Enzo Torregrossa aka ZONE

Description: 

Enzo Torregrossa started jazz and classical studies at the same time. He took

inspiration from John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus and mainly from Miles Davis who

is still his artistic father and point of reference in his expressive and compositive

work. He attended Master Bruno Tommaso’s “Siena Jazz” seminaries from 1980

to 1983.

In 1982 he obtained the “Diploma di Laurea in contrabbasso” (“Degree in

contrabass”) with Master Sebastiano Nicotra at the Academy of Music “Vincenzo

Bellini” in Catania and attended the course of “Orchestra Composition and Art

direction” in Bologna. Meanwhile he broadened his knowledge of his music

studies by means of "Dik Groove” and “Barkley School”’s textbooks. In the ‘80s

he played with Lillian Terry quintet together with Paolo Birro, Andrea

Beneventano, Massimo Urbani, in the quintet with Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea

and in the City Co quartet together with Pippo Guarnera, Giulio Capiozzo, Marco

Tamburini.In 1991 he took part in the “Festival Jazz d’avanguardia e nuove

tendenze” (“Avant-garde and New tendencies Jazz Festival”) in Forlì where he

presented and played his own compositions and arrangements.

In 1992 he composed and produced “Annatu lu sole”, soundtrack of the movie

“Sud” directed by Gabriele Salvatores, getting the “ Nastro d’Argento” Prize as

the best soundtrack of the year.

In 1998 he arranged, composed and published his first record “Aeon” with the

texts assistance of the poet Roberto Zizzi.

In 2004 he started the “Zone Project” with the record company CurveMusic of

London. The musicians Gherardo Catanzaro e Rob Lee participated in this

project and their artistic partnership has never stopped.

In 2005 he wrote and produced his first CD “Madrugada” and went to the

prestigious “International Word Music Market MIDEM” in Cannes where he played

live and his band awarded the prize as one of the four best up-and-coming nujazz

bands in the world.

In 2007 the CD “Madrugada” was published and distributed, both audio digital

and physical format, all over the world (iTunes, Amazon, Napster, etc). Meanwhile

he had concerts in London, Paris and several European cities . In 2009

Irmarecords published his second CD “Gimali”, still in the best selling jazz

records of several European countries, U.S.A. and Japan, which met with the

favour of the critics and the audience. In the CD “Gimali” he dedicated the track

“Angel’s wings” to Angelo D’Arrigo and made the video clip in collaboration with

the Foundation Angelo D’Arrigo e Laura Mancuso.

In 2009 he had many summer concerts and also played with the Zone band at the

Antico Teatro di Taormina during the Festival “Ad ali spiegate” as a part of

“Taormina Arte”.

In 2010 he worked as Professor of doublebass and Jazz Bass Guitar at the

Conservatory “V. Bellini” in Catania.

In January 2011 he started to record "Metade", his third album with Zone. The

pianist Gherardo Catanzaro, the saxophonist Gigi Sella, the Brazilian singer

Heloisa Laurenço, the singer Robert Lee from London took part in it and the

album came out on October 1st 2011.

In 2013 the album "Fortuna" is released with the collaboration of several

musicians including Manola Micalizzi.

In September 2015 he released “Solo”, an album in which they participate; Davide

Angelica on Guitar, Ty LeBlanc, Rossella Graziani, Laura Mars, Eva

Macaggi ,Rossella Cosentino, Rachel Doe Alo on voice Kalifa Kone on

percussion Stefano Paolini on drums Ivano Borgazzi and Gherardo Catanzaro on

piano

In July 2019 "Doralinda" was released, composed and arračn ged by Enzo

Torregrossa, with the participation of jazz rapper Jaku Feliz Reyes, Vocalists

Rachel Doe and Heloisa Lourenço and saxophonist Carlo Atti in addition to

Gherardo Catanzaro and Ivano Borgazzi on piano, Enzo Torregrossa on bass and

double bass, Stefano Paolini on drums and Davide Angelica on guitar.

In 2021 the album "The Jump" will be released and in 2022 the album "A vida è o instante".