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Gigi Biolcati, began to play drums at the age of
11. He played with a dance group for 7 years. After studying with
Enrico Lucchini he played blues, funky, soul with Aida Cooper and
pop with Cristiano DeAndre.
He also collaborated with dancer Koffi Koko He went to Africa to
study music and after coming back he collaborated with different
groups suc as: Tendachent, Pino Russo trio, FamilyStyle, Ushi Laar
and Alboran Trio.
Double-bass and Bass-guitar player, comes to the
scene as a professional musician way back in 1985. Following a long
experience as a bassguitar-player matured in the multi-faceted world
of modern music (pop, rock, ethnic, blues, latin etc.), he makes
himself known to a number of musicians with several artistic tendencies.
Through the study of Classical Music, he gets familiar
with the double-bass. Successively, the inner urge to express himself
through improvisation,leads to his "discovery" of Jazz. Since then
non-stop jazz activity has seen him a much sought-after artist for
many musicians both from the lively Italian jazz-mine and the international
jazz-set; among them are
PIETRO TONOLO, EMANUELE CISI, ANTONIO FARAO', MARIO
RUSCA, RICCARDO ZEGNA, PAOLO BIRRO, GIANNI BASSO, CARLO SOLA, ENRICO
RAVA, GABRIELE MIRABASSI, TIZIANA GHIGLIONI, FRANCESCA OLIVIERI,
FLAVIO BOLTRO, FRANCO CERRI, BOB BONISOLO, HAL STEIN, TONY CASTELLANO,
BOB MOVER, DICK ECKSTALLE SMITH, BARNEY KESSEL, JIMMY COBB, RAY
MANTILLA, TOMMY CAMPBELL, SKIP HADDEN, GARRISON FEWELL,MANHU ROCHE,FLORENCE
FOUCARDE.
At present he's the resident bass-player with the
Gianni Coscia Trio (ECM), the Claudio Fasoli Quartet, The trio with
the american Harpist Park Stickney and the french drummer Manhu
Roche and the european Trio of the american guitarist Garrison Fewell.
With this Trio he has taken part to the Montreux
Jazz Festival in 1998 and 1999. The trio has often accompanied live
performances of the British singer Norma Winstone.
A large number of televsion appearances for RAI
and MEDIASET add up to his experience accompanying many pop artists
like Elisa, the Matia Bazar, Elio e le storie tese, Enrico Ruggeri,
Renato Zero, Anggunn etc.
From 1987 to 1999 has carried out teaching activities
at the Centro Jazz in Turin . He had also made many jazz improvisation
and bass class in european conservatory in Barcellona, Saragoza,
Geneve, Munich, London, Perugia, Ivrea.
"With the Alboran Trio's debut album, Meltemi,
the label has struck European piano trio gold again - and with something
very different from EST. Dark Scandinavian nights are out; bright
Mediterranean days are in.
The album, which was collectively produced by the
trio, is infused throughout with warm sunlight and the smell of
orange groves, mint tea and kif.
The Alboran Trio takes its name from the narrow
stretch of water which connects Europe and Africa around the Straits
of Gibraltar, long a conduit of cultural exchange.
Pianist and composer Paolo Paliaga, who formed the
group with fellow Italians Dino Contenti (bass) and Gigi Biolcati
(drums) in '03, consciously set out to draw on musical traditions
from all around the Mediterranean.
Meltemi has one foot in the Bill Evans piano trio
lineage, the other dancing nimbly between Latin, Maghrebi and Balkan
influences. The music rarely breaks into clearly delineated multiculturalism
- it's more subtle and elliptical than that - but it's shot through
with fragments and suggestions of Mediterranean harmonies and rhythms.
Paliaga's tunes are sunny and often very pretty,
but the trio is really more about collective improvisation. Piano
and bass are equal partners in the front line, and Contenti's rich,
singing and slyly dissonant lines dominate some of the most compelling
passages.
Biolcati approaches the drums rather like a young
Paul Motian, rarely breaking into straight timekeeping, instead
preferring to colour and texture the collective momentum.
All three players are lyrical, quirky and rhythmically
engaged. The Alboran Trio may just be too complex and sophisticated
to score as big a commercial success as EST, but it's a fresh presence
in piano trio music. Chris May, All about jazz - July 2006 (UK)
An absolute standout and my jazz track of the year
is 'Balkan Air' Independent on sunday - July 2006 (UK) The acoustic
piano trio is a crowded specialism - but now and again a group such
as Tord Gustavsen's springs to success from nowhere. Here's a delightful
Italian trio led by the pianist and composer Paolo Paliaga whose
melodic, romantic playing recalls the Keith Jarrett group that created
My Song. The most immediate piece, the irresistible groove of Balkan
Air, is propelled by the lyrical double bass of Dino Contenti. But
generally they are more contemplative, setting up a series of intimate
instrumental conversations. Not everything works: Duende, despite
a dramatic bass solo, sounds like a group improvisation that never
quite focuses. Still, I was alternating listening to Meltemi with
Brad Mehldau's House on Hill, and I know which I'll be taking on
holiday.
John Buggey, The Times - July 2006 (UK)
This CD takes its title from the Meltemi, the northern
winds which blow from the Balkans down across the Greek Islands
during the summer - the imagery of flowing currents of air and sea
is, again, entirely apt for the fluid, interactive music played
by Paliaga and his colleagues. Both Contenti and Bolcati are excellent
musicians; they are responsive listeners and initiators of musical
ideas. Save for the last track - Fiorenzo Carpi's theme for the
1971 film Le Avventure di Pinocchio - all the material is composed
by Paliaga and while he is clearly the leader, it should be stressed
how much this is a trio recording. Rhythmically subtle and various,
there are moments of straight jazz swing; there are passages of
flamenco-inspired energy and there are distinct African inflections
here and there -doubtless reflecting the time that Gigi Biolcati
spent working with Koffi Kokò, a dancer from Benin, and travelling
in Africa This beautifully recorded CD is a delight from beginning
to end. It would be pointless to single out any particular tracks.
I played it straight through twice more after my first hearing.
Highly recommended.
Glyn Pursglove - Music Web International - 2006 (UK)
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