Massimo Colombo, born in 1961in Milano, is a composer, arranger, pianist and keyboard player who got a diploma in piano at "conservatorio G. Verdi" of Milano under Alberto Colombo's guidance. He has studied harmony, contrappunto and composition with Davide Anzaghi and Angelo Corradini. Because of his interest in jazz he took some lessons from the American pianist Sonny Taylor and undertook an intense activity as a pianist and writer in collaboration with other Italian jazz musicians. He has taken part in concerts and music productions with a variety of Italian musicians including: Paolo Fresu, Attilio Zanchi, Tino Tracanna, Paolino Dalla Porta, Roberto Ottaviano, Gigi Cifarelli, Enrico Rava, Gianluigi Trovesi, Giulio Capiozzo, Paolo Pellegatti, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Flavio Boltro, Franco D'Andrea, Gianni Coscia, Bruno de Filippi, Maurizio Giammarco, Mauro Pagani, Alberto Camerini, Franco Mussida and Franz Di Cioccio (PFM), Christian Meyer, Elio; And with international musicians including: Tony Scott, Tommy Campbell, Enzo Todesco, Pierre Favre, Billy Cobham, Martin Dietrich Whener, jeff Berlin, Grg Hutchinson.
He has recorded 18 cd's as a writer for various musical groups using both acoustic and electric sounds.
His initial musical experiences took place in 1971 with other young musicians from around Milano. The most interesting group that he worked with after 1979 was called "Larsen" (with Antonio Summa, Pierluigi Ferrari, Sergio Pescara e Daniela Rando). With them he examined in detail funk and soul. Then he participated in Attilio Zanchi's quartet (with Giampiero Prina and Riccardo Luppi).
1989 In his first production (Alexander) where he had a leading role, his interest turned to acoustic and electric jazz (the composition had two intervals completely electronic). His interest towards electronics manifested itself when he founded the group called "Black Water" (with Max Furian, Pacho and Fabrizio Sforzini), and took form in the following productions of the trio called Linea C.
1993Together with Walter Calloni and Stefano Cerri he formed the Trio called Linea C. This group represented the best combination of multiethnic features mixed with classical jazz and rock music. At their recording sessions (Linea di confine di un possibile viaggiatore) various musicians participated including Mauro Pagani, Paolo Fresu, Mario Arcari, Tino Tracanna, the great pecussionist Naco (died in '96), Giulio Visibelli, Ruben Diaz, Barbara Casini, Riccardo Luppi and Gilson Silveira. Claudio Bisio's voice introduced the album.
1994In "Relazioni e Rapporti" we can hear his interest in jazz and latin music. In this work he alternated piano solo moments with compositions for four hands (played with Franco D'andrea), compositions in Trio, quartet and sextet with Marco Micheli, Francesco Sotgiu, Tino Tracanna, Emanuele Cisi and Paolo Fresu. Many are his classical compositions in whitch he tried to find a link between contemporary musical experiences, jazz and neoromantic models (Composizioni and Il Suono ELegante).
1997He collaborated in the recording of a cd of Nino Rota's Compositions (Sony Classical) with the Filarmonica Orchestra of the Scala directed by Riccardo Muti. Because of his interest in percussions he used these instruments to produce compositions with Tracanna and Naco (Game), and also with Pierre Favre and Saxmobile (Conserto). 1998: He wrote and arranged the music for the Great Naco Orchestra, a large orchestra formed almost entirely by percussionists that performed for the Laigueglia Festival.
1999He produced a jazz cd with Stefano Cerri and Walter Calloni, (Salti e Assalti) and a cd of worldmusic (Mondo) with his new project "World Ensemble". In this work he combined the different experiences of his previous works creating a modern and rich combination of cultures and genres. His manual dedicated to composition and piano techniques (Suonare, comporre) was published by Carish.
2000The "World Ensemble" published their second album called Sole. This work with multiethnic features was dedicated in particular to Latin American music. He worked with the classical guitar player Emanuele Segre during a tour based on the concert "per chitarra classica e jazz trio" by the French composer Claud Bolling (Walter Calloni on drums and Attilio Zanchi on bass). He also participated in a series of concerts with the flute player and composer Emilio Galante.
2001He produced a cd called Luna, which ended the trilogy of the "World Ensemble". This time the sound was more blues and funk. He wrote a course for piano and keyboards for the "CPM WEB ACCADEMY" a didactic project divided into 12 cd's.
2002He recorded live the cd called "Massimo Colombo World Ensemble Live" with a group of 13 musicians. He participated in a series of concerts with the "Orchestra sinfonica di fiati della Valtellina" with Maurizio Giammarco, Christian Meyer and Fabrizio Bosso. That same year he held a seminar on jazz improvisation and harmony at the Conservatorio G.Verdi of Milano.
2003"Virtualmente" is the name of the cd he produced along with Massimo Spinosa which was made almost entirely with the use of a computer. He wrote a series of music manuals on theory for the "Centro Professione Musica" of Milano.
200413 years after his fist album "Alexander" he recorded "Conscious", his second one together with the musicians Marco Micheli and Francesco Sotgiu, returning to contemporary jazz with only a few electronic interludes. The same year another album "Immagini", a collection of compositions, was writen for a series of art works exhibited at the "Pack" gallery of Milano. He composed several pieces for string quartet and trumpet for Paolo Fresu. He also wrote the music for the video "11.45.03 il cabaret della perfezione" for the two directors Masbedo (writer Aldo Nove and main actor Ernesto Mahieux).
2005He recorded " Caravaggio" (produced by Giampaolo Abbondio for Symphonia) with Billy Cobham, Jeff Berlin. All the compositions were original. The cd was recorded and mixed by Miroslv Vitous. He was in charge of the supervision of the "Enciclopedia didattica delle tastiere e del pianoforte" (12 cd's), produced with CPM of Milano. He took part in the realization of a course for keyboards (1 cd) also for CPM. He recorded the cd "Live" with Tino Tracanna's quartet. He participated in the soundtrack of the experimental video " Minute Stanze" by Graziano Staino.
He has taken part in important festivals in: Milano, Bergamo, Latina, Parma, Bologna, Berchidda, Bolzano, Trento, Nuoro, Ginevra; and in different radio and RAI tv programs (Invenzioni a due voci, Jazz Club -La stanza della musica-). He teaches piano and composition at the "Centro Professione Musica" of Milano. Here he also holds arranging courses for the European Social Fund. He writes for music magazines (strumenti musicali) and has published a series of didactic scores ( two of these for Carish). He has collaborated in the making of a cd-rom on the history of jazz.
2006Compone su commissione il melologo “Guardando lassù”, per pianoforte e voce recitata su testo di Bruno Taut, architetto del primo novecento elaboratore della “Alpine architeture. Registra il cd “Assolo in equilibrio” in cui compone ed interpreta musiche originali suonando oltre al pianoforte tutti gli strumenti. Compone per l’ensemble “Sonata Island” il sestetto “Sei per Pirandello”, eseguito in prima assoluta al teatro Dal Verme di Milano. Completa la nuova raccolta per pianoforte “9 notturni” op. 581.
Il pianista Stefano Bigoni registra il cd “The piano and the other side of the world”
con due raccolte di composizioni di Massimo Colombo.
2007Insegna arrangiamento Jazz al Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi di Milano. Compone per l’ensemble “Sonata Island” il sestetto “I favori della luna”, eseguito in prima assoluta al teatro Dal Verme di Milano. Lavora ad una serie di composizioni per un nuovo progetto personale. Partecipa alla registrazione di “Everybody’s song” della cantante Lara Iacovini.
2008esce “Il gioco delle forme” registrato in trio con due musicisti europei, l’israeliano Asaf Sirkis alla batteria e il russo Yuri Goloubev al contrabbasso, accolto con ottime critiche. Compone le musiche per una serie di video dell’artista Robert Gligorov e per i cortometraggi animati “la crescita”, “il viaggio” e “la morte” di Massimo Ottoni. Insegna arrangiamento Jazz al Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi di Milano. Segue la ristampa dell’enciclopedia didattica delle tastiere e del pianoforte.
Di prossima uscita anche tre volumi di teoria ed armonia di cui è autore.
2009compone il “Concerto per trio jazz e orchestra op. 621 che presenta in prima assoluta al Festival jazz di Padova con l’orchestra degli allievi del Conservatorio Cesare Pollini.
Collabora alla registrazione di un progetto dedicato a Bach (Bach Off Beat) del quale cura gli arrangiamenti.
2010Il “Concerto per trio jazz e orchestra op. 621 viene trasmesso su RAI 3 radio nella trasmissione “Il cartellone- Festival dei Festival. E’ pubblicato il volume 1 di teoria e armonia dalla casa editrice MUS editore. Il brano “Corale pop” arrangiato per quartetto d’archi e tromba è registrato nel DVD “Sassi e stelle sonanti” di Paolo Fresu. Esce il cd “Doppia traccia” contenente i “ 9 Notturni op. 581 per pianoforte e sax soprano. Esce in tutte le edicole il “corso multimediale per tastiere e pianoforte” di cui ha curato la realizzazione.
http://www.myspace.com/massimocolombo
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compositore - arrangiatore - pianista
