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Marco Pignataro
Marco Pignataro is an Italian multi-talented saxophone player, composer, educator, and program director based in Boston. Alongside Danilo Perez, he currently leads the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI), the world premiere jazz center of musical creativity at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Marco has performed extensively across Europe and the Americas in jazz festivals and international music venues, sharing stages and clinics with artists such as Ron Carter, Joe Lovano, Eddie Gomez, Luciana Souza, JoAnne Brakeen, Rufus Reid, John Patitucci, Kenny Werner, Alan Pasqua, George Garzone, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ben Street, Antonio Sanchez, Billy Drummond, Terri Lyne Carrington, Clark Terry, Billy Hart, Ivan Lyns, and Jon Faddis, among others.
His debut CD, 'Sofia's Heart,' was produced by jazz legend Eddie Gomez. His 2018 release, 'Almas Antiguas' (Zoho Music), was selected as one of the best albums of 2019 by Downbeat, which also assigned it a 4.5-star review. 'Almas Antiguas' was featured on CNN en Español and Jazz@Lincoln Center. His song ‘Letter to My Son’ was a finalist in the 2019 International Songwriting Competition. As a sideman, Marco appears in the critically acclaimed CD 'Per Sempre' (BFM Jazz) by the Eddie Gomez Quintet and several other albums.
Marco’s own music is soulful, evocative, and powerful, blending modern jazz with shades of Mediterranean, folk, and Latin influences. His latest projects include 'Passione-Canto Italiano' featuring John Patitucci, Alan Pasqua, Adam Cruz, and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, two recent releases for Zoho Music are Marco Pignataro’s 'Dream Alliance “Awakening”,' featuring Kenny Werner, Nadia Washington, and Devon Gates (April 2022), and 'Chant for Our Planet' featuring Joe Lovano, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, among others (June 2022). Marco's latest project "Va Pensiero" - Symphonic Jazz Explorations of Timeless Italian Arias, featuring symphony orchestra, gospel choir and a jazz quintet led by Marco with Ron Carter on bass, Joe Lovano on woodwinds, Kenny Werner on piano and Ron Savage on drums, premiered at Jordan Hall on November 16, 2024.
Marco Pignataro was the director and founder of the Jazz and Caribbean Music Department and served as the chair of the Jazz Saxophone Department at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. As a dedicated music educator, Marco also participated as a Board Member of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE), served as the President and founder of the IAJE Chapter of Puerto Rico, and worked as faculty in the University of Veracruz International Summer Jazz Seminars. Marco's column, 'Style & Influence,' was regularly featured in the quarterly magazine Jazz Improv. Marco Pignataro served as the Artistic Director for the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival until 2019 and he currently serves as an advisory board member for JazzBoston.
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Marco Pignataro: Almas Antiguas
by Dan Bilawsky
Trying to place the music of saxophonist Marco Pignataro squarely in a single space, musical or otherwise, is a fruitless endeavor. His roots span oceans, his sound draws on myriad sources, and his open approach to influence and association(s) catapults him to another realm entirely. Yet all roads paved by heart and art in tandem tend to lead back to the Mediterranean for this man of passion and purpose. It's in that region, growing in the soil of Pignataro's fatherland, ...
Continue ReadingNew Marco Pignataro album a tribute to 6-year-old daughter with serious heart defect
Source:
Lauren Rogers
The title of saxophonist Marco Pignataro's new album, Sofia's Heart, has a literal meaning. The record is named after Pignataro's 6-year-old daughter Sofia, who is born with a heart defect often linked to children with Down Syndrome like herself. The stress and gripping fear of seeing his young child undergo three open-heart surgeries is felt throughout the record, not only on the mood-drenched title track but on various cuts such as “Homesick," in which Pignataro's saxophone conveys a wounded ache. ...
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Marco Pignataro Launches New Web Site
Source:
Michael Ricci
We're proud to announce the launch of a new jazz web site by saxophonist Marco Pignataro at marcopignataro.net. Here you will find exciting news about Marco's current work in the jazz scene, an updated tour schedule, press photos, educational material by Marco, interesting links, writings, and much more. ABOUT MARCO PIGNATARO Italian saxophonist Marco Pignataro is currently the Managing Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI) a new program designed to foster creativity and musicianship through a variety of ...
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JOE LOVANO
“Mr. Pignataro is one of the most dedicated, passionate and well respected internationally known saxophonist, composer and educator today”
DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE
If jazz is a music of self-expression, it’s only natural that it should include autobiographical elements. Still, it’s not often that an artist presents a narrative as personal and sweeping as what saxophonist Marco Pignataro offers on his second album, Almas Antiguas (Zoho). -
