Livio Bartolo

Livio Bartolo
Guitarist and composer active across multiple fronts of the jazz scene, with a particular focus on contemporary music.

He graduated with honors in Jazz Guitar and Jazz Music from the "N. Rota" Conservatory in Monopoli, defending a thesis on the compositional techniques of Henry Threadgill. His guitar and compositional style is rooted in the jazz tradition, while venturing into radical improvisation, dodecaphony, and serialism. He trained under Gianni Lenoci, Giovanni Tommaso, Marc Ducret, and Steve Potts, and took part in the "Feral Choir" led by the British avant-garde vocalist Phil Minton. He has performed at the Blue Note in Milan and contributed to the soundtrack of the award-winning film "La strada verso casa" by Samuele Rossi. He has performed at the Casa del Jazz in Rome with Gianni Lenoci’s Hocus Pocus Explab alongside Eugenio Colombo, Tiziana Felle, and Angela Tursi. He continues to explore new sonic frontiers with Lenoci’s Hocus Pocus ensemble. His collaborations include Francesco Cusa’s “Naked Musicians,” and he has worked with Giancarlo Schiaffini, Roberto Ottaviano, and Silvia Bolognesi as part of the Rec collective (Conduction Festival). He is the leader of the Variable Unit, which boasts four record releases. His latest album, "Start From Scratch" (published by Dodicilune), was selected among the best albums of the year in the "Top Jazz" rankings by the specialized magazine Musica Jazz.