.: Umberto Petrin Italian Jazz Pianist :.

BEUYS VOICE PROJECT READ

CHLEBNIKOV PROJECT READ

UMBERTO PETRIN - He was born in 1960. From the age of twelve he devotes himself to the piano and he gets a diploma. From the age of 18 he takes a great interest in contemporary poetry and begins a long lasting contribution to literary reviews winning several prizes and reaching the final in numerous poetry competitions. He becomes editor or permanent member of the staff of some important reviews like TAMTAM, TRACCE, ANTEREM, POST SCRIPTUM etc. In 1984 he starts playing jazz and forms his own trio. From 1986 he intensifies his music activities with the creation of a quartet and furthermore he plays occasionally in the Rai's Big Band in Milan. In 1989 he gets a call from Tiziana Ghiglioni's group.
He also forrns a duo with the trumpet player Guido Mazzon. He tries to play free jazz and works on a project which ventures to mix improvised music and poetry. This project is attempted with the collaboration of one of the greatest Italian poets: Luigi Pasotelli. Umberto Petrin employs the most current music styles and performs with leading figures such as Steve Lacy, Paul Lovens, Paul Rutheford. He records other cds with Ghiglioni, Enrico Rava, Gianluigi Trovesi, Giancarlo Schiaffini and Mazzon. His albums get very favourable reviews from the critics and he ends up between the ten best Italians musicians according to different editions of the opinion survey 'Top Jazz". He begins to work with Lee Konitz and goes in concert and records albums with the latter.

In 1997 in the place which was of G. Gaslini, Umberto Petrin becomes a part of the most prestigious Italian Band: the Italian Instabile Orchestra. He goes solo and with the poet Amiri Baraka's (Le Roi Jones) permission, he records a cd with Thelonious Monk's compositions. From 1999 he collaborates with poet Stefano Benni and from 2001 with actor Giuseppe Cederna.In 2000 he met and plaid several times with Taylor during the joint concerts of Taylor and Italian Instabile Orchestra.In 2003 he released a CD called “Particles” in which he performs besides some of his original compositions, unreleasd themes by Cecil Taylor. Umberto Petrin pleied in main international festival, in Europe, in U.S.A., in Canada, in Japan. He has plaid in over 40 recordings and plaid both live and in studio with great musicians such as Lester Bowie, Steve Lacy, Paul Lovens, Paul Rutherford, Enrico Rava, Lee Konitz, Robbie Robertson, Paolo Fresu, Willem Breuker, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Marc Ducret, Yves Robert, Evan Parker, Michel Godard, Cecil Taylor, Antonello Salis, Renato Borghetti, Gianni Coscia, Gianluigi Trovesi, Michael Moore, Tim Berne, Italian Instabile Orchestra.

In 2004 the meeting with writer Lucrezia De Domizio Durini, who also manages important worldwide events and has a deep knowledge of Joseph Beuys' thinking, give birth to a performance where the piano merges with footages of Beuys and some recordings of his voice. The event is premieried in Naples, Punta Camapnella, at the first edition of the Holotopia Festival, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Beuys' "Defense of Nature". The concert is replicated several times in museums and theatres. On that same occasion, Petrin joins a happening together with other artists and composers such as Phill Niblock and Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta.
In september 2004, Petrin performs live with saxophonist Tim Berne at the S. Anna Arresi Festival.

In 2005 with to the writer Paul Nori it constructs a récital on the futurist poet Russian Velimir Chlebnikov. The récital it comes represented in "before" to Milan, with musics originates them of the same Petrin. With to the Unstable Orchestra it completes tournées in Turkey and England. It records with to Gianluigi Trovesi a cd for prestigious label ECM. They continue the retorts of happening of the homage to Monk with Stefano Benni. The dvd exits published from Feltrinelli publisher and the récital it comes demanded also in France, Germany, England. In January 2006 it is ideatore of a convention on the "Thought of Music" near the "Place of the intentional Nature" from Lucrezia De Domizio Durini and Harald Szeemann to Bolognano, near Pescara. To the convention philosophers participate, scientific artists, investigators, writers.

He has recorded over 40 records and colalborated with: Lester Bowie, Cecil Taylor, Tim Berne, Steve Lacy, Paul Lovens, Paul Rutherford, Enrico Rava, Lee Konitz, Robbie Robertson, Paolo Fresu, Michael Moore, Willem Breuker, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Marc Ducret, Yves Robert, Evan Parker, Michel Godard, Assif Tsahar, Antonello Salis, Renato Borghetti, Gianni Coscia, Gianluigi Trovesi, Italian Instabile Orchestra.