Francesco Bigoni

Born in Ferrara, Italy, 1982. With an early interest injazz, he takes his first clarinet and saxophone lessons in Ferrara. He attends masterclasses held by Steve Lacy (1998) and Andy Sheppard (2000). He attends the international summer jazz workshops in Siena, Italy. After the 2001 edition he has been granteda scholarship for the 13th IASJ meeting in Helsinki (2002).He plays with Enrico Rava's “Under 21” quintet between 2004 and 2005.He attends the Permanent Workshop held by Stefano Battaglia in Siena from 2004 to 2008. He also starts playing in his Theatrum groups, and in the Outvestigation quartet (since 2007).He's a member of El Gallo Rojo (www.elgallorojorecords.com) label/collective since 2005. Inside the collective, he takes part in various projects, well represented in festivals; he produces about 20records; he organizes a meeting of creative music collectives in Massa Lombarda (RA).In 2006-2007 he writes and performs live music for the play “Metallo”, written and performed by Emiliano Pergolari and Michele Bandini and produced by Teatro Stabile dell'Umbria.In 2007 he joins the band Houdini's Cage, making the album Memories Of A Barberafter an Italian tour. The record is released by El Gallo Rojo, and marks the beginning of his friendship with Greg Cohen. In 2008 he is invited by the American bass player to join his new band Argus, that plays its premiere at Polis Jadran Europa Festival in Pula.He has been working for the internet jazz review All About Jazz –Italy (italia.allaboutjazz.com).He played in Austria, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Slovenia, USA.He played in these venues (among others): Jazzfestival Saalfelden, Bergamo Jazz, Clusone Jazz, Umbria Jazz, Angelica Festival -Bologna, Musicus Concentus -Firenze, Crossroads -Emilia Romagna, The Stone -New York, Nublu -New York, Zebulon -New York, Scuola Popolare di Musica Ivan Illich -Bologna, Auditorium Parco della Musica -Roma, El Garda Rojo -Garda (VR), Lent Festival -Maribor (Slovenia), Piacenza Jazz Fest, Casa del Jazz -Roma, Jazz Club Torrione -Ferrara, Young Jazz In Town -Foligno (PG), Umbria Jazz Winter, Reggio Calabria Top Jazz Festival, Metastasio Jazz -Prato, Polis Jadran Europa Festival -Pola (Croazia), Centro d'Arte -Padova, Berchidda Time In Jazz.He also played with the likes of: Ralph Alessi, Francesco Bearzatti, Luciano Biondini, Domenico Caliri, Tommaso Cappellato, Anthony Coleman, Daniele D'Agaro, Franco Dal Monego, Mark De Clive-Lowe, Amy Denio, Alessandro Fedrigo, Johannes Fink, Paolo Fresu, Ronny Graupe, Michael Griener, Gerhard Gschloessl, Simone Guiducci, Ulrich Gumpert, Curtis Hasselbring, Tristan Honsinger, Briggan Krauss, Kruno Levacic, Christian Lillinger, Joao Lobo, Gary Lucas, Jessica Lurie, Giovanni Maier, Giorgio Pacorig, Jan Roder, Chris Speed, Ares Tavolazzi.

His current projects areOn Dog (withPiero Bittolo Bon, Beppe Scardino, Marc Lohr e Mark Solborg), Headless Cat (with Antonio Borghini and Federico Scettri), Osmiza (with Danilo Gallo and Aljosa Jeric), Houdini's Cage (with Enrico Terragnoli, Greg Cohen and Zeno De Rossi). He currently works with Zeno De Rossi Shtik, Gianluca Petrella Cosmic Band, Greg Cohen's Argus, Beppe Scardino Orange Room, Giulio Corini Libero Motu, Nelide Bandello Leibniz, Andrea Lombardini Broken Band, Stefano Battaglia Outvestigation, Francesco Diodati Neko, Antonio Borghini Malebranche, Emanuele Maniscalco Quartetto, Enrico Terragnoli Orchestra Vertical, among others.