Biography
Hailing from Italy, Gaetano Partipilo functions as an alto saxophonist, composer, and educator. His playing delivers a soulful, emotive, reedy tone through a broad stylistic range that unites post-bop, contemporary jazz, R&B, and modal music. More than 100 international recordings have featured his writing and compositions. In 2002 he launched his first leader project, Urban Society, with the ensemble he assembled that same year. Acclaim from the release secured him a place on Nicola Conte’s hit Jet Sounds, initiating an ongoing partnership. He also contributed centrally to Garota Moderna, the 2004 Schema debut from vocalist and Conte protégé Rosalia De Souza. That year Soul Note issued BASIC, Urban Society’s second album. In 2007 Partipilo recorded The Right Place in New York for Emarcy with an American quartet. Two years later Auand Records released the live I Like Too Much. Urban Society’s third album, the live Upgrading, appeared in 2011. Early in 2013 Schema put out Besides: Songs from the Sixties; selected by critics worldwide among the year’s strongest jazz releases, the project grew from his 2012 Dubai Jazz Festival appearance. Following global tours with various ensembles plus extensive session and teaching commitments, Partipilo returned in 2016 with the Paolo Fresu-produced Daylight. He issued Boom Collective on Auland in 2019 and, the next year, The Other Side on Jazzit, a collaborative date with drummer Alessandro Napolitano, pianist Mark Sherman, and bassist Giuseppe Bassi.
Partipilo was born in 1974. He started studying clarinet and saxophone at age eight and was already performing with local bands a year later. At 15 he entered the Conservatory of Music in Bari, where Roberto Ottaviano instructed him in classical music, composition, and theory. After graduation he worked live with Mark Murphy, Tony Scott, Enrico Rava, and Rossana Casale. Between 1995 and 1999 he performed and studied with Mario Raja, Gianluigi Trovesi, Paolo Fresu, and others. He also appeared with the Dolmen Orchestra in its collaborations with John Surman, Louis Sclavis, and Michel Godard. During this period he served as a studio sideman for Schema, recording with Fez Combo, Paolo Achenza, the Jazz Convention, and Quarteto Moderno.
In October 1999 Partipilo made his initial trip to New York City. Within three months he connected with a circle of younger musicians that included Jason Moran, Tarus Mateen, Nasheet Waits, and Greg Osby, performing in clubs and jam sessions throughout the city. Back in Italy in 2000 he formed Urban Society, an Italian jazz collective, alongside bassist Mauro Gargano and drummer Fabio Accardi. He guested on Nicola Conte’s Jet Sounds, the landmark fusion of dance music and jazz, and the two have collaborated continuously since. Partipilo also joined the Bruno Tommaso Orchestra and appeared on Steamboat Bill, Jr. In 2001 he became part of Dave Liebman’s international jazz collective Berlin Experience.
He signed with Soul Note in 2002 and recorded Urban Society’s self-titled debut, which contained eleven Partipilo originals that he arranged. Notably, his Italian trio performed on fewer than half the tracks, while American drummer Waits and Japanese bassist Atsushi (Az’shi) Osada handled the majority. He also resumed his role with Tommaso’s orchestra for Amare Terre (La Musica Di Domenico Modugno). In 2004 Gaetano Partipilo & Urban Society released the Soul Note album BASIC. That year he played a central part on Nicola Conte Apresenta Rosalia De Souza: Garota Moderna and contributed to Cabaret Noir’s self-titled debut. The following year, alongside studio work with Gerardo Frisina and Pino Minafra, he appeared on Conte’s remix of Louie Vega’s “Our Love.” After a one-off Emarcy agreement, Partipilo returned to New York to record 2007’s The Right Place with pianist Roberto Tarenzi and an American rhythm section of Waits, guitarist Mike Moreno, and bassist Matt Brewer.
In 2008 he toured Europe with Urban Society, recorded with Conte on Rituals, and worked with vocalist Alice Ricciardi on her Blue Note debut Comes Love. Later that year Auand released the avant collaborative I Like Too Much with American guitarist Miles Okazaki and drummer Dan Weiss. Partipilo and Urban Society issued Upgrading in 2011; at the time his most ambitious recording, it featured two extended multi-part suites plus three additional compositions. The next year he returned to the studio with Conte for Love & Revolution and performed in pianist Livio Minafra’s quartet on the Enja release Surprise.
In 2012 Partipilo presented a commissioned large-ensemble work at the Dubai Jazz Festival, where a select group of players and singers interpreted rearranged American and Brazilian standards from the 1960s under his conduction. The following year many of those musicians reconvened in an Italian studio to record Besides: Songs from the Sixties for Schema; the album charted and is widely regarded as his masterpiece. He also collaborated with Conte on the seminal Free Souls and joined the faculty of the Conservatory of Music in Foggia.
In 2015 Partipilo toured Africa with the Puglia Jazz Factory and participated in the sessions that produced The African Way. In 2016 he began working with Fresu’s band on Around Tǔk and assembled Gaetano Partipilo & the Contemporary Five for the Fresu-produced Daylight on the Tǔk Music label; the all-Italian group performed the album live on four consecutive December nights in New York. In 2019, following the direction that had led to Besides several years earlier, he assembled a big band and vocalists Angela Esmerelda and Carolina Bubbico to record its successor, Boom Collective, a swinging, delirious blend of retro and modern jazz that appealed to both jazz listeners and club DJs worldwide. In 2020 Partipilo and bassist Giuseppe Bassi joined drummer Alessandro Napolitano and pianist/vibist Mark Sherman in the New Jazz Quartet for Other Side, issued by Jazzit.
Partipilo was born in 1974. He started studying clarinet and saxophone at age eight and was already performing with local bands a year later. At 15 he entered the Conservatory of Music in Bari, where Roberto Ottaviano instructed him in classical music, composition, and theory. After graduation he worked live with Mark Murphy, Tony Scott, Enrico Rava, and Rossana Casale. Between 1995 and 1999 he performed and studied with Mario Raja, Gianluigi Trovesi, Paolo Fresu, and others. He also appeared with the Dolmen Orchestra in its collaborations with John Surman, Louis Sclavis, and Michel Godard. During this period he served as a studio sideman for Schema, recording with Fez Combo, Paolo Achenza, the Jazz Convention, and Quarteto Moderno.
In October 1999 Partipilo made his initial trip to New York City. Within three months he connected with a circle of younger musicians that included Jason Moran, Tarus Mateen, Nasheet Waits, and Greg Osby, performing in clubs and jam sessions throughout the city. Back in Italy in 2000 he formed Urban Society, an Italian jazz collective, alongside bassist Mauro Gargano and drummer Fabio Accardi. He guested on Nicola Conte’s Jet Sounds, the landmark fusion of dance music and jazz, and the two have collaborated continuously since. Partipilo also joined the Bruno Tommaso Orchestra and appeared on Steamboat Bill, Jr. In 2001 he became part of Dave Liebman’s international jazz collective Berlin Experience.
He signed with Soul Note in 2002 and recorded Urban Society’s self-titled debut, which contained eleven Partipilo originals that he arranged. Notably, his Italian trio performed on fewer than half the tracks, while American drummer Waits and Japanese bassist Atsushi (Az’shi) Osada handled the majority. He also resumed his role with Tommaso’s orchestra for Amare Terre (La Musica Di Domenico Modugno). In 2004 Gaetano Partipilo & Urban Society released the Soul Note album BASIC. That year he played a central part on Nicola Conte Apresenta Rosalia De Souza: Garota Moderna and contributed to Cabaret Noir’s self-titled debut. The following year, alongside studio work with Gerardo Frisina and Pino Minafra, he appeared on Conte’s remix of Louie Vega’s “Our Love.” After a one-off Emarcy agreement, Partipilo returned to New York to record 2007’s The Right Place with pianist Roberto Tarenzi and an American rhythm section of Waits, guitarist Mike Moreno, and bassist Matt Brewer.
In 2008 he toured Europe with Urban Society, recorded with Conte on Rituals, and worked with vocalist Alice Ricciardi on her Blue Note debut Comes Love. Later that year Auand released the avant collaborative I Like Too Much with American guitarist Miles Okazaki and drummer Dan Weiss. Partipilo and Urban Society issued Upgrading in 2011; at the time his most ambitious recording, it featured two extended multi-part suites plus three additional compositions. The next year he returned to the studio with Conte for Love & Revolution and performed in pianist Livio Minafra’s quartet on the Enja release Surprise.
In 2012 Partipilo presented a commissioned large-ensemble work at the Dubai Jazz Festival, where a select group of players and singers interpreted rearranged American and Brazilian standards from the 1960s under his conduction. The following year many of those musicians reconvened in an Italian studio to record Besides: Songs from the Sixties for Schema; the album charted and is widely regarded as his masterpiece. He also collaborated with Conte on the seminal Free Souls and joined the faculty of the Conservatory of Music in Foggia.
In 2015 Partipilo toured Africa with the Puglia Jazz Factory and participated in the sessions that produced The African Way. In 2016 he began working with Fresu’s band on Around Tǔk and assembled Gaetano Partipilo & the Contemporary Five for the Fresu-produced Daylight on the Tǔk Music label; the all-Italian group performed the album live on four consecutive December nights in New York. In 2019, following the direction that had led to Besides several years earlier, he assembled a big band and vocalists Angela Esmerelda and Carolina Bubbico to record its successor, Boom Collective, a swinging, delirious blend of retro and modern jazz that appealed to both jazz listeners and club DJs worldwide. In 2020 Partipilo and bassist Giuseppe Bassi joined drummer Alessandro Napolitano and pianist/vibist Mark Sherman in the New Jazz Quartet for Other Side, issued by Jazzit.
Albums
No Gravity
2019
Upgrading
2011
I Like Too Much
2008
Voyage (The 3 Moons)
2007
G2
2005
Live In Clusone
2004
Basic
2004
Urban Society
2002
Singles
