Gaetano Partipilo and The Contemporary Five

Gaetano Partipilo is an alto saxophonist, composer, and educator from Italy. His soulful, emotive, reedy tone and wide-ranging playing style bridge post-bop, contemporary jazz, R&B, and modal music. His writing and compositions have appeared on more than 100 recordings internationally. He issued his 2002 leader debut, Urban Society, with the group of the same name he'd founded that year. The acclaim won him a spot on Nicola Conte's hit Jet Sounds, establishing a collaborative relationship that continues. Partipilo also played a key role on Garota Moderna, the 2004 Schema debut by vocalist and Conte protege Rosalia De Souza. Also in 2004, Soul Note released BASIC, the second offering by Urban Society. In 2007 he released The Right Place, a New York-recorded Emarcy date with an American quartet. Partipilo followed it in 2009 with the live I Like Too Much for Italian indie Auand Records. Urban Society's third album, the live Upgrading, was released in 2011. In early 2013, Partipilo released Besides: Songs from the Sixties for Schema. Selected by critics internationally as one of the year's best jazz albums, it was an outgrowth of an appearance at the previous year's Dubai Jazz Festival. After world tours with other groups and a truckload of session and teaching work, Partipilo returned with the Paolo Fresu-produced Daylight in 2016. In 2019 he released Boom Collective for Auland, and a year later, The Other Side for Jazzit; the latter was a collaborative outing with drummer Alessandro Napolitano, pianist Mark Sherman, and bassist Giuseppe Bassi. Partipilo was born in 1974. He began his musical studies on clarinet and saxophone at age eight, and a year later was already playing in local bands. At 15, he enrolled in the Conservatory of Music in Bari where he studied classical music, composition, and theory with Roberto Ottaviano. Upon graduation he worked live with Mark Murphy, Tony Scott, Enrico Rava, and Rossana Casale. From 1995 to 1999 he performed and studied with Mario Raja, Gianluigi Trovesi, Paolo Fresu, and others. He also played with the Dolmen Orchestra in their collaborations with John Surman, Louis Sclavis, and Michel Godard. During this time, Partipilo was also working as a studio sideman for Schema. He played on records by Fez Combo, Paolo Achenza, the Jazz Convention, and Quarteto Moderno. In October of 1999, Partipilo made his first sojourn to New York City. Within three months, he'd fallen in with a group of younger, like-minded musicians including Jason Moran, Tarus Mateen, Nasheet Waits, and Greg Osby, and worked clubs and bandstands across the city. Returning to Italy in 2000, Partipilo founded Urban Society, an Italian jazz collective with bassist Mauro Gargano and drummer Fabio Accardi. He guested on Nicola Conte's Jet Sounds, the historic hit meld of dance music and jazz, and the pair have worked together ever since. Partipilo also won a spot with the Bruno Tommaso Orchestra and appeared on Steamboat Bill, Jr. In 2001, he joined Dave Liebman in the international jazz collective Berlin Experience. He signed to Soul Note in 2002 and cut Urban Society's self-titled debut. It included 11 Partipilo originals, which he also arranged. Interestingly, his Italian trio played on less than half of the set's tunes, while American drummer Waits and Japanese bassist Atsushi (Az'shi) Osada played on the lion's share. The saxophonist also reprised his role with Tommaso's orchestra for Amare Terre (La Musica Di Domenico Modugno). In 2004, the Soul Note album BASIC was credited to Gaetano Partipilo & Urban Society. That year the saxophonist also played a core role on Nicola Conte Apresenta Rosalia De Souza: Garota Moderna, and assisted on Cabaret Noir's self-titled debut. The following year, in addition to studio work with Gerardo Frisina and Pino Minafra, he played on Conte's remix of Louie Vega's "Our Love." After signing a one-off deal with Emarcy, Partipilo returned to New York and cut 2007's The Right Place with pianist Roberto Tarenzi and an American rhythm section consisting of Waits, guitarist Mike Moreno, and bassist Matt Brewer. In 2008, Partipilo played European tours with Urban Society and worked in the studio with Conte on Rituals, and with vocalist Alice Ricciardi on her Blue Note debut, Comes Love. Later that year he issued the avant collaborative outing I Like Too Much with American guitarist Miles Okazaki and drummer Dan Weiss for Auand. Partipilo and Urban Society released Upgrading in 2011. His most ambitious outing up to that date, it included two long-form, multi-part suites and three supplemental compositions. The following year the saxophonist returned to the studio with Conte for Love & Revolution, and served in the quartet of pianist Livio Minafra on the Enja-issued Surprise. In 2012, Partipilo performed a commissioned work for a large ensemble at the Dubai Jazz Festival. A hand-picked, star-studded group of players and singers performed a collection of American and Brazilian standards from the 1960s, re-arranged for the 21st century by conductor Partipilo. The following year, many of the same performers reunited in an Italian studio and cut Besides: Songs from the Sixties on Schema. It charted and is regarded by many critics as his masterpiece. The saxophonist also worked with Conte on the seminal Free Souls, and joined the faculty of the Conservatory of Music in Foggia. In 2015 Partipilo toured Africa as part of the Puglia Jazz Factory and played on the studio sessions that yielded The African Way. In 2016 he began working with Fresu's band, resulting in the album Around Tǔk, and created Gaetano Partipilo & the Contemporary Five for the Fresu-produced album Daylight on the Tǔk Music label. The all-Italian ensemble went to New York and performed it live on four consecutive evenings in December. In 2019, Partipilo followed the Muse that had guided him to create Besides a couple of years earlier, and hired a big band and vocalists Angela Esmerelda and Carolina Bubbico to record its follow-up, Boom Collective, a swinging, delirious meld of retro and modern jazz that resonated not only with jazz audiences, but with savvy club DJs all over the globe. In 2020, Partipilo and bassist Giuseppe Bassi joined drummer Alessandro Napolitano and pianist/vibist Mark Sherman in the New Jazz Quartet for Other Side, which was issued by Jazzit.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo