Home » Jazz Musicians » Rosario Di Rosa

Rosario Di Rosa

A Sicilian pianist and composer, Rosario Di Rosa starts his studies as a self-taught musician at the age of sixteen, after dedicating his previous activities to design and painting. He undertakes the study of jazz piano as part of the “Brass Group”, together with Mauro Schiavone, a pianist and composer from Palermo. He continues his studies privately with Salvatore Bonafede, one of the most important national jazz musicians. He makes his debut professionally alongside the trumpet player Vito Giordano, joining his ensembles and performing his first concerts in clubs and at music festivals around Sicily.

He participates in several clinics and master classes, among which Siena Jazz, Nuoro in Jazz, Marsala Jazz, directed by renown musicians such as John Taylor, Ralph Towner, Elvin Jones, Enrico Rava, Joshua Redman, James Carter, Stefano Battaglia, Franco D’Andrea, Enrico Pieranunzi, Bruno Tommaso, Massimo Moriconi and Marc Ducret.

In 1999 he takes part in the “Nuoro Jazz” show, under the direction of the pianist Roberto Cipelli, where he wins a scholarship as best pianist “for his exquisite musical sensitivity and the expressive maturity at the instrumental level…” (R. Cipelli)

In 2001 he collaborates with Open Jazz Orchestra, directed by the Sicilian drummer and percussionist Mimmo Cafiero, with whom he goes on tour in Italy performing in various jazz festivals, tackling a repertory of traditional and original Sicilian compositions, arranged in a jazz interpretation.

In 2003 he moves to Milan, making contact with the most representative jazz musicians like Franco D'Andrea, Attilio Zanchi , Antonio Zambrini, Tito Mangialajo, Ferdinando Faraò. In Milan he meets the flautist Carlo Nicita, another Sicilian who moved north to the capital of Lombardy, with whom he engages in a profitable and intense collaboration. The Nicita-Di Rosa duo ranks 2nd place in the Milan competition “Jazz Dimensione Giovani” in December 2003, performing at the Blue Note in Milan.

Following this experience he records the debut album composed entirely of original songs titled Voices and published by Splas(h) Record, with Carlo Nicita on flutes and featuring the trumpet player Giovanni Falzone on some tracks.

In 2006 he forms a sextet co-directed with Carlo Nicita and includes some of the most representative musicians of the modern jazz scene nationwide, like Giovanni Falzone, Carmelo Coglitore, Yuri Goloubev and Cristian Calcagnile. With this group he records Unquiet Serenade, inaugurating the partnership with the prestigious label Abeat Records. "Unquiet Serenade" is considered one of the best albums of the year in the Top Jazz list, drawn up by Musica Jazz magazine, besides being acclaimed by critics abroad, including the internationally renown French critic Thierry Quenum, who wrote a long review for the magazine Jazz Magazine, as best CD of the month. In the same year, Rosario Di Rosa is selected among 50 young pianists from all over the world to participate in the prestigious "International Piano Competition Jazz Martial Solal" in Paris.

Read more

Tags

4
My Playlist

Rosario Di Rosa

Read "Rosario Di Rosa" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


1. Thelonious Monk, Blue Monk (Bandstand, 1988). Questo disco è un bootleg registrato al Newport Jazz Festival nel 1966. Avrei potuto inserire qualunque disco di Monk ma ho scelto questo perché è in assoluto il primo che ho acquistato all'inizio degli anni '90. All'epoca avevo appena iniziato a interessarmi al jazz, anche se non avevo ancora nessuna idea di cosa fosse. Ricordo solo che studiavo tutte quelle regole su come fraseggiare sul 2 e 4 perché mi avevano ...

2
Album Review

Rosario Di Rosa: Composition And Reactions

Read "Composition And Reactions" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Non è un artista quieto e convenzionale Rosario Di Rosa, nel 2015 ottimo secondo con il suo trio tra le formazioni italiane nel Top Jazz di Musica Jazz, grazie a un lavoro -Pop Corn Reflections -che prendeva ispirazione dalla dodecafonia e da Steve Reich (leggi l'intervista fatta in occasione di quel progetto discografico). Lo dimostra questo suo ultimo lavoro, un piano solo del tutto particolare sia per progetto che per esiti sonori. Composition and Reactions nasce infatti a ...

Read more articles
"Among the most interesting pianists of the current European scene" - Gianmichele Taormina, JAZZITALIA

"... awesome mental opening, abstraction to the limits of the imaginable" Andrea Ranalletta, PARLIAMO DI JAZZ "... in autobiographical pianism is the technical perfection of Enrico Pieranunzi, the emotional thrill of Joshua Redman, Franco D'Andrea's and Martial Solal's harmonious lesson, desecrated and conceived in a dynamic manner as dominant and dynamic with hypnotic effects, Archaic, tribal, brunette, impatient, launched into a Being without aseptic declarations and as sensitive to the sense of rhythm and loud and poetic exposure

Read more

Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

Milan

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Composition And...

Deep Voice Records
2017

buy

Un Cielo Pieno Di...

Deep Voice Records
2017

buy

Cabaret Voltaire

Abeat Records
2010

buy

Arrhythmia (to Morton Subotnick)

From: Un Cielo Pieno Di Nuvole
By Rosario Di Rosa

Reaction N.3 - Density

From: Composition And Reactions
By Rosario Di Rosa

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.