Riccardo Zegna (born 1946) is an Italian jazz musician.

Biography

Zegna was born near

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

into a family of musicians. As a very young child he toured northern Italy playing the congas in the Zegna Big Band of his father Ilario. At the age of 5 he also started playing drums, and at 13 began studying classical piano. In 1970 he gained a diploma from the Nicolo Paganini Conservatory in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, and began consequently performing in piano recitals. In 1976, after performing in countless jam sessions at Turin's "Swing Club" or Milan's "Capolinea" club, Zegna then starting dedicating his career to jazz. The late 1970s and 1980s saw him collaborating with various musicians including

Buddy Tate George Holmes "Buddy" Tate (February 22, 1913 – February 10, 2001) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Tate was born in Sherman, Texas, United States, and first played the alto saxophone. According to the website All Ab ...

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Edward F. Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. It is unclear how he acquired the moniker "Lockjaw" (later shortened in "Jaws"): it is either said that ...

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, Steve Grossman and Kay Winding.Barcarola by Riccardo Zegna.
jazzreview.com, 24 March 2003. Retrieved 27 June 2011. In 1983 he played at the " Parade du Jazz" with

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Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He has appeared as sideman on numerous recordings and in 1986 appeared on the albums ''Alliance'', ''Simbiosi'' and ''Disguise'' along with saxophonist

Pietro Tonolo Pietro Tonolo (born 30 May 1959) is an Italian jazz saxophone player and composer. Biography He was born in Mirano, Italy. Pietro Tonolo gave up a career as a classical violinist to become a jazz sax player. Around that time, he moved to Milan, ...

and

Joe Chambers Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

. In 1996 Zegna finally released his first solo piano album ''Andalusa'' to critical and artistic acclaim, and another soon after with a trio, entitled ''Green Dolphin Street''. In 1999 he was invited to play with

Paul Jeffrey Paul Jeffrey (April 8, 1933 – March 20, 2015) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and educator. He was a member of Thelonious Monk's regular group from 1970–1975, and also worked extensively with other musicians such as Charles ...

at the Savoy Club in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and at the

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. That same year he formed his own group with clarinettist

Gabriele Mirabassi Gabriele Mirabassi is an Italian jazz clarinetist. Career He was born in Perugia and is a graduate of the Morlacchi Conservatory. His teacher told him avoid playing jazz because it would damage his technique, so at home he learned jazz on the ...

, where he was finally able to experiment with amalgamating chamber music and jazz, choosing jazz and classical musicians to perform his compositions. The result of this was the album ''Piccolo Valzer'' and soon after ''Barcarola'', both for the Italian label Egea. Zegna has appeared at the

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 ...

many times, either as sideman or with his own group. In 2002 he played for Radio ORF in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 2004, again with Pietro Tonolo, recorded the album ''Oltremare'', with

Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the l ...

. Another milestone for 2004 was his piano solo performance at the

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

International Jazz Festival. In 2006 he released his third album for Egea entitled ''Carillon''. In 2007, he worked as arranger and pianist on the theatrical production of ''Marilyn Monroe in Jazz'' with the English singer Joanna Rimmer.

References

External links

Riccardo Zegna at myspace

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zegna, Riccardo Living people 1946 births Musicians from Turin Italian jazz pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century Italian male musicians Genoa Conservatory alumni Italian male jazz pianists