ANTONIO CALOGERO ensemble feat. PAUL MCCANDLESS
 

 
Antonio Calogero, Steel String & Classical Guitar
 
Paul McCandless, Soprano Saxophone, Oboe & Bass Clarinet
 
Andrea Piccioni, Frame Drums, Darbouka, Percussions
 
Davide Bernaro, Pandeiro & Afro-Brasilian Percussions
 

This innovative world music/jazz group features original works performed by four of the most gifted contemporary instrumentalists. The Antonio Calogero Ensemble performs music that embodies the spirit of the Mediterranean, yet transcends all music boundaries.

Italy’s Antonio Calogero is a bright light in the new generation of acoustic guitarist/composers. Drawing on folk, jazz, classical and world music influences, his passionate original style combines highly articulate melodies with unique chord changes. Although he composes for both nylon and steel-string guitar, Antonio’s rigorous classical guitar training imbues his performances with insight and precision. After performing for 15 years in Europe, he has been winning recognition and praise in the US since 1995 as a solo artist, regularly featured guitarist on the International Guitar Night tours and leader of the Antonio Calogero Ensemble featuring Grammy Nominee Paul McCandless (multi-instrumentalist and composer from the legendary group Oregon), fretless bassist extraordinaire Michael Manring and the eclectic percussionist Brian Rice. Antonio has two solo guitar cds to his credit (Caleidoscopio on DDD records and La Rosa del Deserto on Acoustic Music Records), and his new recording for guitar & ensemble Danza Multietnica, co-produced by Alex de Grassi, was released on Suono Records in June 2009.
 
Paul McCandless, a pioneer of modern instrumental music, has brought a soaring lyricism to playing and composing that has been integral to the sound of two seminal world music bands; the original Paul Winter Consort, and the relentlessly innovative quartet, Oregon.A gifted multi-instrumentalist, McCandless specializes in an unusually broad palette of both single and double reed instruments, performing and composing in a style that reflects his grounding in both classical and jazz disciplines. His array of woodwinds includes oboe and english horn, bass clarinet, soprano and sopranino saxophones, penny whistles, various ethnic flutes, and the electronic wind controller. He has also worked as a solo artist, and is credited with more than 150 albums and performances with such musicians as Jaco Pastorius, Carla Bley, Art Lande, Eberhard Weber, as well as with Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheny, Steve Reich, Al Jarreau, Bela Fleck and Andy Summers.
 
Andrea Piccioni, considered one of the greatest exponents of the art of frame drumming, Andrea Piccioni, through his studies with great Italian, European, Persian, Turkish, Indian and American teachers, has developed an extraordinary capacity to move through various musical genres and styles, re-ellaborating the language of the Tamburello and various frame drums in a truly personal manner, both virtuosic and expressive.
Founder of the first international frame drums festival “European Frame Drummers Meeting” (Barcelona, Spain), he also holds regular workshops and masterclasses at prestigious festivals including: Nafda (USA), Big Bang Festival (Dublin, Ireland), Internationales Percussionfestival Freistadt (Freistadt, Austria), Tamburi Iran (Isfahan, Iran), Percpan 2009 (Brasile) and is a resident at the most important frame drums festival worldwide, Tamburi Mundi (Freiburg, Germany).
He is president of the Frame Drums Italia association, and Artistic Director of their annual frame drums festival in the Marche region of Italy (FDI international frame drums festival).
During the academic year 2008/2009 he taught a course of Frame Drums and Mediterranean Percussion at the conservatoire of Vicenza “Arrigo Pedrollo” in Italy.

 
Davide Bernaro, is a specialist of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian percussion instruments. He has attended master classes and workshops in Italy, Germany and Brazil with Paolo Caruso, Dudu Tucci, Trilok Gurtu, Marcos Suzano, Roberto Evangelisti, Sergio Krakowsky and Irian Lopez Rodriguez. He is a member of several world music groups including: Nelson Machado (guitarist and composer from Sao Paulo), Silvio Zalambani e Grupo Candombe (Instrumental Latin-American Music) and Banda Jacaré (World Music). He has collaborated among others with funky/soul group Natural Club, brazilian singer Denise Dantas, lounge music group Estrela Guia, Academia de Capoeira Coquinho Baiano, brazilian singer-songwriter Rogerio Tavares, pagode band Republica da Alegria, salsa band Axé Babà/Clave de sol, comedian Bob Messini (Trio Reno), Escola de Samba Berimbau, Academia do Ritmo Afroeira, saxophonist Alessandro Scala (Sam Paglia, Alessandro Scala Jazz Quintet) and Ochtopus Ensemble.
 

Antonio Calogero phone: 39 334 7404565   antoniocalogero@yahoo.com www.antoniocalogero.com www.myspace.com/antoniocalogerowww.youtube.com/user/AcousticPathos