Italy

“Embrace the purity of music with Gonzalez Reeds, cultivated with care on organic plantation, breathing life into your saxophone, allowing to elevate sound and technique effortlessly”.  

Gianni Bardaro is “an outstanding saxophonist, equally talented in music composition, with his own fresh, innovative approach”.

Gianni Bardaro is a saxophonist and composer from Italy. He won the 2019 Latin Grammy, as a member of the album “Andres Cepeda Big Band”, released by Sony Music. Gianni made 6 albums, from which three of them were distributed by the record company Universal Music Group: “Next Stop”, recorded in Italy and published under the legendary USA record label Verve; “Unfolding Routes”, recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark; and “Soul Blueprint” recorded in New York, featuring multiple Grammy Award winner Randy Brecker and Colombian percussionist Samuel Torres. The three albums have won in 2012, 2013 and 2016, the award for Best Album of the Year, in Italy, given by Jazzit Award.

An artist with academic training, Gianni has 2 Master’s degree: one in Saxophone, from the Ottorino Respighi Conservatory, in Latina; and the second one in Composition and Arrangements for Jazz Big Band, from the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory, in Naples. Both Master’s degree was given with the highest qualification. Besides his studies in Italy, Gianni completed a year specialization, focusing in improvisation and jazz composition, at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, in Copenhagen.

During the course of his career, Gianni has been invited to perform his projects, at the main clubs and jazz festivals from the following countries: Colombia, Denmark, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Poland, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Spain, India, Sweden, Portugal, Switzerland and Latvia. In Colombia he has been invited, as an international artist, to all the festivals that belong to the Jazz Network Colombia (“Jazz al Parque”, “XX Festival Internacional del Teatro Libre”, “Barranquijazz”, “Medejazz”, “Ajazzgo”, “Festival de Jazz” and “Música del Mundo Manizales”) and he participated with the “Ida y Vuelta” Ensemble at the Cartagena International Music Festival. He was also an international guest at the Sinú Jazz Festival and the International Piano Festival, from the Industrial University of Santander.

Gianni has worked with musicians known around the world such as Randy Brecker, Phil Woods, Bob Mover, Oscar Stagnaro, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Edy Martinez, Samuel Torres, Neff Irizarry, Deniss Pashkevich, Kike Purizaga, Jesper Bodilsen, Pippo Matino, Orient West Choir, Balticness Project, Riga Groove and many more.

Gianni has been the winner of the IDARTES National Call (2018-2019), as the Strings Chief of the Bogotá Big Band and a guest composer for the 2019 Bogotá Big Band, with his composition called “Bogo” (as a tribute to Bogotá), with Edy Martinez’s repertoire and directed by Gianni himself; a winner of the IDARTES district call “Bibliored 2014”, alongside the group “The Joint Project”; as well as being a guest Musical Director for the 2020 BID (Inter-American Development Bank) from Barranquilla.

In the academic field he has given workshops at Colombian Universities like: University of The Andes, Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Sergio Arboleda University, Industrial University of Santander and Pontifical Xavierian University.  After making the soundtrack for the movie “Zi Franco”, from the Italian director Vincenzo Palazzo, and multiple international award winning, he launched the Latin America Big Band: a wide project that joins 10 Latin American countries, represented by the most important musicians from the continent. Nowadays, Gianni is working on this nex album, alongside the group “The Latin Joint”.