JexPat

Dave O’Brien is a pianist, bassist and vocalist from London. His collaborations span jazz and other musical traditions, including projects with Kourosh Kanani, Brian Abrahams, Mor Karbasi, Ahmed Muktar and Tongue Fu. He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Roundhouse and Ronnie Scott’s, and has worked with the Aurora Orchestra at LSO St Luke’s. A member of London’s F-IRE Collective, he received the Peter Whittingham Award with his group Porpoise Corpus in 2007. He plays double bass in JexPat, the Geneva-based collective whose Da Vinci Jazz recording brings together original compositions and jazz standards.

François Alghisi is an Italian-French drummer, percussionist and teacher. Born in Paris and raised in Varese, he graduated from the Conservatory of Como and specialised in jazz. During four years in New York he became involved in the city’s jazz scene and studied with contemporary jazz drummers including Ari Hoenig. His work combines performance with more than twenty years of music teaching in Italy and Switzerland. He is a co-founder of JexPat, a collective of expatriate jazz musicians based in the Geneva region, and performs on its Da Vinci Jazz recording alongside Simone Trovato, Luca Crusco, Gregor Ftičar and Dave O’Brien.

Gregor Ftičar is a Slovenian pianist, composer and arranger, born in Kranj. He completed a master’s degree in jazz piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in 2011. His collaborators have included Don Menza, Bob Brookmeyer, Boško Petrović, Francis Mbappe and Peter Herbolzheimer. In 2014 his piano trio reached the finals of the European Jazz Competition in Rotterdam. He co-led the Geneva-based trio NorthEast with Paolo Orlandi and Mátyás Szandai and has led his own quintet. As a member of JexPat, he contributes to a programme combining original compositions with arrangements of jazz standards.

Luca Crusco is a classical and jazz saxophonist who graduated with highest honours from the conservatories of Parma and Piacenza. He has performed as a soloist with the Toscanini Orchestra in Parma and has won three international competitions. His activities include jazz festivals and recordings of classical, jazz and contemporary repertoire. He has worked with conductors including Wayne Marshall, Timothy Brock, Christopher Franklin and Riccardo Muti. A co-founder of the Geneva-based JexPat collective, he plays tenor saxophone on its Da Vinci Jazz recording. He also teaches at EMPIG in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France.

Simone Trovato is an Italian trumpeter, composer and teacher. A graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, he has performed in the United States and across Europe. Based in the Geneva region, he combines composition and performance with teaching. He co-founded the JexPat collective and the Jean Paul Agambi Quartet, and has worked with the Big Band des Eaux-Vives as a performer and arranger. His teaching has included the International School of Geneva, Institut de Lancy, Conservatoire Populaire and AMR. The Da Vinci Jazz album JexPat features his original compositions alongside his arrangement of Clifford Brown’s Joy Spring.

Clifford Brown (1930–1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. Raised in Wilmington, Delaware, he began studying the trumpet at thirteen and developed his playing through college bands and contact with leading jazz musicians, including Fats Navarro. His recordings and collaboration with drummer Max Roach helped shape the sound of hard bop. His compositions remain part of the jazz repertoire, including Joy Spring, recorded by JexPat in Simone Trovato’s arrangement. His career was cut short by a fatal car accident at twenty-five.

Simone Trovato is an Italian composer, trumpeter and teacher, trained at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Based in the Geneva region, he combines composition with performance and arranging. He is a co-founder of the JexPat collective and the Jean Paul Agambi Quartet. His music for JexPat draws on jazz while allowing contrasts and experimental sounds within the ensemble’s repertoire. The collective’s Da Vinci Jazz recording presents his original compositions together with his arrangement of Clifford Brown’s Joy Spring. His professional activities also include teaching and collaborations with the Big Band des Eaux-Vives.