Among the various collaborations established by the Institute of Culture, which were forcibly interrupted in the three-year pandemic period, but which are now returning to bear fruit, the one with the Italian agency and music house Violipiano stands out. In the past we remember the concerts of the talented violinist Luca Ciarla solo and accompanied by Chris Jarrett, pianist and son of the great Keith.
For 2023, the Institute of Cultural and Violipiano, in collaboration with the Italian Consulate in Brisbane, are pleased to present the Jazz Duo composed by Max De Aloe (harmonica, accordion) and Mike Del Ferro (piano).
De Aloe and Del Ferro will perform on 20 September at Foundry 616 in Ultimo and the following day, 21 September at the Brisbane Jazz Club. The two musicians will pay tribute to the great Belgian harmonica player Toots Thielemans by presenting some of the most significant pieces from his repertoire, plus original compositions and arrangements of the Italian Belcanto tradition.
Max De Aloe is considered one of the most active jazz harmonica players on the European scene. He has recorded fifteen albums as a leader and more than forty as a sideman, as well as solo exhibitions, composition of soundtracks for plays and documentaries, and creative collaborations with poets, writers and directors. He has worked, among others, with Adam Nussbaum, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Paul Wertico, John Helliwell (Supertramp), Mike Melillo, Bill Carrothers, Eliot Zigmund, Don Friedman, Hendrik Meurkens, Paolo Fresu, Garrison Fewell, Enrico Rava, Franco Cerri, Enrico Pieranunzi, Dado Moroni. He has participated in various musical seasons and festivals around the world. He has repeatedly won the Jazz It Award, organized by Jazzit magazine and the Orpheus Award 2015 in the jazz section with his CD Borderline. His professional activity is divided between performance and teaching. He runs his own music school (Centro Espressione Musicale), which he founded in 1995 in Gallarate, Italy, where he teaches jazz improvisation, modern piano, accordion and above all chromatic harmonica. He was a Lecturer at the Academy of Performing Arts and Crafts of the prestigious Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He published Method for Chromatic Harmonica in 2012 for Sher Music in the USA and the same manual in Italy for Volontè & Co. in 2013.
Mike Del Ferro is a Dutch musician, composer, pianist and arranger among the most active on the international scene. He has traveled extensively around the world developing the ability to blend the established canons of Western music and the audacity of jazz improvisation, while paying homage to the ancient structures of Asian, South American and African musical traditions. Born in Amsterdam, son of the opera singer Leonardo Del Ferro (1921-1992), Del Ferro began studying classical piano at the age of nine; at seventeen he fell in love with jazz and began studying jazz piano at the Amsterdam Conservatory where he obtained a master’s degree. His reputation as a soloist, accompanist, composer and arranger is due to his performances, recordings and tours around the world alongside musicians such as Toots Thielemans, Branford Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, Randy Brecker, Oscar Castro Neves, Deborah Brown, Erik Truffaz, Jorge Rossy, Sibongile Khumalo, Carl Allen, Scott Hamilton, Richard Galliano and many more. As a sideman he appears on more than 20 albums, varying from Dixieland to world music. He also gives piano masterclasses around the world and successfully runs his online Clinic “Self-Management and networking for Musicians”, a series of podcasts in which he advises musicians in the beginning of their careers.
Bookings:
Sydney: Foundry616
Brisbane: Brisbane Jazz Club
Interview with Max De Aloe on SBS Italian, 19/09/2023
