"Throughout an international career lasting for more than three decades, Roberto Ottaviano has been widely regarded as one of the foremost exponents of the soprano saxophone. After a chance meeting, he came to be tutored between 1980-1986 by the great Steve Lacy (other studies were in the USA with the likes of Ran Blake and George Russell, and in Europe with Luigi Nono and Giacomo Manzoni).

He has collaborated with a dizzying array of creative music luminaries: an incomplete list would include the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Art Farmer, Albert Mangelsdorff, Chet Baker, Enrico Rava, Franz Koglmann, Ray Anderson, Steve Swallow, Irene Schweizer, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Bley, Myra Melford, Keith Tippett, Misha Mengelberg, Nguyen Le, Han Bennink, Mark Dresser, John Taylor, Graham Haynes, Marc Ducret, Trilok Gurtu and Pierre Favre. He was also a member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, and the seminal ensembles led by pianist Giogrio Gaslini. One particularly fruitful association, towards the end of the pianist's life, was with Mal Waldron, with whom he released the album 'Black Spirits Are Here Again' in 1996.

Ottaviano first encountered Hawkins' work through his performances with Louis Moholo-Moholo (with whom the Italian saxophonist has also performed and recorded). His first invitation to the pianist to collaborate was in fact not for a live performance, but for the sessions which yielded Ottaviano's 2014 double CD 'Forgotten Matches: The Worlds of Steve Lacy', an album which received many awards that year. Since this time, they have performed throughout Europe, and recorded a number of acclaimed CDs, including 'Sideralis' (featuring Gerry Hemingway and Michael Formanek), and their 2022 survey in duo of Mingus' music, 'Charlie's Blue Skylight'."

Danilo Gallo: basses, double bass, acoustic guitar, electric baritone guitar.

Born: 1972

Danilo Gallo is a bassist, composer and music producer. He plays doublebass, acoustic bass guitar, bass balalaikas, 12 strings bass. Gallo was born in Foggia Italy and lives in Padova. He plays in many bands, among them Gallo & The Roosters (leader), Mickey Finn + Cuong Vu, Rollerball, Francesco Bearzatti Tinissima, Dolphiana, The Crypt, Unscientific Italians, El Gallo Rojo Double Quartet, Zeno de Rossi Shtik, Geegallominetto, Jessica Lurie Ensembles, Laser Pigs, Osmiza, Orchestra Vertical, Guano Pasano, Enzo Favata "The New Village" feat. Tenores di Bitti, Sparkle and many others. Danilo Gallo collaborated with some of the best known musician from Italy and abroad like Benny Golson, Bob Mintzer, Paul Jeffrey, Chris Speed, Kelvin Sholar, DIck Halligan, GIanluigi Trovesi, Paaolo Birro, Kyle Gregory, Robert Bonisolo, Fabrizio Bosso, Gianluca Petrella, Marcello Tonolo, David Boato, Ettore Martin, Massimo Chiarellaa, Renato Chicco, Gianni Lenoci, Romano Mussolini, Renato Daiello, Antonio Ciacca, Davide Santorsola, Jean Paul Lochet, Rosemarie Navach, Felice Mezzina, Mariella Carbonara, Judith Hamza and others.

"Born in Rome in 1959, Ferdinando Farao is a composer, director, performer, and educator. He graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan with honors, with his three-year and two-year thesis being reinterpretations, with original arrangements, of the works of Steve Swallow "Home" and Mike Westbrook "Platterback".

In 2012, 2017 and 2022 he won with Artchipel Orchestra, of which he is founder and director, the prestigious Top Jazz referendum announced by the specialized magazine Musica Jazz in the category "Best formation of the year". In 2014 he obtained second place with the same formation and in the same category. In 2020 he won with "Alboran Trio" the prestigious "Golden Prize Japan Jazz" for the album "Islands".

Over the years he has had the opportunity to meet, get to know and play with important jazz musicians and musicians such as Lee Konitz, Claudio Fasoli, Larry Nocella, Massimo Urbani, Giorgio Azzolini, Tony Scott, Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy, Enrico Rava, Paolo Fresu, Gianluigi Trovesi, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Sal Nistico, Luigi Bonafede, Maurizio Giammarco, Steve Grossman, Franco Ambrosetti, Franco D'Andrea, Bob Mover, Milva & Tangoseis, Larry Schneider, Charlie Mariano, Steve Swallow, Paul Jeffrey, Sabir Mateen, Ralph Alessi, Bill Smith, Joe Fonda, William Parker, Adam Kolker, Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, Keith and Julie Tippett, Mike and Kate Westbrook, Pete Whyman, Adam Rudolph, Cyro Baptista, Danilo Gallo, Roberto Ottaviano, Andrea Massaria, just to name a few.

He has played on numerous records both as a sideman and as a leader. Among the productions published under his name, we highlight the three suites created in the form of concept albums: Eschersuite, Pollocksuite and Darwinsuite dedicated respectively to the works of M.C.Escher, Jackson Pollock and Charles Darwin. He has held, with different formations, concerts and tours in Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Scotland, Slovenia, Japan, Holland, Belgium, Malta, Scotland, India, China. He is co-author of a project entitled "Batik" dedicated to African music, which saw the Artchipel Orchestra and the Orchestra di via Padova reunite in a single ensemble. Always with Artchipel Orchestra he has recorded several albums, writing for this great formation, in addition to his own compositions, the arrangements for the music of authors such as Alan Gowen, Fred Frith, Dave Stewart, Mike Westbrook, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Lindsay Cooper, Mike Oldfield, Gyorgy Ligeti, John Coltrane, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler, Jonathan Coe.

He conceived and created the music for a multimedia project commissioned by the Museo dell'Industria in Saronno entitled "Mechanical landscapes", born from the collaboration with the audiovisual experimentation group AU+ of Milan. He collaborated with Trivio Quadrivio, a collective ingenuity laboratory, with which he held several strategic and design consultancy workshops using the musical metaphor of jazz as an inspirational and educational tool. He created several projects and creative workshops related to the world of percussion and improvised music."