Albenga Jazz Festival

2025 edition

The thirteenth edition of the Albenga Jazz Festival will take place from 24 to 27 August , featuring a rich programme that includes:

- Three evenings of great music in the evocative Piazza San Michele
- Four afternoon appointments between Piazza San Domenico and the Ester Siccardi Cloisters
- Three morning events at the Mondadori bookstore

The Festival preview, organized in collaboration with the VALLINMUSICA association, will once again showcase the magnificent Serassi organ, a symbol of artistic excellence and tradition. The Festival will open on the afternoon of August 24th with the Giuseppe Verdi Band performing a completely new repertoire, as is tradition.

The morning presentations at the Mondadori bookstore will feature Umberto Germinale and Guido Michelone, well-known faces on the jazz scene. The presentations will be enriched by readings by the COSAVUOICHETILEGGA aps association.

Afternoon events:

• August 25: The EVO PROJECT quartet in Piazza San Domenico
• August 26th: Swing show with a group of dancers, followed by Maestro Giacomo Moretto and the sounds of Yurierre Deejay
• August 27: A quartet of French itinerant musicians will liven up the historic center and the city streets.

Evening events in Piazza San Michele:

• First evening: performance by the young and promising Rapalline Jazz Band, directed by Maestro Riccardo Zegna with the collaboration of Maestro Corrado Trabuio and the participation of prestigious guest soloists
• Second evening: Artistic Director Alessandro Collina returns to the stage with the Travel Collective project.
• Final evening (August 27th): performance by the band Big Pulse, who will conclude the festival with energy and rhythm

The complete program

Thursday, August 7th

9:15 PM PREVIEW (St. Michael's Cathedral)
Event organized in collaboration with the Vallinmusica association

CARLO BENATTI, born in Mantua, graduated with full marks from the "Lucio Campiani" Conservatory of Music in Piano, Organ, Gregorian Chant and Organ Composition, Choral Music and Choral Conducting, Vocal Chamber Music for the lieder repertoire on the piano.
His extensive training has allowed him to perform extensively, performing throughout the world. His organ repertoire ranges from 1700 to contemporary works.

Particularly interested in 19th-century Italian organ music, he is an eclectic and refined interpreter, giving voice to prized instruments from the Serassi, Lingiardi, Vegezzi-Bossi, Callido, and Agati organ manufacturers. He has brought to light, including by transcribing manuscripts, several important compositions by unpublished composers. He has published works with leading music publishers.

Sunday, August 24th

5:30 PM Piazza San Domenico
Giuseppe Verdi Band
Guests: Gianpaolo Casati and Roberto Moretti

The Giuseppe Verdi Band's concert has become a regular fixture at the Albenga Jazz Festival, featuring a different set of guests and repertoire each year. This year, too, internationally renowned Italian soloists such as Gianpaolo Casati (trumpet) and Roberto Moretti (baritone saxophone) are scheduled to perform.

This musical choice stems from the intention of the Le Rapalline in Jazz APS association to make this Festival increasingly a container of events linked to the diverse and important cultural realities of the Ingauno area.

Monday, August 25

11.00 am
Mondadori Bookstore
In collaboration with COSAVUOICHETILEGGA
Presentation of Umberto Germinale's book "Around me...jazz" by Professor Giannino Balbis.

The entire "world" of Umberto Germinale in a single volume. A passionate—and slightly nostalgic—autobiography of music, filled with friendships and concerts, encounters and anecdotes, held together by photography. Two loves, jazz and photography, sharing a single common thread. This, in a nutshell, is "Around me... Jazz." In his photographs, Umberto seeks the soul of musicians, original, authentic moments, nuances, shadows, reflections. He is discreet, but demanding, as musicians know. He shoots, seeking out different, unconventional images. There are the moods, atmospheres, and inspirations of jazz, the moments backstage, the seconds before going on stage, the intimacy of rehearsals, live performances, the hustle and bustle of venues. They are "infinite moments," rarefied and precious, which in these pages intertwine with the narrative of experiences, memories, connections, and the local area. And with the poetry of Jazz, as in a sorrowful ballad blown by Dexter Gordon.

(Text taken from a review by dear friend Marco Scolesi)

6:00 PM - afternoon, Piazza San Domenico
EVO PROJECT
Edoardo Vruna (Keyboards/Vocoder)
Simone Giuffra (Drums)
Federico Fugassa (Bass)
Matteo Maffezzoli (Guitar)

This band's sound is a perfect blend of funk, jazz, soul, and fusion, typical of artists like Herbie Hancock, Frank McComb, Idris Muhammad, and Harvey Mason. They also utilize the vocoder, an instrument seemingly relegated to more electronic genres but which finds a unique place in this musical context.

9:30 PM - evening
Rapalline Jazz Band
After last year's debut on the stage in Piazza San Domenico and numerous rehearsals held between Genoa and Albenga, our youth orchestra is finally ready for the "big stage."

This ambitious project was realized by our association thanks to the crucial collaboration of Maestro Riccardo Zegna, who, in addition to being a great pianist, is also a renowned composer, arranger, and teacher. He continues to provide young people with his experience as a big band director, using both compositions and arrangements by great jazz musicians and his own original compositions and arrangements.

Also of fundamental importance was the work of Maestro Corrado Trabuio, who, with great precision and preparation, oversaw the transcription of the repertoire specifically created by Zegna for the orchestra.

GUEST SOLOISTS:
Gianpaolo Casati: trumpet
Cesare Mecca: trumpet
Lorenzo Milanese: voice
Maria Grazia Scarzella: vocals
Lorenza Giusiano: voice
Cristina Meschia: voice
Chantal Saroldi: vocals

Tuesday, August 26

11.00 am - morning
Mondadori Bookstore in collaboration with WHAT YOU WANT TO READ.
Presentation of the book "The Professions of Jazz" edited by Andrea Anfossi

GUIDO MICHELONE
“The Professions of Jazz”

There are those who play jazz: they create it, improvise it, write about it, perform it on record, in concert, or on social media. But there are also those who record jazz, curate it, disseminate it, study it, analyze it, photograph it, describe it, teach it, paint it, criticize it, film it, narrate it, organize festivals and events, and mix it with different expressive languages: these are the ones who practice "jazz professions." Without these professions, jazz would not exist; or rather, it would remain folklore, amateurism, and the Carbonari. Thus, there exists a macrocosm of professions "of" and "on," "for" and "with" jazz, which often remain under-recognized. These professions often involve jazz musicians themselves, who in Italy sometimes also become journalists, teachers, entrepreneurs, reporters, record producers, managers, and directors of various initiatives, or even well-rounded artists in seemingly unrelated fields such as film, painting, fiction, poetry, and theater. Jazz and the Crafts is a slice of reality, or rather a story within the history of jazz.

5:00 PM - Afternoon at the Ester Siccardi Cloisters
Yurierre and Swing Patch

Discover the rousing rhythm of Lindy Hop with Swing Patch, a journey through the swing dances of the 1930s and 1940s, where the energy of music meets the magic of partner dancing.

We look forward to seeing you both to admire the dancers in their colorful costumes and to actively participate, letting yourselves be carried away by the captivating rhythm. Giacomo will be available to answer any questions or concerns you may have about this captivating couple's dance.

Event curated by Giacomo Moretto, dance teacher at the Riva Dance Academy, and Yurierre, DJ and music producer, who, after having played us something from his repertoire, will accompany the dancers to the rhythm of swing.

9:30 PM - evening
Travel Collective
Marco Vezzoso - trumpet
Alessandro Collina - piano
Dominique Di Piazza - bass
Andrea Marchesini - drums
Nihar Mehta - tabla
Nazim Kri - guitar
GUEST: Roberta Monterosso

It all began with a project by Marco Vezzoso and Alessandro Collina, a highly active Franco-Italian duo on trumpet and piano, who created a collective of artists from around the world. This project culminated in an album (New Way), which brings together nine original tracks written by Vezzoso and Collina. The album aims to capture the atmospheres of the various cities where the duo has performed in recent years, offering a new, stylistically unrestricted interpretation of instrumental music. Travel, a project born later in the wake of the success of their first album, was recorded with the collaboration of Trilok Gurtu and Dominique Di Piazza.

Marco Vezzoso and Alessandro Collina have released six albums, performed numerous concerts in France and Italy, and performed several international tours.

In 2020, they released "Italian Spirit." The duo then became a trio, with the addition of percussionist Andrea Marchesini. The trio presented the album live via streaming for the Tokyo audience and subsequently released the album "Kind of Vasco."

The collective taking the stage at the Albenga Jazz Festival, in addition to Collina, Vezzoso, and Marchesini, will also feature internationally renowned artists such as Dominique Di Piazza. Nihar Mehta and Nazim Kri will also be featured. The sextet is enhanced by the enchanting voice of Roberta Monterosso.

Wednesday, August 27

11.00 am - morning
Mondadori Bookstore in collaboration with WHAT YOU WANT TO READ.
Presentation of the book CASA MIA SONO IO by Renato Collodoro edited by Alessandro Collina Renato Collodoro, restaurateur, writer and benefactor.

The author explores themes of memory, identity, and a sense of belonging through a story of emigration from Southern Italy to Turin in the 1970s. With flashbacks and lively dialogue, the story explores profound emotions, the weight of time, and irremediably transformed identities.

Despite the profound themes it addresses—nostalgia, the challenges of integration, and a sense of identity—"My Home Is Me" is a light and engaging tale, enriched with ironic and humorous anecdotes that convey the authentic flavor of a childhood spent playing street games, adventuring in the neighborhood, and experiencing small, important rites of passage. Proceeds from the book's sales contribute to humanitarian projects in Madagascar.

6:00 PM - Afternoon at the Ester Siccardi Cloisters
NOLA FRENCH QUARTET

A nonconformist band, heirs to the first New Orleans brass bands, both static and touring, Nola revisits the great classics of French song, from VRP to Dutronc, from Trénet to Gainsbourg. Using a Creole blender and enriching it with a healthy dose of New Orleans jazz standards, Nola delivers a festive set reminiscent of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street in the throes of street swing!

9:30 PM - evening
Big Pulse
Michele Polga: saxophone
Ivan Farmakovskiy: piano
Lorenzo Conte: double bass
Pasquale Fiore: drums

BIG PULSE is an ensemble of leading musicians in the contemporary jazz scene. The quartet blends elements of modern jazz with classical and contemporary influences, creating a distinctive sound. They aim to explore new musical horizons through improvisation and original composition. Their mission is to create a profound connection with their audience, conveying emotion through their music. Their repertoire includes original compositions and arrangements of classic jazz pieces, with a particular focus on sonic innovation and experimentation.