Jazz Articles about Francesco Cafiso

Francesco Cafiso - Dino Rubino: Travel Dialogues

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 29, 2010

Mettete in preventivo più di un ascolto per cogliere pienamente i significati di Travel Dialogues, la registrazione prodotta dal duo - affiatato e dalla grande empatia - composto da Francesco Cafiso e Dino Rubino. Il loro è un dialogo che si sviluppa attraverso la rilettura di standard dalla profonda intensità espressiva, come l'iniziale “Moonlight Serenade," e break improvvisativi che rendono l'intero lavoro scorrevole e mai scontato. Un album messo a punto attraverso molti concerti che Rubino e Cafiso hanno affrontato ...

Francesco Cafiso Quartet: Angelica

by Dan McClenaghan
January 12, 2010

Angelica claims a spot as a superior quartet set--alto saxophone and a rhythm section--right at the very beginning, not with the Duke Ellington-penned title tune, but with a Billy Strayhorn gem, “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing." Italian saxophonist and jazz prodigy, Francesco Cafiso--just nineteen years old at the time this music was laid down--ignores the “never open with a ballad advice," proving you can't always let conventional wisdom twist your arm. It's a wonderful, tender exploration of the familiar ...

Francesco Cafiso: Angelica

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 13, 2009

Angelica, registrato in studio a New York nel settembre 2008, conferma in gran parte le impressioni tratte dalle recenti apparizioni concertistiche del contraltista siciliano, ossia che appare maturato sotto diversi aspetti. Innanzi tutto, come compositore: i suoi brani, alternati a standard di Ellington, Strayhorn, Silver e Rollins, presentano prevalentemente linee lunghe e pigre, in grado di innescare progressioni circolari, vagamente indeterminate. Si ascoltino a tale proposito “Scent of Sicily" e “Waiting for". Appunto su questi ritmi da ballad, meditativi e ...

Francesco Cafiso: Portrait in Black and White

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 18, 2009

In un'Italia sempre più vecchia e poco incline a far spazio ai giovani, un talento precoce come Francesco Cafiso ha suscitato sorpresa, attenzione (soprattutto dai dai mass media, pronti a etichettare il giovane prodigio di turno) e diffusi riconoscimenti dal pubblico e dalla critica. Non sono mancati atteggiamenti di diffidenza, accentuati dal patronage di Wynton Marsalis, che ha fatto sospettare una deriva conservatrice, o neo-classicista che dir si voglia. Giunto alla soglia dei venti anni il sassofonista ragusano dimostra in ...

Francesco Cafiso: New York Lullaby

by Samuel Chell
August 4, 2007

Yes, he is that good. Or was, on the occasion of this 2005 session, which features the fifteen-year-old native Sicilian saxophonist making his American recording debut accompanied by a crack New York rhythm section. Although it's common to hear rueful expressions about what a Charlie Parker or Clifford Brown might have accomplished had they lived longer, a player as precocious as Francesco Cafiso reminds us of the challenges facing an artist who appears to “be there already, yet has a ...

Francesco Cafiso: Happy Time & Jazz Italiano Live 2006

by Ken Dryden
June 3, 2007

Veteran jazz writer Ira Gitler recognized the immense talent of a then 13-year-old alto saxophonist named Francesco Cafiso upon hearing him at the 2002 Pescara Jazz Festival, writing a glowing article for the Jazz Journalist Association newsletter. Cafiso attended the 2004 International Association for Jazz Education conference in New York, jamming nightly with pianist James Williams, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Ben Riley, providing convincing proof to packed audiences that Gitler was accurate in his assessment. Since that time, Cafiso ...

Francesco Cafiso Quartet: Happy Time

by Martin Gladu
February 11, 2007

Many names come to mind as convenient references for precocious jazz talents: Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, the Marsalises, Bireli Lagrène, Roy Hargrove, etc. With Happy Time Sicilian-born Francesco Cafiso (born in 1989) earns his place amongst such once-profiled wunderkinds.

Having won, among many competitions, the International Massimo Urbani Award at age eleven and the EuroJazz Competition at age thirteen, he has also garnered the attention and support of Italy's principal festival organizers and international musicians alike. Even Wynton Marsalis, who ...