Massimo Biolcati
Encyclopedia
Biography
Massimo Biolcati was born in StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and grew up in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Biolcati has performed and recorded with the likes of artists such as Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...
, George Garzone
George Garzone
George Garzone is a saxophonist and jazz educator residing in New York city.Saxophonist George Garzone is a member of The Fringe, a jazz trio founded in 1972 that includes bassist John Lockwood and drummer Bob Gullotti, that performs regularly in the Boston area and has toured world wide. The...
, Jeff Ballard
Jeff Ballard
Jeffrey Scott Ballard is a former Major League Baseball pitcher, playing from to .Following his career, Ballard returned to his hometown of Billings, where he has become an instrumental part of local American Legion Baseball programs...
, Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
, Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane is an American post-bop jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced artists such as pianist Luis Perdomo , guitarist David Gilmore and trumpeter Ralph Alessi....
, Paquito D'Rivera
Paquito D'Rivera
Paquito D'Rivera is a Cuban alto saxophonist, clarinetist and soprano saxophonist. The winner of multiple Grammys and other awards, D'Rivera has lived in the United States since the early 1980s. He has worked in a variety of contexts, but is perhaps best known for playing Latin...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
, Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, Alon Yavnai
Alon Yavnai
Alon Yavnai is an Israel-born jazz pianist.-Biography:Born in Israel, Yavnai began playing piano at the age of four. He has professionally accompanied singers since the age of thirteen. He graduated from the Thelma Yalin High School for Arts and subsequently the Givatayim Conservatory, both in...
, and Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke is a guitarist born in the west African country of Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. He attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France from 1994-1998...
. He is also a long-standing member of the Lionel Loueke Trio. While the Lionel Loueke Trio plays original music written by Lionel, the same group make up Gilfema
Gilfema
Gilfema is a jazz trio consisting of guitarist Lionel Loueke, bassist Massimo Biolcati, and drummer Ferenc Nemeth. The name of the group is derived from the first letters of the musicians' names, Gil for Lionel Gilles Loueke...
which features music composed by all three members (Loueke, Biolcati, & Ferenc Nemeth
Ferenc Nemeth
-Biography:Nemeth was born in Keszthely, Hungary. At 14 he left home to study classical percussion at the Richter János Conservatory in Győr. He also attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. He later studied at the New England...
). Biolcati released his first album as leader Persona on March 18, 2008. The album's roster includes Loueke, Peter Rende, Jeff Ballard
Jeff Ballard
Jeffrey Scott Ballard is a former Major League Baseball pitcher, playing from to .Following his career, Ballard returned to his hometown of Billings, where he has become an instrumental part of local American Legion Baseball programs...
, Lizz Wright
Lizz Wright
Lizz Wright is an American jazz/R&B singer and composer.Wright was born in the small town of Hahira in the US state of Georgia; one of three children and the daughter of a minister and the musical director of their Church. She started singing gospel music and playing piano in church as a child,...
, and Gretchen Parlato
Gretchen Parlato
Gretchen Parlato is an American jazz singer. She has performed and recorded with musicians such as Lionel Loueke, Wayne Shorter and Kenny Barron....
. The album was nominated for 2008 Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
Best Jazz Album and won the Vox Pop vote.
Biolcati lives in Brooklyn in a building filled mostly with artists and musicians and was featured in an April, 2009 article in the New York Times real estate section.
In addition to being a professional musician, Biolcati is also an internet entrepreneur and developed the iPhone application called "iRealBook," a collection of chord sheets of jazz standards, jazz classics, Brazilian classics and more, which is a professional tool for jazz musicians and jazz students.
Discography
AS A LEADER- Persona, ObliqSound (2008) w/ Lionel Loueke-g, Pete Rende-p, Jeff Ballard-d, Lizz Wright-v, Gretchen Parlato-v
AS MEMBER OF GILFEMA
- Gilfema, ObliqSound (2005) w/ Lionel Loueke-g, Ferenc Nemeth-d
- Gilfema + 2, ObliqSound (October, 2008), w/ Lionel Loueke-g, Ferenc Nemeth-d and guest clarinetists Anat Cohen and John Ellis
AS SIDEMAN
- Christian Gall: Vibes of Boston, Home Musik (1998)
- Robin McKelle: Never Let Me Go (1999)
- Tatsu Kisaragi: Lazy Bird feat. Jerry Bergonzi, King Records (1998)
- Klaresque Ensemble: Approachable Perspectives (1999)
- Cho-Yoon Seung: JazzKorea, Woongjin (2000)
- Yoko Miwa: In The Mist Of Time, Takuma Comm. (2001)
- Doug Johnson: Game Theory (2000)
- Alon Yavnai: D.C. al Coda w/ George Garzone, Whaling City Sound (2000)
- Olivier Manchon: En Route (2002)
- David Doruzka: Hidden Path, Cube (2003)
- Jure Puki: Serendipity, Sensor Records (2004)
- Michael Buble: Come Fly With Me, Reprise Records (2004)
- Mamiko Watanabe: One After Another (2005)
- Alon Yavnai Trio: Picture This (2005)
- Gretchen Parlato: Gretchen Parlato (2005)
- Yoko Miwa: Canopy of Stars, Polystar (2005)
- Monika H.: Bright (2005)
- Francisco Pais Quartet: Not Afraid Of Color, Fresh Sound New Talent (2006)
- Greg Lamy Quartet: What Are You Afraid Of? (2006)
- Felly K.: Far Away, Argus Fil & Art (2006)
- Nacho Arimany's World Flamenco Septet: Silence-Light, Fresh Sound World Jazz (2006)
- Lionel Loueke: Virgin Forest, ObliqSound (2007)
- Lionel Loueke: Karibu, Blue Note Records (2008)