ANTONIO FARAÒ TRIO

Antonio Faraò: piano
Carlo Bavetta: double bass
Pasquale Fiore: drums
Authentic spearhead of the international jazz scene, Antonio Faraò is undoubtedly to be included among the European musicians who have reached an expressive standard at the level of the Americans. His style is unmistakable: extraordinary technical brilliance combined with an impetuous emotional charge, seasoned with a remarkable compositional vein and an overwhelming sense of rhythm. Born in Rome in '65, has grown into a family with strong musical roots (his mother, a well-known painter and poet, and his father, a jazz drummer). Antonio Faraò's solo career has been full of successes since the beginning. To remember the victory, obtained in 1991 in the category "New Talents", in the referendum organized by the magazine Musica Jazz. It would be too long to list the pianist's prestigious collaborations in his forty-year career. Suffice it to mention here, in a scattered list: Jack Dejohnette, Chris Potter, Franco Ambrosetti, Daniel Humair, Gary Bartz, Lee Konitz, Steve Grossman, Billy Cobham, Mike Clark, Bireli Lagrène, Dennis Chambers, Claudio Fasoli, André Ceccarelli, Ivan Lins, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Ira Coleman, Benny Golson, Von Freeman, Chico Freeman, Miroslav Vitous, John Abercrombie, Didier Lockwood, Giovanni Tommaso, Billy Hart, Lenny White,  Eddie Gomez, Bob Berg, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Wayne Shorter, Johnny Griffin, Richard Galliano, Al Jarreau, Marcus Miller, Kurt Elling, Branford Marsalis, Charles Tolliver, Toots Thielemans, Christian McBride, George Garzone... and, among the protagonists of pop music, the great Mina. In 1998 he received the most prestigious of awards: the First Prize at the "International Piano Jazz Martial Solal Competition", organized by the City of Paris every 10 years. An event that launches Faraò even more intensely in the European circuits of contemporary music. He released 4 albums for the Italian label Cam Record: "Far out" in quartet with Bob Berg, and with his trio formations "Encore", "Takes on Pasolini" and "Woman's Perfume". In 1999 he recorded as leader "Black Inside", together with Ira Coleman and Jeff 'Tain' Watts for the important German label Enja Records, and in 2000 with Joe Lovano an album with Giovanni Tommaso's quintet, as well as performing at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and with Jack Dejohnette he signs the album "Thorn", co-produced by Jack himself,  which also features Chris Potter and Drew Gress. In 2010 he signed the album "Domi" with the label French Cristal Record produced by Jando Music with Darryl Hall on double bass and André Ceccarelli on drums. His album "Evan" (2012 Cristal/JandoMusic) boasts a stellar cast, musicians that Antonio has known well for years and with whom he has already collaborated and recorded. In 2015, he recorded "Boundaries" in quartet with Universal Verve Italia. In 2017 he released his album "Eklektik" (Warner Music) with several international features: Snoop Dogg, Marcus Miller, Bireli Lagrène, Hollywood actor Robert Davi and many others. In 2015 in Paris and in 2018 in St. Petersburg, Antonio participates in the International Jazz Day, a world jazz event, organized by UNESCO and the United Nations together with Herbie Hancock, where he performs with Wayne Shorter, Marcus Miller, Al Jarreau, Kurt Elling, Brandford Marsalis, Terri Lyne Carrington... In 2019 he received in Paris, from the members of SACEM (Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers, the SIAE French) the ACEG award for best pianist. In 2019 the album "Asta" (Bonsai) sees him as co-leader together with other great French jazz musicians: André Ceccarelli, Sylvain Beuf and Thomas Bramerie. In 2020 Antonio records two new duo arrangements with international pop star Sananda Maitreya to celebrate the genius of Duke Ellington. The collaboration with Maitreya extends to 2021, on the occasion of the recording of the song "Pandora's Plight" in Sananda's new album "Pandora's PlayHouse", released in March 2021. For Antonio Faraò "... Music is emotion: if I can excite those who are listening to me, I perceive it and I am moved myself, I know that I have given something to those who listen to me, who then return to me". "Jazz must be breathed, it must be viral within you. In short, you don't have to play to show how good you are, but because you love what you do. It's a mission..."
"I don't often get surprised by recordings of musicians, as I was when I first listened to one of Antonio Faraò's last CDs. What struck me was the feeling I felt inside me. There is so much warmth, conviction and grit in his playing. I was immediately attracted by his harmonic conception, the joy of his rhythms and his sense of swing, the grace and candor of his improvised melodic lines. Antonio is not only a very good pianist: he is a great one" (Herbie Hancock)

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