The Italian jazz returns to the Melbourne Jazz Festival 2024 with Federico Casagrande.
An event not to be missed! Saturday 19 October 2024 at 7:00 pm, at the Melbourne Jazz Festival.
Paris-based jazz guitarist Federico Casagrande is one of the most influential European guitar players. He started studying classical music at an early age in Italy. In 2003 he moved on a scholarship to Boston, USA, where he attended the Berklee College of Music and graduated summa cum laude in 2006. In 2007 he won the first prize at the Gibson Montreux Jazz Festival Guitar Competition with George Benson president of the jury. He released 18 records as leader or co-leader. His production goes from acoustic solos to electric trios and quartets. Among others, notable collaborations on record are a duo with piano master Enrico Pieranunzi, a trio with Fulvio Sigurta and Steve Swallow and a duo with Francesco Bearzatti with whom he has been touring regularly for the past ten years. Since 2018 he’s been a member of accordion virtuoso Vincent Peirani’s Jokers. This trio has been touring extensively in Europe and the U.S. He has been recently nominated as a finalist for European Musician of the Year by the Academie du Jazz in France and among the best international guitar players by the press. He performed in Italy, U.S.A., Canada, Denmark, Austria, Estland, Latvia, Portugal, Switzerland, France, the U.K., China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Belgium, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Croatia, Azerbaijan. Notable venues: NYC Winter Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, Roma Jazz Festival, Time in Jazz Festival, Hong Kong Jazz Festival, Shanghai Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz and many more.
Along with his live and recording activity in duo, trio or quartet (he released 10 records as leader/co-leader) Federico Casagrande has been performing solo concerts since 2006. From underground intimate venues to festival halls, he has already fascinated audiences of many countries. His solo performances focus on the song from both when it is written or improvised material. Musical ideas are drawn into the guitar from all sorts of styles; the counterpoint he has assimilated during years of classical training, the contemporary jazz language you can hear in his recordings, rock riffs and pop-like arpeggios are all mixed together in a performance that is at the same time highly refined and filled with emotional pathos that reaches all kind of crowds. Using digital effects and prepared guitars, the variety of sounds he pulls out of the instrument adds another dimension to the music.