Saint Louis wins Lazio Sound Recording 2026 bid with LOJI project, the Libera Orchestra del Jazz Italiano
The Saint Louis College of Music wins the Lazio Sound Recording call with the LOJI project – Libera Orchestra del Jazz Italiano, the Roman big band born in 2019 that, with 14 musicians on stage and three conductors at the helm, is now established as one of the most interesting jazz orchestral projects on the Italian scene.
On the Trails of Italian Jazz
The award enables the production of LOJI’s first official album, entitled “Free Orchestra of Italian Jazz.” A 6-track album that represents the synthesis of the orchestra’s first five years of activity.
The repertoire includes original compositions signed by the three conductors and founders – Gabriele Ceccarelli, Filippo Minisola and Matteo Rossi, Saint Louis graduates – alongside pieces by other Italian composers active in the contemporary jazz scene.
There will be no shortage of two live recordings included on the disc to restore the energy and authenticity of orchestral performance in its purest form: that of jazz played on stage, improvised, alive.
Who is LOJI, the big band reinventing the tradition
La Libera Orchestra del Jazz Italiano was born in 2019 from an idea shared by the three young composers and conductors. The name already tells it all: “Libera” (Free), because it is independent and constantly evolving; “del jazz italiano” (of Italian Jazz), because its stated goal is to enhance the most original expressions of national jazz.
The orchestra is distinguished by a model of collective artistic direction-three conductors working in parallel on arrangements and compositions-and an open staff that welcomes new talent on a permanent basis. The result is an ever-changing sound laboratory, capable of interweaving orchestral writing and improvisation with a fluid and inclusive approach.
Over the years LOJI has performed in some of the most prestigious settings in Italian jazz: from the Casa del Jazz in Rome to theAlexanderplatz, via the Muntagninjazz festival.
Promotional tour in Lazio, three dates to present the album
The call also includes a promotional concert program. Confirmed dates include:
- May 6, 2026, h 10:40 am at IIS A.G. Bragaglia of Frosinone – Presentation Talk by Gabriele Ceccarelli, with a preview listening guide of the album, inside the Aula Magna of the project’s school partner. Free entrance.
- June 24, 2026, h 5 p.m. at Saint Louis College of Music in Rome – release event open to the college’s community of more than 1,500 students, also streamed live.
- July 20, live concert for Jazz & Image, Baths of Caracalla in Rome
- more dates and locations will be announced soon on Saint Louis institutional and social channels
An orchestra for contemporary jazz
The project stems from a clear conviction: jazz, considered by many to be a fringe genre in the Italian music scene, has roots too deep to be left on the margins. LOJI aims to breathe new life into it through an approach that does not forsake the orchestral tradition but reinterprets it with a contemporary language, attentive to the choral dimension as much as to the solo dimension.
“Free Orchestra of Italian Jazz” is in this sense more than an album: it is a declaration of intent of a generation of musicians who choose to bet on the jazz orchestra as a form of expression of the present.
