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Italian American Andrea Centazzo has been for 40 years a bold explorer of contemporary music. In the early 70's he introduced a new concept of percussion playing, migrating from the Free Jazz to a new form of improvised music, defining itself.

In the late 70's, Centazzo was one of the founders of the NY Downtown Music Scene with his seminal collaboration with John Zorn, Tom Corra, Eugene Chadbourne, Toshinori Kondo and others, documented in many albums.

 

In 1976 he established ICTUS Records, one of the first musician operated labels, recording with the top jazz players of the time.

 

Centazzo recorded and played with the most prominent improvisers of the last 30 years mostly part of his groups.Among many: John Zorn, Steve Lacy, Alvin Curran, Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Anthony Coleman, Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Paul Lytton, Paul Lovens, Pierre Favre, Vinnie Golia, Mark Dresser, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Dave Ballou, Gino Robair, Larry Ochs, Giancarlo Schaffini, Henry Kaiser, Elliott Sharp, Fred Frith, Albert Mangellsdorf, Franz Koglmann, Theo Jorgesmmann, Perry Robinson, Kristoph Kaskel, John Carter, Andrew Cirylle, Barry Altschul, Lol Coxhill, ROVA saxophone quartet, LaDonna Smith and many others.

 

Centazzo was one of the “game changers” (Drum Magazine, 2013) that started the solo improvised electro-acoustic percussion concert movement back in the 70s. In 1972 he performed the first solo concert followed in the years by performances all over the world. He presented a solo anthology concert in 2011 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

For 20 years now, Centazzo has been working to create multi-media experiences, combining live music with self created video images, blending traditional instrumentation with the latest music digital technology. His two multimedia solo project Mandala (2005 inspired by the Buddhist Universe) and Eternal Traveler (2007, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci) have been performed both in the States and in Europe.

 

In 2012 he presented 24 concerts in N.Y. for the 35th anniversary of Ictus label performing on digital keyboard and percussion with the top US improvisers including John Zorn.

In 2009 he conducted the John Cage Concerto for Piano and Orchestra featuring Stephen Drury at the Williamsburg Center in NY City in a triple bill featuring also John Zorn and Philip Glass.

 

In 2011, his alma mater, the University of Bologna (Italy) honored him by establishing the “Fondo Centazzo”  section of the University Library, where all his musical works are housed and made available to students, scholars and musicians.

All music copyright by Andrea Centazzo (ASCAP) 2013

All music copyright by Andrea Centazzo (ASCAP) 2013

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