Gianni Coscia is one of the most important accordionists on the international jazz scene
He first approached the study of the trumpet and later switched to the accordion by listening to the records of Gorni Kramer, the first in Italy to clear this instrument in a jazz sense
At the end of World War II he played dance music and gradually approached jazz, after being positively impressed in the early 1950s by concerts given in Turin and Milan by Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton’s orchestra, respectively
In 1960, he collaborated in writing the themes and arrangements of the songs performed by the Turin Quintet with trombonist Dino Piana during the radio competition La Coppa del Jazz, in which the ensemble placed second
He brings with him in his gradual growth within the Italian jazz sphere the tradition of Piedmontese folk music, often present over the years in his performing repertoire
In 1985 he recorded his first record as a leader entitled Gianni Coscia – the other accordion and, four years later, La Briscola, with which he achieved second place in the Top Jazz referendum, held by Musica Jazz magazine
In the early 1990s the artistic partnership with saxophonist and clarinetist Gianluigi Trovesi was forming with the record Radici. A commission between cultured music, ancient traditions of Italian and European popular music, jazz, and sound experimentation takes shape in the record works the two would produce over the years
In 1999 they recorded for the prestigious German label ECM the record work In Search of Food, whose liner notes were edited by the internationally renowned writer, essayist, philosopher and semiologist, Umberto Eco
The record wins a great response from the public and critics, increasing Coscia’s artistic blazon on an international level
The accordionist continues to divide his time between jazz, chamber and popular music on records, La Bottega, La Bancarella, L’Archiliuto, Galleria del Corso, with pianist Renato Sellani, Round about Weill, Frescobaldi for us, Round about Offenbach
During his career Gianni Coscia has collaborated with numerous musicians on the Italian and international scene: Richard Galliano, with whom he forms an accordion quartet completed by Marcel Azzola and Antonello Salis, Enrico Rava, Battista Lena, Andrea Dulbecco, Enzo Pietropaoli, Stefano Bollani, Giorgio Gaslini, Max De Aloe, Luciano Berio, Lucia Minetti
Essential discography: Radici (1995 – Egea), In search of food (2000 – ECM), L’Archiliuto (2002 – Egea), Round about Weill (2005 – ECM), Frescobaldi per noi (2007 – Giotto Music), Round about Offenbach (2011 – ECM)
