Giuseppe Urso: Shapes

Giuseppe Urso is a musician, composer, arranger and conductor from Palermo. He graduated in symphonic percussion and jazz with top marks and honours. His career spans big bands, symphony orchestras and projects as both bandleader and sideman.

He has performed with Phil Woods, Cedar Walton, Vince Mendoza, Clark Terry, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Liebman, Patti Austin, Rachelle Ferrell, Billy Childs, Diane Schuur, Toots Thielemans, Noa, Jack Walrath, Dave Kikoski, Eumir Deodato, Tigran Hamasyan, Bill Carrothers, Bobby Watson, Ernie Watts, Emil Richards, Joe Porcaro, Martial Solal, Les McCann, Wayne Bergeron, Darren Barrett and John Serry, among others.

His discography includes numerous recordings as a leader and composer, attracting attention in the specialist press. In 2001, readers of Basi Media Magazine voted him Best Italian Jazz Drummer. His recordings as a leader have also featured on RAI’s Fahrenheit and specialist radio stations in the United States.

Alongside his performing career, he has maintained an extensive teaching practice and published educational materials. In 2009, he co-founded the international music school Palermojazz, serving as its teaching director until 2013 and organising courses, workshops and seminars with internationally renowned musicians.

As a composer and performer, he has presented his project Vinum De Cupa at festivals in Italy and abroad. A timpanist, drummer and jazz pianist, he has performed in theatres, festivals and jazz clubs. At Palermo’s Conservatorio Alessandro Scarlatti, he has taught jazz drums and percussion, headed the Jazz Department and helped found and conduct its Jazz Big Band, the Palermo Jazz Orchestra, whose collaborators have included Peter Erskine, Gianluigi Trovesi and Joy Garrison.

Stefano India is an electric and double bass player, composer and educator. His work explores the harmonic and melodic possibilities of the electric bass, bringing academic research into his performing and compositional practice. He earned degrees in electric bass with distinction and classical double bass at the Conservatorio in Palermo, and studied ensemble music with Mimmo Cafiero at the Open Jazz Club.

He played in the first Matteo Mancuso Trio, touring Europe and developing the group’s live arrangements. His experience spans modern jazz, fusion, rock, pop and orchestral music, with appearances at Jazzahead!, Blue Note Milan, Casa del Jazz in Rome and festivals in Italy and abroad. In 2023 he launched Drop the Bass, a project of original compositions documented in a six-part live studio series. He also performs with the Giuseppe Urso Trio, including on the album Shapes.

Valerio Rizzo is an Italian pianist and accordionist whose work spans classical music and jazz. He began studying as a child with his father and later with Maria Zancana, taking examinations at the Conservatorio Antonio Scontrino in Trapani. He earned an ABRSM diploma in classical piano performance in 2009 and a first-level degree in jazz piano with honours at the Conservatorio Girolamo Frescobaldi in Ferrara in 2014.

He studied jazz at Palermo’s Open Jazz School and performed at the Langnau Jazz Festival in Switzerland. With the Giuseppe Urso Trio, he recorded Shapes (2018) and Nake (2020) for Da Vinci Publishing. His projects also include work with singer-songwriter Serena Ganci and jazz singer Giulia Lorvich. Since the 2018–19 academic year, he has taught jazz piano at the Conservatorio Arturo Toscanini in Ribera. His performing experience includes engagements with Royal Caribbean International and a residency at Belcanto at Dubai Opera.

Ernesto de Curtis (1875–1937) was an Italian composer from Naples, best known for his contributions to the Neapolitan song tradition. His music for Torna a Surriento, with words by his brother Giambattista, became an enduring part of the international vocal repertoire. His other songs include Voce ’e notte, Sona chitarra, Non ti scordar di me and Ti voglio tanto bene.

Fabrizio De André (1940–1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter and a leading figure in the cantautore tradition and Genoese school of song. His friend Paolo Villaggio gave him the nickname Faber, recalling both his name and his fondness for Faber-Castell pencils and pastels. He was also known as the songwriter of the marginalised and the poet of the defeated.

Across a career spanning four decades, his work explored concept albums, literature, poetry, political protest and French song. He sang in Italian as well as Neapolitan, Genoese, Sardinian and Occitan. His music became deeply embedded in Italy’s cultural memory, and numerous streets, squares and schools have been named in his honour.

Frédéric Chopin: (b Żelazowa Wola, nr Warsaw, 1 March 1810; d Paris, 17 Oct 1849). Polish composer and pianist. He combined a gift for melody, an adventurous harmonic sense, an intuitive and inventive understanding of formal design and a brilliant piano technique in composing a major corpus of piano music. One of the leading 19th-century composers who began a career as a pianist, he abandoned concert life early; but his music represents the quintessence of the Romantic piano tradition and embodies more fully than any other composer’s the expressive and technical characteristics of the instrument.

Giuseppe Urso is a musician, composer, arranger and conductor from Palermo. He graduated in symphonic percussion and jazz with top marks and honours. His career spans big bands, symphony orchestras and projects as both bandleader and sideman.

He has performed with Phil Woods, Cedar Walton, Vince Mendoza, Clark Terry, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Liebman, Patti Austin, Rachelle Ferrell, Billy Childs, Diane Schuur, Toots Thielemans, Noa, Jack Walrath, Dave Kikoski, Eumir Deodato, Tigran Hamasyan, Bill Carrothers, Bobby Watson, Ernie Watts, Emil Richards, Joe Porcaro, Martial Solal, Les McCann, Wayne Bergeron, Darren Barrett and John Serry, among others.

His discography includes numerous recordings as a leader and composer, attracting attention in the specialist press. In 2001, readers of Basi Media Magazine voted him Best Italian Jazz Drummer. His recordings as a leader have also featured on RAI’s Fahrenheit and specialist radio stations in the United States.

Alongside his performing career, he has maintained an extensive teaching practice and published educational materials. In 2009, he co-founded the international music school Palermojazz, serving as its teaching director until 2013 and organising courses, workshops and seminars with internationally renowned musicians.

As a composer and performer, he has presented his project Vinum De Cupa at festivals in Italy and abroad. A timpanist, drummer and jazz pianist, he has performed in theatres, festivals and jazz clubs. At Palermo’s Conservatorio Alessandro Scarlatti, he has taught jazz drums and percussion, headed the Jazz Department and helped found and conduct its Jazz Big Band, the Palermo Jazz Orchestra, whose collaborators have included Peter Erskine, Gianluigi Trovesi and Joy Garrison.

Jason Lindner (born 1973) is an American pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer from New York. He established himself in the city’s jazz scene during the 1990s, including through his big band at Smalls Jazz Club. His work crosses jazz, electronic music and other musical traditions. He leads the group Now Vs Now and contributed keyboards to David Bowie’s final studio album, Blackstar.

Koji Kondo (born 1961) is a Japanese composer associated with Nintendo, which he joined in 1984. His music for the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series helped define the sound of video games. Trained on the electronic organ from childhood, he developed an approach in which melody, rhythm and sound respond closely to a game’s action and atmosphere.

Luigi Tenco (1938–1967) was an Italian singer and songwriter associated with the Genoese school of song. His restrained melodic writing and direct, reflective lyrics helped shape the modern Italian cantautore tradition. His songs include Mi sono innamorato di te, Vedrai, vedrai and Se stasera sono qui.

Valerio Rizzo is an Italian pianist and composer active in jazz. A member of the Giuseppe Urso Trio, he contributes Milanplay to its album Shapes. His performing and compositional work combines a classical foundation with jazz. He studied jazz piano in Ferrara and has taught at the Conservatorio Arturo Toscanini in Ribera.

Vince Mendoza (born 1961) is an American composer, arranger and conductor whose work brings together jazz, orchestral music and song. He has conducted the Metropole Orkest and WDR Big Band and created arrangements for artists including Joni Mitchell, John Scofield, Michael Brecker and Björk. His recordings and collaborations have earned Grammy Awards. Alongside his arranging work, his original compositions form an important part of his output.