier baritone, Marco Siniscalco bass and Pietro Iodice drums, with whom he recorded his first CD in 1995 special guest Bob Mintzer and Randy Brecker.

This is the period in which Girotto’s Aires Tango was born and his sax soprano and baritone and were recognized within this group, with Alessandro Gwis piano, Marco Siniscalco basso and Michele Rabbia drums and percussions, in a mixture of the raison d’ètre of tango and those of jazz which, starting from the pleasure of pure listening of the argentinian style, it garantees the listener the “rapids” of the originality of his solos. Together with Aires Tango he recorded up to seven discs, gems of an iter in which Girotto had always been accompanied with the audiance’s unconditional applause, which had also encouraged him to open his project with the voice of Beppe Servillo and the symphonic orchestra. In 1999 another group was born, the “Cordoba Reunion”, with four musicians from Cordoba, Javier Girotto sax and flutes, Gerardo Di Giusto piano, Minino Garay percussions and Carlos El Tero Buschini at the bass, all involved in a project that took him back to the roots of his music, with an eye to the times before tango, drawing the listener in an emphatic and emotional trip researching the milonga rhythms, chacarera, zamba and candombe. This last group recorded a disc with the singer Mercedes Sosa. In the year 2000 Javier Girotto created a double duo: the first with Daniele Di Bonaventura’s bandoneon, with whom he recorded three discs: “Javier Girotto Plays Rava”, “Recordando Piazzolla”and “Recordando Gardel” with a thirteen string orchestra. The second duo he created with Luciano Biondini accordion, with whom he recorded two CDs of original compositions but returned again to the most liberal improvisation. His first disc in 2002 for Philology’s label “ El Cacerolazo”, the second in 2005 for Enja Records “Terra Madre”. Also this duo shows them as leading figures in festivals and clubs, not only in Italy but also in Germany, Swtzerland, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Eastern Europe and so on.In the same year he started his collaboration with the most prestigious ONJ, the “Orchestre National du Jazz” of Paris. Among Javier Girotto’s groups is the fine duo with the pianist Natalio Mangalavite , with whom he recorded “Colibrì”, a CD that represents the synthesis of the entire south american feeling, recently added Beppe Servillo’s voice, thus creating the G.S.M Trio. Servillo had already performed together with Girotto as a guest, in several Aires Tango projects and in time the collaboration culminated in the desire to create a project together in which the singer would be prominent from the beginning to the end, as is shown in their first disc titled “L’Amico di Cordoba” edited by “Il Manifesto C.D”. Peppe Servillo wrote the lyrics and Girotto the music. The next issue for theTrio G.S.M. will be the second CD titled “Futbol”. In 2002 he became part of Enrico Rava’s quartet “Piano Less” and recorded a CD “ Full of Life” together with Ares Tavolazzi and Fabrizio Sferra. Later he created and recorded the first disc “Nauhel” and for Il Manifesto “Javier Girotto & Vertere String Quartet”, he choose a repertoire arranged by Luigi Giannatempo with the original music of Girotto supported by a string quartet. 2006 with Paolo Silvestri Ensamble and Luciano Biondini, Girotto follow the aold project “Anniversario” made with Aires Tango and symphony orchestra recorded in Sofia, and they do their first record for the Giotto Music. In November 2008 he will present with Paolo Silvestri the “Concerto Latino” (for sax soprano and symphony orchestra) and some Girotto’s compositions with the San Marino Symphony Orchestra. This project will be presented with all the best symphony orchestra all over Europe. In 2008 he formed with Fabrizio Bosso the “Latin Quintet” and recorded the first record “Tribute” and they will also record this year a CD for Blue Note. Another Girotto’s project is ensamble with the Atem saxophone quartet and Javier Girotto as a solist with all originals compositions and arrangements made by him. The same year came the first record “Suix”. Javier Girotto teaches at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Rome. Together with PMJO (Parco della Musica Jazz Orchestra - Auditorium di Roma), he recorded the disc “ Argentina:Escenas en Big Band” with the original compositions of Girotto and the arrangments of Luigi Giannatempo. He is guest of the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and they made a long tour in all around Holland presenting this big band project. Another project was the creation of an original repertoire for saxophone quartet and Girotto as solist. Javier Girotto collaborated many times with Enrico Rava playing an interesting baritone sax in the Pianoless quartet, a tribute to Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan, with whom he recorded “Full of Life”. He also worked with Roberto Gatto, pillar of his quintet and with whom he participated for three compact “#7”, “Sing Sing Sing” and “Deep”, with Gianluca Petrella’s trombone, with whom he recorded X-Ray”. There was also Rita Marcotulli for whom he was the ethnical-argentinian soul, playing the andine flute and sax soprano; with her he recorded “The Woman Next Door” and “Koinè”. He also worked with Paolo Di Sabatino, as sideman in his quartet and for his last disc, also with Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker, Danilo Perez, Antonello Salis, Kenny Wheeler, Jeff Ballard, Ben Street, Ed Simon, Avishai Cohen, Paul Mc Candless, Paolo Fresu, Quique Sinesi, Gianni Coscia, George Garzone, Anga’ Diaz, Furio di Castri, Bill Pierce, Tony Scott, Bob Moses, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Michel Benità, Danilo Rea, Carlo Rizzo, Aldo Romano, Luis Agudo, Maurizio Giammarco, Stefano Battaglia, Louis Sclavis, Michel Godard, Anouar Brahem, Gianluigi Trovesi, Lella Costa, Arnoldo Foa’, Raffaello Baldini, Toni Servillo, Leo Gullotta, Mercedes Sosa, Paolo Damiani, Rita Marcotulli, Roberto Gatto, Peppe Servillo, Natalio Mangalavite, Gianni Coscia, Sulman Rushdi, Dado Moroni, Nada, Stefano Bollani, Roma Jazz Ensamble di Corvini, Iodice, Rosario Giuliani, M. Pia de Vito, PMJO, Michele Rabbia, Luciano Biondini, Daniele di Bonaventura, Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, Orchestra sinfonica di San Marino, Paolo, Silvestri, Enrico Rava, Paolo Fresu, Avion Travel, Ares Tavolazzi, Horacio Hernandes, Gianluca Petrella, Bebo Ferra, Orchestre National du Jazz (O.N.J. - Paris), Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Paul Rogers, Anders Jormin, Dario Deidda, Danilo Perez, Nicola Piovani, Massimo Carlotto, PMJO (Parco della Musica Jazz Orchestra), Zadie Smith, Elisabetta Rasy, Valerio Mastandrea, Daniele Formica, Enzo De caro, Andy Sheppard, Neri Marcorè, Samuele Berzani, Giuliana de Sio, Trio Medusa, Giorgio Scaramuzzino, Zlatko Kaucic, Ugo Dighero, Roberto Citran Davide Riondino, and many others. He played and still plays in the most important festivals, theatres, events and Italian jazz clubs, all around Europe, Africa, South America. Show less