GIOVANNI TOMMASO
A double-bass player, composer, arranger and an orchestra conductor, he is one of the most penetrating figures in the panorama of Italian jazz. Born in Lucca (in the Tuscan region of Italy), he began his jazz career in 1957 with the group “Quartetto di Lucca”. Between the years 1959 and 1960, he spent some time in New York and, in 1967, he moved to Rome. During his career he collaborated with some of the greatest names in jazz such as Dexter Gordon, Gil Evans, Chet Baker, Joe Henderson, Don Byas, to name a few. In the Seventies, he founds the “Perigeo”, the most important Italian jazz-rock music group. Since 1986, he manages the “Umbria Jazz Clinics” seminars, a joint action with the Berklee College of Music. He taught jazz music at the State Conservatory of Music "Francesco Morlacchi” in Perugia (Umbria). In addition to composing soundtrack scores for film and television and holding concerts in Italy as well as abroad, his activities extend to pop music as a producer and arranger, collaborating with famous artists like Riccardo Cocciante, Mina, Gianni Morandi, Rino Gaetano, Ivan Graziani, Anna Oxa, Lucio Dalla e Sammy Davis Jr. He is the only Italian musician who has been voted among the first five in three categories (Album of the Year, Musician of the Year and Group of the Year) of "Musica Jazz" magazine’s “Top Jazz 99” survey.