“In Italy a crucial role in the development of the violin is giving Emanuele Parrini, who intelligently distributed his contributions in various projects where the tool is available for any stylistic evolution, from shade to free improvisation, projects ethnicals, jazz, Parrini is unequaled in Italy for engagement and research in its field: sharing experiences Italian Instabile Orchestra, the Dinamitri Jazz Folklore, those Tiziano Tononi and Daniele Cavallanti and participating in a series of painstaking collaboration with other prominent musicians of the Italian and foreign scene, became a violinist Billy Bang on Italian soil. Among the most creative fishing free improvisation is impossible not to mention Vertical Invaders, and Tononi with William Parker, but certainly also the only recent album “Viaggio al Centro del Violino” is not far behind eitherin terms of artistic personalities of breath”. Ettore Garzia Poche note sul jazz italiano (11° parte): violino, viola, cello.
“Emanuele Parrini (my favorite new jazz violinist)” – Greg Taylor Jazz Loft
“Parrini takes this to extreme, efforflessy jumping across the spectrum channeling Bird, Dolphy, Paganini, Stravinsky and Zorn in a singles solo” Dave Madden – Splendid Reviews about Enrico Fazio “Live in Milano”
“Parrini’s violin is one of the determining factors of the overall sound: his playing is slow, with long stretched notes trying to imitate a horn, often in the lower registers. The opening piece is an example in case, and on the wonderful “Like Leroy Jenkins”, to whom the album is a kind of dedication, his minimal kind of lyricism shows its full expressive power”Stef – The Free Jazz Collective, http://www.freejazzblog.org about Tononi Parrini Parker “Vertical Invaders”
“Violin is not that common in jazz nowdays, but Emanuele Parrini brings a unique approach to the instrument. Fully aware of the most avant-gardish trajectories (Leroy Jenkins and Billy Bang are between his main references), Parrini has worked with Tony Scott and Anthony Braxton and is member of well-established Italian band sas Nexus, Dinamitri Jazz Folklore and Italian Instabile Orchestra. His project “Viaggio al Centro del Violino” is an astonishing exploration of his instrument’s possibilities, from solo to sextet. The beautiful suite for quartet “The Blessed Prince” has tourned Italy with Taylor Ho Bynum on concert last winter”.15 Italian Jazz Musicians You Need To Know About – Enrico Bettinello – AllAboutJazz.com
He starts his music studies, first guided expertedly by violinist Antonio Cavallucci, member of the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI in Rome, then by baroque violinist Marco Fois. He discovers Jazz and encouraged by Lino Patruno and Giulio Libano, ex trumpet player and wellknown for his arrangements, starts to attend Siena Jazz getting a scholarship for “Corso di Alta Qualificazione Professionale per Esecutori di Musica Jazz” promoted by the European Comunity.
In 1993 he goes to Florence and starts the Hot Club de Florence, a group inspired by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, getting gradually known to the Florence scene. He continues with his studies and attends workshops throughout Italy. He gets noticed during jam sessions where he has the possibility to play with jazzists of international fame like Pat Metheny, Bobby Watson, Gianni Basso, Furio Di Castri. He plays in duo with pianoplayer Roberto Andreucci and with him he records his first album “Duetto”(1998); in the meantime, vibraphonplayer Alessandro Di Puccio, director of “Centro Attività Musicali di Firenze” invites him to take part of the workshop orchestra directed by Bruno Tommaso for the production of “Carmen” and his group “Les Italiens”. In 1999 he meets Dimitri Grechi Espinoza starting a still lasting collaboration and producing at the beginning “Vita Nova”, first disc of “Dinamitri Jazz Folklore.
In october of the same year in Terni, he takes part of a Tony Scott workshop. This encounter changes his life: they create a familiar relationship and Tony as his mentor introduces him to his groups, making him start a rich period of concerts and experiences that take him frontstage and to be known by an increasing audience. Thanks to Tony he meets Giulio Capiozzo who calls him to be part of his group and with whom he gets the possibility to play with Cameron Brown. During this period he plays in quartet with Roberto Andreucci, Piero Leveratto and Mauro Beggio, in quintet with Bosso and Angelo Canelli and the same in quintet with Nico Morelli and Gianluca Petrella. In october 2000, for the first time, he goes recording with Tiziana Ghiglioni with whom he starts playing regulary and develops the basics of an album dedicated to the artist Mimmo Rotella aiming to convey in music the concept of the artists famous decollages. In 2003 the disc, called “Rotella Variations”, recalls the attention of audience and critics on him and the entire year will show to be fundamental for his artistic engagement. In fact, the same year “Folklore in Black “ witnesses the meeting between Dinamitri Jazz Folklore and Tony Scott; he’s called for an europen tour by the “Italian Instabile Orchestra” as substitute of Renato Geremia; he’s choosen to be part of Butch Morris’ orchestra for an original production of the “Festival di Roccella Jonica” where he meets again Silvia Bolognesi and has the possibility to play with exceptionel partners like Marc Ribot, J.A.Deane and Tyshawn Sorey.
In september he’s again with “Italian Instabile Orchestra” at the Festival di Sant’Annarresi” for two most important concerts:one dedicated to Marcello Melis; during the other one the orchestra plays with great Cecil Taylor.
Becoming a full member of “Italian Instabile Orchestra”, he tours the world: several times Germany and Spain, Swiss, Holland where he plays at the BimHuis, Portugal, Canada, Turkey and a tour in Britain concluding at the London Jazz Festival with a concert at the Purcell Room, broadcasted by BBC and published on the disc “London Hymn Live 2005.He plays with international artists like Ab Baars, Frank Gratkowsky, Keith Tippet who for several times are guests of the Italian Instabile Orchestra.
Collaborations are increasing: Canto General of Minafra, Ottaviano and Vittorino Curci, as a guest together with Ernst Reijseger; Enrico Fazio with whom he plays and records for Leo Records; Bebo Ferra, Simone Guiducci for theater and film productions (works with Luis Bacalov, with Riccardo Tesi for Carlo Mazzacurati, Antonio Catania). Together with Paolo Botti and Giovanni Maier he starts a string ensemble publishing two albums, one as trio, the other one as quartet with cello player Salvatore Maiore. The idea of a new album takes shape and is recorded as “1974 lo So – Damn If I Know”, a militant work in which coexists the contents of New Thing with Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Scritti Corsari”. Together with the Dinamitri he collaborates with Detroit poet Sadiq Bey (Congo Evidence in 2006) and with the afroamerican icon Amiri Baraka (Akendengue Suite in 2008). Baraka himself is the author of the text recited by Steve Piccolo in Tiziano Tononi’s and Daniele Cavallanti’s cd “Spirits Up Above” with doublebass player William Parker. Shortly after, Parrini, Parker and Tononi are together to record “Vertical Invaders” and for a live performance.
In 2007 he becomes part of the Nexus with a triumphant concert at Teatro dell’Arte in Milan but it is also the year of the death of Tony Scott, his constant guide and point of reference. The same year, in june, at the Festival di Bolzano the Italian Instabile Orchestra plays and records a masterpiece disc with the great musician and composer Anthony Braxton. The Instabile wins the Top Jazz of Musica Jazz as formation of the year. There follows the meeting of the improvisors of Massalombarda and the transfer to Milan where he stays for an intense period of studies and work recording many discs (such as “Rings of Fire” by Tononi and Cavallanti with violin player Jenny Scheinmann, “A Male Walking in the Cauldron” by Tiziana Ghiglioni, “The Talking Bass “ by Giovanni Maier).
In 2009 he gets invited to Italian Jazz Graffiti, organized once a year at Piccolo Teatro Studio in Milan; in 2010 William Parker calls him for his double quartet playing in Bologna for Alphaville Suite. Back in Florence , together with the Dinamitri group, he gets invited to play at Festival au Desert in Timbouctu, Mali: this is the beginning of prestigious and significant human collaborations with the musicians of the Ensemble Tartit, Samba Tourè and the new star of tuareg music Bombino. These encounters will contribute to realize the album “La Società delle Maschere”. Once more, with Tiziana Ghiglioni and Tiziano Tononi, he approaches poetry with the suite dedicated to Carmelo Bene (“VIE D'[H] EROS [ES]”; 2012 ed CMP). Intensified the collaboration with double bass player/composer and dear friend Silvia Bolognesi, they start the Creative Strings Company. From 2009 on, he is part of the quartet of slovenian saxophonist Cene Resnik with whom he records “Joyful Spontaneity” and participates at Jazz Festival of Lubjana in 2013. Then follows the great success at the Festival di Sant’Anna Arresi where, together with the Dinamitri Jazz Folklore, he plays live on radio (Radio 3) with Amiri Baraka (this will be the last performance together). The concert will be published by Rudi Records in 2016.
During the same period, he gets back to focus on his own music with an ambitious project: “VIAGGIO AL CENTRO DEL VIOLINO”. Published for Rudi Records and LongSong Records, it is a trilogy that fixes on disc the studies, thoughts and experiences of the last years. It is a large range work, involving the musicians close to him and although representing the bond to the masters of the past, it proposes itself as a contemporanean reflection about the language and evolution of the music. “VIAGGIO AL CENTRO DEL VIOLINO Vol. 1” contains a suite for only violin and some pieces in duo with violist Paolo Botti, keeping in the background the figures of Leroy Jenkins and Renato Geremia. The second volume “ARE YOU READY?” in large formation with Piero Bittolo Bon, Pasquale Innarella, Pasquale Mirra, Silvia Bolognesi, Tiziano Tononi and the voices of Claudia Tellini and Titta Nesti, is a realisation of reflections refering to the historical avantguarde of the New Thing. The conclusive disc is “THE BLESSED PRINCE” in quartet with Dimitri Grechi Espinoza,Giovanni Maier and Andrea Melani. It is dedicated to Amiri Baraka and is a perfect synthesis of the former two volumes.
In 2015, during the Torino Jazz Festival, he collaborates again with Anthony Braxton for the european premiere of SONIC GENOME, a music installation of eight hours, involving 12+60 musicians, and staged in the context of the renovated Museo Egizio. Tony Cattano calls on him to form the group Naca Quartet with Matteo Anelli and Andrea Melani; he takes part at “TIRESIA”, the thirtieth anniversary of the Enten Eller and takes care of the recording of his friend Renato Cordovani’s first disc with whom he plays in a reunion concert with Matthias Schubert. Meanwhile, Dinamitri Jazz Folklore adds a new album to its catalogue “LIVE-EX WIDE” and two new collaborations for the New Year’s concert in Piazza del Carmine in Florence: Gianluca Petrella and legendary PeeWee Ellis.
2017 starts with “THE BLESSED PRINCE” being part of the ten discs of the year in All About Jazz and the piece “Disk Dosk” in the selection 2016 of the british UKVIBE.ORG. After a long time of organisaton and as a result of collaborating with the festivals Novara Jazz, Pisa Jazz and the Centro d’Arte Padova he realizes a mini tour for the project “THE BLESSED PRINCE” extending the quartet to a quintet joined by the cornet of Taylor Ho Bynum. This is a truly fortunate choice as much for the musical as for the human aspects. The concerts create much sensation and appreciation among the specialised critics and insiders. There will be published a live recorded disc.
Collaborations
He has collaborated with Tony Scott, Cecil Taylor, Amiri Baraka, John Tchicai, Anthony Braxton, William Parker, Butch Morris, Marc Ribot, Cameron Brown, Keith Tippet, Ernst Reijseger, Ab Baars, Philippe Catherine, Nexus, Sadiq Bey, Ensemble Tartit, Louis Bacalov, Franco Cerri, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Giovanni Maier, Simone Guiducci, Gianluigi Trovesi, Antonello Salis, Maurizio Giammarco, Roberto Gatto, Cristina Zavalloni, Sabina Meyer, Diana Torto, Claudia Tellini, Maria Pia De Vito, Steve Piccolo, Antonio Infantino, Bombino, Afel Bocoum, Samba Tourè, Piero Gesuè, Monika Shaka, Giancarlo Cauteruccio, Kyoko Kitamura, David Riondino, Moni Ovadia, Angela Finocchiaro, Bebo Storti, Antonio Catania, Signe Juhl Jensen, Bobby Lee Rodgers, Enrico Rava, Taylor Ho Bynum, Pino Minafra, Giovanni Falzone, Luca Calabrese, Alberto Mandarini, Nat Wooley Cicci Santucci, Guido Mazzon, Fabrizo Bosso, Kyle Gregory, Lewis Barnes, Fulvio Sigurtà, Fabio Morgera, Angelo Olivieri, Marco Brioschi, Giorgio Li Calzi, Luca Aquino, Gabriele Mitelli, Mirko Cisilino, Lauro Rossi, Sebi Tramontana, Marcello Rosa, Gianluca Petrella, Beppe Caruso, Tony Cattano, Mauro Ottolini, Michele Lo Muto, Reut Regev, Gerard Gschloessl, Giampiero Malfatto, Humberto Amesquita, Luca Begonia, Nico Gori, Mirco Mariottini, Daniele D’Agaro, Simone Mauri, Marco Colonna, Evan Christopher, Paolo Tomelleri, Klaus Lessmann, Christian Thoma, Sara Schoenbeck, Nicola Stilo, Carlo Nicita, Frank Gratkowsky, Rob Brown, Matthias Schubert, PeeWee Ellis, Dimitri Grechi Espinoza, Beppe Scardino, Sabir Mateen, Daniele Cavallanti, Eugenio Colombo, Roberto Ottaviano, Carlo Actis Dato, Claudio Fasoli, Daniele Scannapieco, Achille Succi, Tino Tracanna, Edoardo Marraffa, Piero Bittolo Bon, Sandro Satta, Rossano Emili, Stefano Bartolini, Dado Ricci, Enrico Sartori, Dan Kinzelman, Cristiano Arcelli, Mauro Avanzini, Cene Resnik, Henry Cook, Pasquale Innarella, Marco Tardito, Mario Raja, Max Ionata, Mirco Guerrini,Gianni Mimmo, Dario Cecchini, Riccardo Luppi, Renato Cordovani, Carlo Gatteschi, James Fei, Ingrid Laubrock, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Chris Jonas, Massimo Falascone, Sandro Cerino, Giulio Visibelli, Linda Fredriksson, Marco Fagioli, Jay Rozen, Franco Cerri, Gabrio Baldacci, Mary Halvorson, Craig Green, Pietro Condorelli, Bebo Ferra, Paolo Tofani, Guido Di Leone, Maurizio Geri, Riccardo Bianchi, Roberto Cecchetto, Jacopo Martini, Antonio Onorato, Eugenio Sanna, Riccardo Galardini, Bob Luti, Giacomo Ancillotto, Enzo Rocco, Paolo Angeli, Simone Massaron, Alberto Capelli, Claudio Lodati, Matteo Tundo, Maurizio Brunod, Jacob Artved, Raoul Björkenheim, Gianni Coscia, Luciano Biondini, Fausto Beccalossi, Riccardo Tesi, Norbert Pignol, Samuele, Venturin, Oscar Del Barba, Fabio Treves, Marcella Carboni, Vincenzo Zitello, Alessandro Di Puccio, Pasquale Mirra, Francesco Lo Cascio, Luca Gusella, Renato Sellani, Fabrizio Puglisi, Stefano Bollani, Mario Rusca, Dado Moroni, Andrea Pozza, Antonio Zambrini, Angelo Canelli, Nico Morelli, Riccardo Fassi, Giovanni Ceccarelli, Alberto Tacchini, Gianni Lenoci, Alessandro Giachero, Matthew Bourne, Gianluca Tagliazucchi, Paolo Tombolesi, Simone Graziano, Alexander Hawkins, Pee Wee Durante, Matteo Addabbo, Pippo Guarnera, Giancarlo Tossani, Jenny Scheinmann, Mazz Swift, Jamal Ouassini, Ruben Chaviano, Paolo Botti, Ig Hanneman, Jessica Pavone, Tristan Honsinger, Ernst Reijseger, Tomeka Reid, Walter Prati, Francesco Guerri, Luca Tilli, Paolo Damiani, Stefano Amato, Joe Fonda, Giovanni Maier, Cameron Brown, Silvia Bolognesi, Lullo Mosso, Enrico Fazio, Piero Leveratto, Roberto Bellatalla, Franco Nesti, Tito Mangialajo Rantzer, Giorgio Rosciglione Gianluca Renzi, Stefano Senni, Marco Vaggi, Dario Rosciglione, Lucio Terzano, Nicola Vernuccio, Danilo Gallo, Gabriele Evangelista, Luca Garlaschelli, Andrea Di Biase, Francesco Ponticelli, Aldo Zunino, Giorgio Vendola, Daniele Mencarelli, Stefano Risso, Salvatore Maiore, Francesco Puglisi, Roberto Bonati, Joe Rehmer, Carl Testa, Filippo Pedol, Jesper Bodilsen, Tiziano Tononi, Hamid Drake, Scott Amendola, Vincent Davis, U.T. Gandhi, Gegè Munari, John Arnold, Gianni Cazzola, Massimo Manzi, Filippo Monico, Mauro Beggio, Ferdinando Faraò, Giulio Capiozzo, Lorenzo Tucci, Tony Arco, Amedeo Ariano, Michele Rabbia, Zeno De Rossi, Andrea Melani, Fiorenzo Sordini, Alessandro Fabbri, Simone Padovani, Massimiliano Sorrentini, Fabrizio Spera, Walter Paoli, Daniele Paoletti, Cristiano Calcagnile, Aljosa Jeric, Tyshawn Sorey, Roberto Dani, Stefano Giust, Andrea Dilillo, Mirko Sabatini, Pacho, Massimo Barbiero, Stefano Rapicavoli. Hakon Berre, Federico Sanesi, J.A. Deane, Xabier Iriondo, Luis Bacalov, Bruno Tommaso, Dino Betti Van Der Noot, Giulio Libano, Luca Di Volo, Jaimoe, David Grissom, Scott Sharrard, Jon Irabagon and many others.
Awards
JAZZIT AWARD Annuale Readers Pool by JAZZIT MAGAZINE
“VIOLINIST OF THE YEAR – ITALY” 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
TOP JAZZ Annuale Critics Pool by MUSICA JAZZ
TOP JAZZ 2007 by MUSICA JAZZ: ITALIAN INSTABILE ORCHESTRA 1° place “Band of the year”
TOP JAZZ 2013 iby MUSICA JAZZ: “THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE ON” by Dino Betti Van Der Noot, 1° place “Cd of the year”
TOP JAZZ 2015 by MUSICA JAZZ: “NOTES ARE BUT WIND” by Dino Betti Van Der Noot, 1° place “Cd of the yaer”
1° place for Vitaminic Top 20 8 Luglio 2006 Artist of the week
Special prize Jury Lago Maggiore Jazz 2000 young italian jazz musicians
Italian Jazz Graffiti Gala 2009 THE BLESSED PRINCE Top Ten best cd of the year All About Jazz Italia 2016