Francesco Cafiso (born 24 May 1989) is an Italian jazz alto saxophonist. Cafiso was born in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

on 24 May 1989. He was successful musically from a young age: he played duets with pianist

Franco D'Andrea Francesco "Franco" D'Andrea (born 8 March 1941 in Merano, Italy) is an Italian jazz pianist and composer. Life D'Andrea is considered one of the most famous jazz musicians from Italy and has recorded some 200 albums. He developed his style in ...

at the 2002

Umbria Jazz Festival The Umbria Jazz Festival is one of the most important jazz festivals in the world and has been held annually since 1973, usually in July, in Perugia, and surrounding cities of the region of Umbria Italy. Furthermore, the Umbria Jazz Winter Festi ...

, toured Europe with trumpeter

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

at the age of 14, made his playing debut in the United States in 2004 and the following year recorded the album ''A Tribute to Charlie Parker'' with orchestral backing. Part of a concert with D'Andrea at the 2002 Pescara Jazz Festival was later released as the album ''Standing Ovation Pescara''. He went on to record the studio album ''New York Lullaby'' for

Venus Records Venus Records is a Japanese jazz record label. It was founded in 1992 by Tetsuo Hara, who had worked as a producer for RCA Victor. It mostly works with a select group of artists from Italy, the United States, and Japan, and uses a signature 24-b ...

at the age of 16. This was followed by ''Portrait in Black and White'' and ''Seven Steps to Heaven'', which were quartet albums for the same label. He recorded his eighth album as leader, ''Angelica'', at the age of 19; it was released by

CAM Jazz CAM Jazz is an Italian jazz record label founded in 2000. It is part of group that also manages the labels CAM Jazz Presents, Black Saint/Soul Note, and DDQ (Dischi Della Quercia). The label's musicians have received several Grammy Award nominatio ...

. In 2011,

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, ...

released his ''Moody'n'', which was

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

-based and was judged by some critics to be well executed but illustrative of Cafiso's lack of innovation. For the following three years Cafiso did not record and toured much less than before. He re-emerged with a new band that was influenced by Sicilian music yet retained jazz sensibilities, and released the three-CD recording ''3''. Much of the music was written by Cafiso, which was also a change from his earlier career. He attributed some of his musical change to switching from a Selmer Mark VI to a Selmer Reference 54: "The new saxophone is more rigid. It doesn't respond immediately. In looking how to adjust my playing to this new instrument, I found my new sound."

References

External links

Francesco Cafiso's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafiso, Francesco 1989 births Living people People from Vittoria, Sicily Italian jazz saxophonists Male saxophonists Jazz alto saxophonists 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century Italian male musicians Male jazz musicians