Claudio Fasoli is one of the most highly regarded saxophonists and composers on the international jazz scene. His distinctive and distinguishable jazz language is the result of continuous and intense research developed over a decades-long career on timbral, melodic and modal elements as part of an approach to composition that is transcendent and meditative in character, essential and at the same time complex
Claudio Fasoli began performing since his college years, frequenting the bustling Bologna jazz scene. The turning point in his self-taught journey came in 1972, when he joined the jazz-rock group Il Perigeo, with Giovanni Tommaso, Franco D’Andrea, Bruno Biriaco and Tony Sidney
The quintet records five albums, Azimut, We All Have Blues to Cry, Genealogy, The Valley of the Temples, It’s Not That Far, and holds numerous concerts in Italy and abroad, earning excellent public and critical acclaim
Following his experience in Perigeo, the Venetian saxophonist embarked on a solo career with trio and quartet formations: in 1977 he recorded the album Eskimo Fakiro, with Franco D’Andrea, Giorgio Azzolini and Bruno Biriaco, and, in 1980, Hinterland, with Enrico Pieranunzi, Roberto Gatto, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Bruno Tommaso and Riccardo Del Fra. These will be followed by numerous record works with international jazz exponents: Luigi Bonafede, Kenny Wheeler, Daniel Humair, Gianni Cazzola, J. F. Jenny Clarke, Palle Danielsson, Tony Oxley, Aldo Romano, Stefano Battaglia, Henri Texier, Enrico Rava, Lee Konitz, Ares Tavolazzzi, Mick Goodrik
In the late 1980s and 1990s, he took part in Giorgio Gaslini’s Quintet and Grand National Orchestra and Lydian Sound Orchestra and also conducted the European Music Orchestra
Active on the New York jazz scene, he recorded in 2018 the album Selfie, with the New York Quartet, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Matt Brewer, and drummer Justin Brown, and, the following year, The Brooklyn Option, with trumpeter Ralph Alessi, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Nasheet Waits
In addition to his work as a saxophonist and prolific composer, Claudio Fasoli founded the saxophone courses at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan and serves as head of the tenor and soprano classes at the Siena Jazz
Essential discography: Azimut with Perigee (1972 – RCA), We All Have Blues to Cry with Perigee (1973 – RCA), Genealogy (1974 – RCA), Eskimo Fakiro (1977 – Carosello), Hinterland (1980 – Edipan), Egotrip (1988 – Splasc(H) Records), Bodies (1990 – New Sound Planet), Infant Eyes (2006 – Philology), Avenir ( 2011 – Caligula), Selfie (2018 – Abeat), The Brooklyn Option (2019 – Abeat)
