Giovanni Mirabassi

Born in 1970 in Perugia, Italy, the self-taught pianist Mirabassi first gained recognition within Italian jazz circles during the 1980s, when he sat in from time to time with touring artists including Chet Baker and Steve Grossman. By the early 1990s he had relocated to Paris. In 1996 he received the best-soloist prize at the Lauréat international competition in Avignon. Operating from that city, he maintained an active schedule of collaborations with both resident and visiting players, among them trumpeter Flavio Boltro, trombonist Glenn Ferris, saxophonists Stefano Di Battista and Michel Portal, accordionist Andrzej Jagodzinski, guitarist Nelson Veras, bassists Pierre-Stéphane Michel, Gildas Boclé and Gianluca Renzi, drummers Louis Moutin, Leon Parker and Aldo Romano, and his brother Gabriele Mirabassi. Two leader dates stand out among his discography: Avanti!, honored with the 2002 Victoires Du Jazz award, and (((Air))), named Best Album Of The Year in 2003 by the Django Reinhardt Academy of Jazz. He maintains a worldwide performing career that has taken him across Europe as well as to the USA and Japan, with appearances at the Paris Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival.