GuerzonCellos: iClown

Composer(s)

Dave Brubeck (b Concord, CA, 6 Dec 1920; d Norwalk, 5 dec 2012). American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader. He received early training in classical music from his mother, a pianist, and by the age of 13 he was performing professionally with local jazz groups. He was a music major at the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, studied compositon with Milhaud (1946) and, with fellow students, founded the experimental Jazz Workshop Ensemble, which recorded in 1949 as the Dave Brubeck Octet. Also in 1949, he organized the Dave Brubeck Trio. With the addition of the alto saxophonist Paul Desmond (1951), Brubeck thereafter led a quartet. In 1967 Brubeck disbanded, ostensibly to concentrate on composing, but he soon formed a new quartet that included Gerry Mulligan (until 1972).

The Brubeck quartet was immensely popular on college campuses in the 1950s; the album Jazz at Oberlin, recorded in concert at that college in 1953, contains some of Brubeck's and especially Desmond's finest improvisations. During the 1950s and 60s Brubeck began experimenting with time signatures unusual to jazz, such as 5/4, 9/8 and 11/4. By 1959 he had recorded the first jazz instrumental piece to sell a million copies – Paul Desmond's Take Five (in 5/4 metre), which was relased with his own Blue Rondo à la Turk (in 9/8, grouped 2+2+2+3).

Brubeck, who considers himself in essence ‘a composer who plays the piano’, has written and, in some instances, recorded several large-scale compositions since the 1960s, including ballets, a musical, oratorios, cantatas and works for jazz combo and orchestra. In the 1970s he organized several new quartets which at various times included one or more of his sons Darius (keyboards), Chris (bass guitar and bass trombone) and Danny (drums) and (in the 1980s and 90s) the clarinettist Bill Smith, from the 1940s octet. His many honours include the National Music Council's American Eagle Award (1988) and a Lifetime Achievement award (1996) from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Guerzon Cellos: This duo is composed by two cellists, father and son, who engage in works ranging from the Baroque era to jazz and rock, and include original works. They give life to an extraordinarily unique concert, where music has neither genre nor age, but only different colours.
The band was born at home, when a very young Tiziano asked to be presented with his first cello. Later, in 2009, he was awarded first prize at the Early Music competition in Padua (2009); in 2010 and 2011, in duo with pianist Nicolas Giacomelli, he was awarded first prize at the Pianoro competition, near Bologna. In 2016 he graduated with honours and special praise at the Conservatory of Bologna. He performed already in many concerts as the principal cello in chamber orchestras such as Arkè Orchestra, Cembal Orchestra, Orchestra Senza Spine, Dalla Classica, Leipzig Conservatory and Lorelay in Germany, frequently performing as a soloist or principal cello, and playing the solo parts of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, in Puccini’s Tosca and in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell. His repertoire includes the solo concertos by Schumann, Dvořák, Shostakovich (no. 1) and Haydn (no. 2), which he played with orchestra. He played at the Cello Biennial in Amsterdam, and in Barcelona with Giovanni Sollima’s cello ensemble; he performed Sollima’s Violoncelles, Vibrez! as a soloist, both at the Teatro Comunale of Bologna and in the theatre of Erl (Austria). Currently he studies at the master courses at the Pôle supérieur d’enseignement artistique in Paris and at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
Enrico is an eclectic cellist and composer with countless professional experiences and high-level collaborations in every musical field and genre: B. McFerrin, Teatro Comunale of Bologna, Solisti Veneti, L. Pavarotti, R. Muti, M. Nyman, Trilok Gurtu, Zucchero, Arkè String Quartet, P. Fresu, A. Ruggiero, F. Battiato, A. Bocelli, along with many other collaborations in the fields of jazz, pop, chamber music, and as a principal cello in Italy and abroad. The arrangements they play are always their own. Their repertoire may be performed acoustically with acoustic instruments, or amplified employing acoustic or electric instruments. They have played in festivals such as "Incontri Musicali Farnesiani" (Pr), "Via Julia Music" in Mauthen Austria, Klagenfurt "VolxHaus" Austria, "Note nel bosco" in Andalo (Tn), "Eco della Musica" in Bologna, "Altotasso Music" Bologna, “Musica Valpolicella” in San Giorgio Valpolicella, “Calici di Stelle" in Rimini, "IV Rassegna musicale di Palazzo Grassi" in Bologna, "Recondite Armonie" in Brisighella (RA), "I protagonisti del jazz italiano" in Lagonegro / Sant’Arsenio (SA), "Conoscere la Musica Notti magiche al castello" in Minerbio (Bo), "Musica Insieme / Borghi e Frazioni" in San Pietro in Casale (Bo), "Sere d'estate" (Sonoris Causa) in Parma, "I concerti della Cisterna” in Monghidoro (Bo), "Musica in Vetta" in Fai della Paganella (TN), "Notturni alle Conserve” in Cesenatico, "Borgo Sonoro" (FC), GuerzonCellos-Black Afrique, S. Lazzaro (Bo), Groovin Check Jazz, Castello di Spezzano (Mo). In January 2016 they have been invited by the Italian Cultural Institute of Beijing to play in China. In 2020 they gave concerts in France (Bellenaves, Lione) and in Austria (Gewerbepark Kötschach-Mauthen). In 2015 they first album, GuerzonCellos, was released; in 2021, their second album, iClown, saw the light.