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Gabe Terracciano

A native of Portland, Maine, Gabriel Terracciano has been playing the violin since the age of three. After eight years of strictly classical training, he discovered the jazz violin playing of Joe Venuti, Stuff Smith, and, later on, Zbigniew Seifert, who all changed his musical life (and life in general!) forever. Since then, Gabe has developed into a versatile multi-instrumentalist and a musician who has been recognized for playing the violin “in a way that’s unlike anyone else” (Sam Pfeifle, Portland Phoenix), while “proving himself as an improviser, never overplaying or imitating his predecessors on his instrument” (iTunes official album review for Crunch Time with Ron McClure).

As an improvising string player, Gabe has delved into the fields of modern jazz, Gypsy and hot jazz, Middle Eastern, electronic, pop, bluegrass, and Latin styles, just to name a few! He has played for many years throughout the United States as both a leader and sideman, including multiple performances at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (NYC), part of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He also spent several months during 2014 and 2015 in Ghana, where he played and toured extensively with the Ghanaian National Symphony Orchestra, and toured throughout Costa Rica as a member of the East Eleventh Collective in the summer of 2017.

Gabe is a member of the two time Grammy-award winning Turtle Island String Quartet, and has toured with them throughout the United States. He is also currently a member of several New York-based groups including The Avalon Jazz Band, Cait and the Critters, The Hot Toddies, The Harmolodic String Band, Wet Electric, The International String Trio, and Come Back Shane, in addition to leading his own quartet. He has performed at festivals including the Aspen Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA), and the Freshgrass Festival (North Adams, MA).

Gabe has been the recipient of multiple honors throughout his career. Most recently, he won First Prize in the 2018 Freshgrass Festival Fiddle Contest, and Third Prize in the 2018 Zbigniew Seifert International Jazz Violin Competition (Krakow, Poland). He is the recipient of a 2018 Downbeat Award for Pop/Rock Soloist at the Graduate School Level, and the recipient of the 2018 Barney Josephson Award from NYU for Outstanding Jazz Performance. He was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at UCLA in February 2016, and was also selected to participate in the 2015 and 2014 Savannah Music Festival’s Acoustic Music Seminar as one of only sixteen young musicians worldwide to participate.

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13
Interview

Gabe Terracciano: A Constant State Of Arriving

Read "Gabe Terracciano: A Constant State Of Arriving" reviewed by Ian Patterson


It may seem strange that a jazz violinist should admit to hating jazz violin, but Gabe Terracciano is not your run-of-the-mill jazz violinist. For starters, what other jazz violinist plays Ornette Coleman tunes in a bluegrass band? Nor are there too many jazz violinists who have taken first prize at an old-time fiddle competition, toured Ghana with the Ghanaian National Symphony Orchestra, play punk-salsa, or who improvise on madrigals by Luca Marenzio. Talk about strings to your bow.

9
Album Review

Gabe Terracciano: In Flight

Read "In Flight" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Comes a time when every fledgling must leave the nest. Since making his recorded debut on Ron McClure's Crunchtime (Steeplechase Records, 2012), Portland-born, New York-based Gabe Terracciano has worked in everything from the riotous jazz-filtered bluegrass of the Harmolodic String Band and the groundbreaking chamber iconoclasts Turtle Island Quartet, to the Ghanaian National Symphony Orchestra. With In Flight Terracciano takes the leap with his debut as leader. Heading a line-up of some of New York's finest, Terracciano introduces six original ...

1
Multiple Reviews

The Adventurous Spirit of Red Piano Records

Read "The Adventurous Spirit of Red Piano Records" reviewed by Geno Thackara


There actually isn't a piano to be heard anywhere in this batch, but the season's crop illustrates the ethic of Red Piano Records in some interesting ways nonetheless. The small Brooklyn label specializes in music offbeat enough to require some adventurous ears, comfortably rooted under the jazz umbrella while usually stepping at least one foot somewhere else. Gabe Terracciano In Flight Red Piano Records 2020 Gabe Terracciano's biography informs us that his violin ...

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“Adventurous, but always melodic…Terracciano plays with Joe Venuti’s grace and Zbigniew Seifert’s swagger.” –-Ian Patterson, AllAboutJazz.com (August 9, 2018)
George Jones
percussion
Stuff Smith
violin
Ray Charles
piano and vocals
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto
Miles Davis
trumpet
Bill Frisell
guitar, electric
Jimmy Giuffre
clarinet
Joe Venuti
violin

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Three Part Invention

Ligonia Records
2021

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In Flight

Red Piano Records
2020

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Digga Digga Do

From: The Hot Toddies Jazz Band
By Gabe Terracciano

Videos

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