Home » Member Page
Rocco Ventrella
"One can only smile and enjoy when hearing the music of Rocco Ventrella. The joy of his music that exudes from his soul is undeniable. His passion for smooth jazz is so obvious with every note he plays". - Everette Harp
About Me
Rocco Ventrella has been “Artist Of The
Year 2015” nominated on JazzTrax,com
and invited to perform at Catalina
JazzTrax Festival by Art Good.
Ventrella received a Grammy Awards
Pre-Nomination for Contemporary Jazz
Best Album 2007 cd “Give Me The
Groove”.
On the 2005 Ventrella recorded, arranged
and produced the Tribute To Grover
Washington,Jr. CD in memory of the late,
great saxophone player. This
remarkable recording originally contained
just five tracks: Winelight, Let It Flow,
Make Me a Memory, Mr. Grover
(original by Ventrella) and Come
Morning. However, it was “Winelight”
that made Rocco a household name on
Smooth Jazz stations across the
Internet.Winelight track was selected by
Jimi
King(Sky.fm) as one of The BestOf
2005, along with other 14 tracks.
Ventrella continued to create new
recordings featuring his own
compositions, including the soulful and
haunting I Receive Your Love. The
“Tribute To Grover”
and I Receive Your Love CDs brought
Ventrella to the attention of American
producer Bruce Nazarian (he played the
synclavier on the Giving you the best
that I got Anita Baker's CD, Millie Scott,
The Automatix), and an international
alliance was born.
Ventrella's Give Me The Groove CD,
produced by Bruce Nazarian and recorded
with the collaboration of his friend pianist
Renato Falaschi scored Top 20
smooth jazz radio stations with 5 tracks of
the CD: Soulful Strut, Winelight, Alleria,
On The Night and Give Me The Groove.
Ventrella also received positive reviews
from Dave Koz, George Duke, Everette
Harp, Marion Meadows, Chris Standring
and more. Also Soulful Strut track
placed #1 in Jimi King's prestigious 2006
year-end countdown.
Sweet Temptation new single released
on March 2012 and placed #46 on Top
100 of 2012 Groove Jazz Music.com.
On January 2013 released Sweet
Temptation whole CD featuring a nice
and interesting version of Summertime
(G.Gershwin)featuring Everette Harp on
saxophone. Also Paul Brown and Nils on
guitars and Gerry Brown and Sergio
Bellotti on drums are other featured
artists.
Rocco Ventrella was born in Bari, Italy and
began playing saxophone at age of
twelve.
Rocco Ventrella appeared in selected jazz
festivals include the James Brown
Festival in Georgia; the 1° Annual
Smooth Jazz Festival in Austria; the The
Cube Smooth Jazz Festival plus with
Brian Culbertson in Austria; the
Augsburg Smooth Jazz Festival plus
with Gerald Albright , Paul Brown, Jessy J.
in Germany; the Mallorca Smooth Jazz
Festival 2013 plus with Rick Braun; the
“Algarve Smooth Jazz Festival” in
Algarve(Portugal)2018.
Also, Rocco shared stages with most
respected artists such as Peter White,
Marion Meadows, Candy Dulfer, Mindi
Abair, Jessy J., Brian Culbertson, Nick
Colionne, Jackiem Joyner, Nils, Paul
Brown, Gerald Albright, Otto Williams,
Jonathan Fritzen, Eric Darius, Brian
Simpson, Rick Braun, Marc Antoine,
Michael Lington, Dave Koz and more.
Actually Ventrella is a proud endorser of
Yanagisawa Saxophones, Beechler
mouthpiece, Légère reeds and BG France
products(sax strap, ligature and more).
My Jazz Story
The first jazz album I listened to was by Duke Ellington, and I was captivated by the sound of saxophonist Johnny Hodges!
My House Concert Story
I played at 1st Annual Smooth Jazz Festival in Bregenz, Austria; Augsburg Smooth Jazz Festival 2011 Germany; Mallorca Smooth Jazz Festival in Spain 2013; Lago Maggiore Jazz Festival Italy 2015; Algarve Smooth Jazz Festival in Portugal 2018.