Check out a wonderful and very detailed review of the Sicilian Jazz Project
here.
The Sicilian Jazz Project has been dazzling audiences since its debut at the
2004 Distillery Jazz Festival in Toronto, and with it’s intriguing mix of
Sicilian folk source material and the best elements of modern jazz, it is a
group like no other.
The Sicilian Jazz Project live in Halifax, July 17, 2008
The Sulphur Miner
Vitti 'na crozza
The newest project put together by 2008 JUNO Award nominee Michael Occhipinti, The ensemble features some of Canada’s finest musicians, including Roberto Occhipinti on bass, Ernie Tollar on flute/saxophones, Dominic Mancuso on vocals and guitar, Kevin Turcotte on trumpet, Louis Simao on accordion, Barry Romberg on drums, and Michael Occhipinti on acoustic and electric guitars, with vocalist Maryem Tollar, violinist Hugh Marsh and a string quartet all featured on the group’s new CD as well. As with his Juno Award nominated CD Creation Dream, which explored the songs of Bruce Cockburn from a jazz musician’s point of view, The Sicilian Jazz Project has Michael reshaping the traditional folk music of Sicily.
In 1954 ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax toured Sicily, recording traditional folk music performed by diverse individuals including sulfur miners, tuna fishermen, a donkey cart driver, and assorted peasants and folk entertainers. Many of these raw field recordings form the basis of The Sicilian Jazz Project’s repertoire, along with traditional dances and ballads gleaned from Michael and Roberto’s cousins in Sicily. As the band’s arranger, Michael Occhipinti has reinvented the music in imaginative ways that nevertheless capture the original emotions behind the songs and the result is a passionate instrumental and vocal repertoire that makes reference to many genres and resonates with listeners.
The talented individuals who make up the group have experience in jazz, classical, Arabic, Cuban, Brazilian, and Italian popular music. In inventing new ways of experiencing the source music, Michael uses the eclecticism of the ensemble as a great asset and freely blends Sicilian music with global rhythms and a variety of modern approaches to the music. Michael also incorporates his own unabashed love of electric guitar sounds.
Michael Occhipinti released The Sicilian Jazz Project in Canada in June of 2008, and the group’s Canadian festival tour yielded many stellar reviews. The CD will be released worldwide in early 2009, and Michael and the group have already been invited to perform in Italy, Australia, Mexico, and the United States.
"The Sicilian Jazz Project is an astonishingly salient new sound in the jazz spectrum"
Stephen Pedersen – Halifax Chronicle Herald
"Occhipinti’s re-imaginings don’t sound like pure Sicilian music, nor are they intended to. Instead, they’re the sound of a musician who knows where he came from and where he’s going – and that’s a beautiful thing."
Alex Vary - The Georgia Straight (Vancouver)
"Michael Occhipinti's Sicilian Jazz Project was a winning sextet with exotic ethno-musical influences from Sicily and the Mediterranean stitched to contemporary jazz inventions, rousing a Thursday crowd at the Yardbird. With Occhipinti's wonderful arrangements, it was beautifully rendered with the soulful vocal of Dominic Mancuso and a band of Toronto's best (including trumpeter Kevin Turcotte and drummer Barry Romberg). Sicilian yes, but ultimately Canadian."
Roger Levesque – Edmonton Journal
The Sicilian Jazz Project - Member Profiles
Michael Occhipinti - guitarist and arranger A seven-time Juno Award
nominee for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, guitarist/composer Michael
Occhipinti’s modern and eclectic approach to jazz and creative music of all
kinds has earned him a broad array of listeners and the respect of critics and
musicians alike. As a leader of the acclaimed jazz orchestra NOJO, his own
quintet, and The Sicilian Project, Michael has established himself as an
inventive composer and arranger, and his recording Creation Dream – The Songs
of Bruce Cockburn remains a favourite instrumental jazz recording among
critics and fans. Chasing After Light, Michael’s 2008 JUNO nominated recording, features
the same stellar quintet of musicians heard on Creation Dream. This new
recording departs from the songs of Bruce Cockburn by showcasing Michael’s
original compositions and by showing off a broad palette of guitar sounds,
including a particularly impassioned solo that one critic praised as “face
melting.” Blending a variety of folk sounds (Cuban music, African blues, and a
beautiful Bruce Cockburn inspired acoustic guitar composition) with a modern
melodic approach to jazz improvisation, Chasing After Light was recently
praised bythe CBC’s Errol Nazereth as one of the best jazz recordings of 2007.
Michael Occhipinti is now busy arranging new music for the Sicilian Project,
which has just completed its debut recording.
Roberto Occhipinti - bass Rare is the bassist who
steps forward to lead his own ensemble. Rarer still is the bandleader who
successfully bridges the worlds of jazz and classical music. Roberto Occhipinti
clearly belongs to that rare breed. On his first album, 2001’s Trinacria,
Occhipinti explored the range of Latin jazz. His followup album, 2003’s The
Cusp, expanded on the concept, adding violin, flutes, reeds and horns
while tackling composers as diverse as Wayne Shorter, Jimi Hendrix and Giacomo
Puccini. On his most recent release Yemaya, Occhipinti has given full
flight to his musical vision, employing horns and a full string symphony
orchestra on classical arrangements of Cuban, Brazilian and original jazz
pieces.
Born in Toronto of Sicilian ancestry, Occhipinti has long straddled the worlds
of jazz and classical music. He has been a member of the Winnipeg Symphony,
Hamilton Philharmonic and Canadian Opera Company orchestras. Meanwhile,
Occhipinti has toured and recorded with Jane Bunnett, including the Juno Award
winning Ritmo and Soul and the Grammy nominated Alma de Santiago.
At the same time, he has recorded a number of albums with pianist Hilario
Durán, including the Juno Award winning New Danzon, which the bassist
also produced. Occhipinti has skillfully married his classical training with
his abiding passion for jazz and world music. In doing so, he has set himself
apart as an innovator, as well as one of Canada’s most versatile and
adventurous musicians.
Dominc Mancuso – vocals Canadian born vocalist
Dominic Mancuso has been exploring his Sicilian roots for many years, and has
performed at music festivals throughout Italy, while at the same time building
a successful career for himself in his native Toronto as an English language
performer and composer. Comfortable singing in the older dialects that make up
much of Sicily’s folk music, Dominic has also delved deeply into the work of
Italy’s contemporary songwriters, and hi s mastery of this music will be
showcased on a new CD he has just finished recording. Dominic Mancuso is also
involved in creating innovative multi-media concerts featuring the real-time
projected visual work of his painter brother Vincent Mancuso, and the Mancuso
brothers’ unique presetation of music and visual art will be featured at the
2007 Nuit Blanche in Toronto.
Barry Romberg – drums Barry Romberg is a most
compelling and singular musical voice in Canadian jazz. His unique drumming has
propelled the likes of Gil Evans, Hank Jones, Joe Henderson, Ritchie Bierach,
NOJO with Don Byron & Sam Rivers, George Garzone, Joanne Brackeen, Rick
Margitza and Mark Turner to mention but a few.
As a leader Barry’s projects have continually striven to push the boundaries of
improvised music. Whether it be the ultra modern sounds of the MRC Trio, the
rhythmic complexity of Inside Out (with Lorne Lofsky and Kieran Overs), the
acoustic beauty of the Geoff Young Trio, the impressionistic Three Sisters, or
the eclectic sounds of Random Access, a four volume studio set exposing
Romberg’s personal journey into the world of spontaneous composition, his
drumming has an energy and personality that is unique. Barry Romberg has been
featured on over fifty recordings, including those by Al Henderson, Nancy
Walker, Michael Occhipinti and Creation Dream, NOJO, Chris Tarry, and many
others.
Louis Simão – Accordion Louis Simão has been
performing and recording as a multi-instrumentalist for over a decade.
Performing on bass, piano, accordion, and percussion allows him to move freely
through genres. Louis studied jazz piano and acoustic bass at Toronto’s York
University, and abroad with bossa nova guitarist Alfredo Machado at Escola de
Música Vila Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has also been studied in Cuba,
Morocco, and Lisbon, Portugal - his parent's home country.
Simão's diverse and highly sought after skills have afforded him the
opportunity to perform and record with talented artists such as, Nelly Furtado,
Mary Margaret O'Hara, Eliana Cuevas, Michael Occhipinti, The Clayton/Scott
Group, and Fritz McIntyre of Simply Red. He also leads, writes and arranges for
his own world-music ensemble, Pedras da Rua, which has opened for Cesaria Evora
and Celso Machado, and has shared a night with Brazilian reggae stars Chico
Cesar and Rita Ribeiro at The Blueprints Arts Festival 2000, the performance of
which became the subject of a documentary for Bravo's Centre Stage Chronicles.
A remix of Pedras da Rua's "Terra do Bravo" is also featured on Required
Listening Vol. #1, voted best Toronto disc of 2003 by NOW Magazine.
Louis Simão's original music ranges from Portuguese folk songs and fado, to
samba, bossa nova and other Brazilian genres; from African and Cuban music, to
funk and jazz. With som livre (free sound) at the heart of his musical
philosophy, Simão's compositions combine these various sounds along with an
improvisational sensibility. His most recent CD with saxophonist and composer
David French is entitled Faia, and showcases Louis Simao’s talents as a
guitarist and as a vocalist singing in Portuguese.
Ernie Tollar - flute and saxophone Ernie Tollar has created
music in many jazz, world, and contemporary settings. His work as a performer,
composer, and producer has been heard across Canada and abroad at concerts,
clubs, and festivals and on recordings. As an active member of the world music
scene in Toronto, Ernie can be heard with such groups as Greek/Arabic ensemble
Maza Maze, Table player Ravi Naimpally’s group Tasa, the Maryem Tollar group,
Brenna MacCrimmon's Altin yildez Orkestar, The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, The
Evergreen Club Gamelan, The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Ron Allen's Ritual
Party.
As a jazz and improvising musician, Ernie has appeared with such respected
musicians as David Restivo, Rick Lazar, Hugh Marsh, Levon Ichkhanian, and the
big band NOJO, with whom Ernie has performed since 1994. With Co-leader John
Gzowski, Ernie leads the world jazz group Mecca. Ernie has toured Canada and
the U.S. with kora/piano player Daniel Janke’s West African influenced jazz
group. He has also worked with such luminaries as Bob Becker and John Wyre of
Nexus fame. Ernie has studied South Indian classical drumming and singing with
professor Trichy Sankaran and flute with Maestro N. Ramani in S. India.
Kevin Turcotte – trumpet A perennial winner of
Canada’s National Jazz Award and its predecessor the Jazz Report Award, Kevin
is a creative and versatile musician who performs in some of this country’s
most acclaimed ensembles. His own group The Great Uncles of The Revolution
(with Andrew Downing, Jesse Zubot and Steve Dawson) is a JUNO Award winner, and
Kevin has also toured with his unique trio featuring Justin Haynes on guitar
and Jean Martin on drums. A member of many groups, including Michael
Occhipinti’s Creation Dream, NOJO, Time Warp, The Boss Brass, The
Michelle Gregoire quintet, The Roberto Occhipinti quintet, The Dave McMurdo Big
Band, and The Dave Young quintet, Kevin is one of the most in-demand trumpet
players in Canada.
A seven-time Juno Award
nominee for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, guitarist/composer Michael
Occhipinti’s modern and eclectic approach to jazz and creative music of all
kinds has earned him a broad array of listeners and the respect of critics and
musicians alike. As a leader of the acclaimed jazz orchestra NOJO, his own
quintet, and The Sicilian Project, Michael has established himself as an
inventive composer and arranger, and his recording Creation Dream – The Songs
of Bruce Cockburn remains a favourite instrumental jazz recording among
critics and fans.
Rare is the bassist who
steps forward to lead his own ensemble. Rarer still is the bandleader who
successfully bridges the worlds of jazz and classical music. Roberto Occhipinti
clearly belongs to that rare breed. On his first album, 2001’s Trinacria,
Occhipinti explored the range of Latin jazz. His followup album, 2003’s The
Cusp, expanded on the concept, adding violin, flutes, reeds and horns
while tackling composers as diverse as Wayne Shorter, Jimi Hendrix and Giacomo
Puccini. On his most recent release Yemaya, Occhipinti has given full
flight to his musical vision, employing horns and a full string symphony
orchestra on classical arrangements of Cuban, Brazilian and original jazz
pieces.
Canadian born vocalist
Dominic Mancuso has been exploring his Sicilian roots for many years, and has
performed at music festivals throughout Italy, while at the same time building
a successful career for himself in his native Toronto as an English language
performer and composer. Comfortable singing in the older dialects that make up
much of Sicily’s folk music, Dominic has also delved deeply into the work of
Italy’s contemporary songwriters, and hi s mastery of this music will be
showcased on a new CD he has just finished recording. Dominic Mancuso is also
involved in creating innovative multi-media concerts featuring the real-time
projected visual work of his painter brother Vincent Mancuso, and the Mancuso
brothers’ unique presetation of music and visual art will be featured at the
2007 Nuit Blanche in Toronto.
Barry Romberg is a most
compelling and singular musical voice in Canadian jazz. His unique drumming has
propelled the likes of Gil Evans, Hank Jones, Joe Henderson, Ritchie Bierach,
NOJO with Don Byron & Sam Rivers, George Garzone, Joanne Brackeen, Rick
Margitza and Mark Turner to mention but a few.
Louis Simão has been
performing and recording as a multi-instrumentalist for over a decade.
Performing on bass, piano, accordion, and percussion allows him to move freely
through genres. Louis studied jazz piano and acoustic bass at Toronto’s York
University, and abroad with bossa nova guitarist Alfredo Machado at Escola de
Música Vila Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has also been studied in Cuba,
Morocco, and Lisbon, Portugal - his parent's home country.
Ernie Tollar has created
music in many jazz, world, and contemporary settings. His work as a performer,
composer, and producer has been heard across Canada and abroad at concerts,
clubs, and festivals and on recordings. As an active member of the world music
scene in Toronto, Ernie can be heard with such groups as Greek/Arabic ensemble
Maza Maze, Table player Ravi Naimpally’s group Tasa, the Maryem Tollar group,
Brenna MacCrimmon's Altin yildez Orkestar, The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, The
Evergreen Club Gamelan, The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Ron Allen's Ritual
Party.
A perennial winner of
Canada’s National Jazz Award and its predecessor the Jazz Report Award, Kevin
is a creative and versatile musician who performs in some of this country’s
most acclaimed ensembles. His own group The Great Uncles of The Revolution
(with Andrew Downing, Jesse Zubot and Steve Dawson) is a JUNO Award winner, and
Kevin has also toured with his unique trio featuring Justin Haynes on guitar
and Jean Martin on drums. A member of many groups, including Michael
Occhipinti’s Creation Dream, NOJO, Time Warp, The Boss Brass, The
Michelle Gregoire quintet, The Roberto Occhipinti quintet, The Dave McMurdo Big
Band, and The Dave Young quintet, Kevin is one of the most in-demand trumpet
players in Canada.
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