Bruno Tommaso

Born in 1946, this Roman bassist (not to be confused with Giovanni Tommaso, his cousin and also a bassist with Enrico Rava, among others) is now a key figure on the Italian scene; his work has ranged from medieval and contemporary music to jazz. He's among the founders of the important popular school of music in the Testaccio neighborhood of Rome, and was the first president of the Italian Association of Jazz Musicians. His influence can be detected in most of the more interesting musical projects in Italy during the last 20 years. He's an outstanding composer — compositions include 12 variations on a theme by Jerome Kern and soundtracks for Steamboat Bill Jr. by Buster Keaton — and arranger: he arranged opera arias for Enrico Rava in Rava L'Opera Va and Carmen (label Bleu, 1993 and 1995) and for Gianluigi Trovesi in Small Fairy Tales (Soul Note, 2001). Tommaso is a founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra which he subsequently left, maintaining, however, a friendly and cooperative relationship; he still occasionally conducts the orchestra's performance of his pieces ("I Virtuosi di Noci" on Live in Noci Leo 1995, and "Il Maestro Muratore" on Skies of Europe ECM). Tommaso is the most in-demand conductor and arranger of Italian jazz, but is also a committed improviser in the seminal Gruppo Romano Free Jazz. His discography as a leader does not do full justice to his musical output, but Meditango (Onyx Jazz Club of Matera, 1998) and the suite for improvising soloists and orchestra Nux Erat (CMC, 1994), with Pino Minafra, Gianluigi Trovesi, and Evan Parker may give an idea of the scope of his interests. In Il Diritto e il Rovescio (Siena Jazz, 1996), Tommaso used texts including the writings of judges Falcone and Borsellino, killed in Sicily by Cosa Nostra for their activity against crime. He teaches at the Naples Conservatory, where he created a jazz orchestra featuring vocalist Maria Pia De Vito (Oltre Napoli la Notte, Dischi della Quercia, 2000) and he's to be found in Italy wherever jazz, in the broadest sense of the word, is performed or taught.