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MATTEO MANCUSO

Matteo Mancuso, classe 1996, cresce nella provincia di Palermo. Enfant prodige si approccia al mondo della musica già da piccolo, grazie anche al padre, Vincenzo Mancuso, grande chitarrista e produttore ben noto nell’industria musicale, il quale sarà per il piccolo Matteo una grande guida all’ascolto oltre che un Maestro nel primo approccio allo strumento.

Con il padre, Matteo partecipa ai primi jazz festival siciliani già all’età di 11 anni e formerà in seguito con Vincenzo un duo con un repertorio che spazia da Django Reinhardt al jazz contemporaneo.

Da adolescente si iscrive al liceo musicale dove approfondisce gli studi in chitarra classica. Finito il liceo fonda il trio “SNIPS” con cui propone standard riarrangiati in chiave fusion tra cui la famosa versione di “The Chicken” che raggiunge in poco tempo milioni visualizzazioni sui vari social. Nel 2017, nell’ambito del Festival Umbria Jazz, a Perugia, ha vinto una borsa di studio per il prestigioso Berklee College Of Music di Boston. Con il gruppo SNIPS, ha suonato, riscuotendo ampio successo, al Musikmesse 2017 di Francoforte, al festival Les Nuits De La Guitare a Patrimonio, in Corsica, e ad Umbria Jazz 2018.

Nel 2019, collaborando con Yamaha guitars, ha partecipato al NAMM di Los Angeles ed al “Young Guitar Festival” di Bangkok come giudice della competizione. Lo stesso anno va in Russia per una serie di masterclass passando da Mosca, San Pietroburgo e Perm.

Nel 2020 Matteo fonda il suo nuovo trio con Stefano India al basso e Giuseppe Bruno alla batteria, dando spazio anche alla sua vena compositiva con brani originali.

Nel 2021 va in tourneé con il suo trio per l’Italia: dal Festivalle di Agrigento, al Blue note di Milano, con grande successo. Continua a lavorare in studio e compone nuovi brani.

Nel 2022 va in tour in Italia ed Europa: dal Festival internazionale di Brema, all’Auditorium Parco della Musica di Roma. Dopo una breve sosta nel mese di Giugno, in cui si è laureato in chitarra jazz presso il Conservatorio di Palermo con lode e menzione d’onore, Matteo riprende l’attività concertistica duettando con Al di Meola durante la serata conclusiva dell’Eddie Lang Jazz Festival.

Ad Agosto viene invitato dalla leggendaria PFM a condividere il palco in occasione del Lugano Estival Jazz da cui uscirà il live album “ The Event ”. A Settembre 2022 è stato ospite di Stefano Bollani nella trasmissione via dei Matti n°0. Il 13 Ottobre ha suonato al Festival Jazz di Uppsala in Svezia e il 21 Ottobre ha aperto il Festival Jazz di Spoleto.

Il 2023 si apre con una prima tournée invernale seguita da un invito dello stesso Tommy Emmanuel a condividere il suo palco durante il concerto al teatro Golden di Palermo. A Maggio inizia la prima parte della tournée estiva proponendo alcuni brani che saranno presenti nel suo album.

Il 21 luglio esce il suo primo album solista intitolato “The Journey”, un’opera che delinea la sua autentica natura musicale poliedrica. The Journey incarna il percorso musicale di un giovane che assorbe, interpreta e elabora ciò che lo ha profondamente appassionato. I brani di questo album sono un tributo alle sue radici, agli artisti e ai generi che hanno avuto un impatto enorme sulla sua musica.

A Settembre inizia un nuovo ciclo di concerti con la nuova formazione composta da Riccardo Oliva al basso e alle tastiere e Gianluca Pellerito alla batteria.

Il suo canale Youtube è seguito da un vasto pubblico internazionale di oltre 180 mila iscritti. Ha ricevuto plausi e attestazioni di stima, tra gli altri, da Dweezil Zappa, Joe Bonamassa, Stef Burns e Eric Johnson.

Al Di Meola ha detto di lui: “Un talento assoluto: ci vorrebbero due o tre vite per imparare anche per uno come me a improvvisare così bene alla chitarra come lui”. E Steve Vai: “Matteo è l’evoluzione della chitarra fusion, la sua tecnica mozzafiato è una meraviglia da contemplare. È la prova che lo spirito in continua evoluzione dei chitarristi è saldamente intatto.”

TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON

Galvanized by seismic changes in the ever-evolving social and political landscape, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science confront a wide spectrum of social justice issues. The band’s stunning double disc debut, Waiting Game, immediately takes its place in the stirring lineage of politically conscious and activist music, expressing an unflinching, inclusive and compassionate view of humanity’s breaks and bonds through an expansive program melding jazz, R&B, indie rock, contemporary improvisation, and hip-hop.

Released by Motéma Music, Waiting Game is as thought-provoking and artistically evocative as it is musically exhilarating. Produced by Carrington and built around her friendship and collaboration with co-producers, pianist Aaron Parks and guitarist Matthew Stevens, and additional band members Morgan Guerin (bass & sax), Debo Ray (vocals) and Kassa Overall (MC/DJ), the album features a diverse ensemble that spans multiple generations, racial, ethnic, sexual and gender identities. The band states: “Along with a message of wakefulness, inclusiveness, and noncompliance, we’ve summoned our musical influences to offer an eclectic alternative to the mainstream. Music transcends, breaks barriers, strengthens us, and heals old wounds. Music is Social Science.”

The vocal-driven DISC 1 features the band along with a powerhouse lineup of featured guests:  MC’s Rapsody, Maimouna Youssef (aka Mumu Fresh), Kokayi and Raydar Ellis; vocalist Mark Kibble (Take 6); trumpeter Nicholas Payton; and spoken word artists Malcolm Jamal-Warner and Meshell Ndegeocello  words of resistance are pulled from recordings of Marilyn Buck, Angela Davis, Leonard Peltier, Assata Shakur and Laura Whitehorn as well as a special, newly recorded, contribution from Mumia Abu Jamal from “In Prison Nation Radio.”

On the purely instrumental DISC 2 is a breathtaking, 42-minute improvised suite entitled “Dreams and Desperate Measures,” by Carrington, Parks, Stevens and long-time Carrington cohort, bassist Esperanza Spalding. With additional orchestration by Edmar Colón, the suite presents an adventurous excursion musing on the idea of freedom, both personal and musical.

As Social Science was in its early stages, Carrington also founded the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where she holds the position of Zildjian Chair in Performance. Both projects point to Carrington’s drive to combine her musical passion with her profound regard for humanity, inflamed by the cultural divisiveness brought into the light by the 2016 presidential election. “I think there’s an awakening happening in society in general,” she says. “I feel a calling in my life to merge my artistry with any form of activism that I’m able to engage in.”

Waiting Game is not the first time that Carrington has addressed her concerns for society, though it is the most direct and impactful. On her 2013 release Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue (GRAMMY winner for Best Jazz Instrumental Album), she offered a 21^st-century reimagining of the Ellington-Mingus-Roach classic with a jaundiced eye on late-stage capitalism. Her previous and first GRAMMY-winning album, The Mosaic Project (2012) let its all-star, all-female ensemble speak for itself, though its argument for gender equity in jazz rang through loud and clear.

At that time, Carrington preferred to focus on the music of The Mosaic Project rather than the gender of its musicians, though her thinking has shifted in the years since. “For a long time women in jazz didn’t really embrace the issue because many of us were involved and somewhat invested in this patriarchal system that’s controlled jazz for so long,” she explains. “The culture nudged us to want to be considered one of the guys. There came a turning point for me where I realized we had the whole thing backwards. We need to be our authentic selves playing this music, and that needs to be accepted and nurtured. The same opportunities that help to develop young male musicians need to be there to develop young female musicians, and traditionally that hasn’t been the case, especially in early stage development.”

Carrington cites as one of her inspirations for the change in approach the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), the African American youth organization founded by activists Charlene Carruthers and Dr. Cathy Cohen in the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal for the killing of Trayvon Martin. The organization’s work helped Carrington to more fully integrate her personal identity into her musical life.

“I’ve realized that at this point in my life the lines between my politics and personal life have become blurred,” she says. “BYP100 really resonates with me, as a political home for anti-capitalists, radical Black feminists, abolitionists, artists, educators and many other types of freedom fighters. It’s helped me to see the value in the idea of collective liberation, which is really the core message of Waiting Game. I aspire to see the world through a Black, Queer, Feminist lens and want to encourage others to do so as well, because no one is liberated until everyone is.”

“In order to empower the current generation of women and girls,” reflects Matthew Stevens,” we must also engage men and boys. Gender equality should never be sold as a zero-sum game, but rather, (as research has repeatedly shown by studying counties with higher rates of gender equality) as being in everyone’s best interest. For white men” he adds, “the unconscious luxury of not being self aware—unaware of our gender, race and privilege— is, in fact, destructive and can’t continue to be left unexamined if we want a more equal society.”

The subjects addressed on Waiting Game run the gamut of social concerns: mass incarceration (“Trapped in the American Dream,” featuring Kassa Overall’s bold rap); police brutality (“Bells [Ring Loudly]),” intoned by actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner); homophobia (“Pray The Gay Away,” featuring Nicholas Payton’s impassioned horn); the genocide of indigenous Americans (“Purple Mountains,” featuring Kokayi); political imprisonment (“No Justice [for political prisoners]),” with Meshell Ndegeocello’s recitation in honor of iconic resistance voices, and gender equity (as expressed in the powerful messages of “The Anthem,” featuring Rapsody and “If Not Now,” featuring Maimouna Youssef).

“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done if we want to make this country actually live up to its as-yet-unrealized aspirations toward true freedom and equality,” adds Aaron Parks. “Activists and organizers have been doing a lot of the heavy lifting for a long time, and are absolutely crucial, but there’s an important role for everyone to play in this process. As a member of Social Science, I aim to listen to, learn from, and amplify the voices of those who have been far too often marginalized and unheard. To help to share these stories, these songs of outrage, of hope, of despair, of healing, of love.”

Sonically, Waiting Game is a vivid reflection of the broad horizons of the band’s musical tastes, embellished and amplified by their receptiveness to dynamic collaboration. In regard to Carrington, this outing’s genre-blurring blend is more dazzling and expansive than anything she’s done in the past; what’s most impressive about Waiting Game is the way that it allows Carrington’s social consciousness to catch up to her virtuosic musicianship.

“In previous projects I’ve hinted at my concerns for the society and the community that I live in,” Carrington says. “But everything has been pointing in this direction. At some point you have to figure out your purpose in life. There are a lot of drummers deemed ‘great.’ For me, that’s not as important as the legacy you leave behind.”

19 Luglio 2024

ARENA DEL PORTO TURISTICO