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Giorgio Gaslini

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Giorgio Gaslini was an Italian jazz pianist, composer and conductor. He was born on 22 October 1929 and died on 29 July 2014 in Borgo Val di Taro, near Parma. He began performing at the age of thirteen and recorded with his jazz trio at sixteen. In the 1950s and 1960s he played with a quartet of his own. He was the first Italian musician to be named as a new talent in the Down Beat poll, and the first Italian to be officially invited to a jazz festival in the United States, in New Orleans in 1976 and 1977.

Music and breakthrough

He worked with important American soloists, among them Anthony Braxton. His albums include Oltre (1963), Un Amore (1965), Segnali (1968) and Ballate e canzoni (1970). He was the first to teach jazz at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, in 1972 and 1973. From 1991 to 1995 he wrote works for Carlo Actis Dato's Italian Instabile Orchestra.

Influence

Outside jazz, Gaslini wrote symphonic works, operas and ballets, which were performed at La Scala in Milan and in other Italian theatres, and he composed film music. In this way he was a bridge between the Italian classical tradition and modern jazz, and he showed that jazz could have a voice of its own in Europe too.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a piece from the album Oltre and notice how the piano plays melodically on the one hand and lets free, sharp chords ring out on the other. It is a good introduction to his style.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists