# Giorgio Gaslini

Giorgio Gaslini (Italian pronunciation:; 22 October 1929 – 29 July 2014) was an Italian jazz pianist, composer and conductor.
He began performing aged 13 and recorded with his jazz trio at 16. In the 1950s and 1960s, Gaslini performed with his own quartet. He was the first Italian musician mentioned as a "new talent" in the Down Beat poll and the first Italian officially invited to a jazz festival in the USA (New Orleans 1976–77). He collaborated with leading American soloists, such as Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Don Cherry, Roswell Rudd, Max Roach, but also with the Argentinian Gato Barbieri and Frenchman Jean-Luc Ponty. He also adapted the compositions of Albert Ayler and Sun Ra for solo piano, which the Soul Note label issued. He also composed the soundtrack of Michelangelo Antonioni's La notte (The Night, 1961).
From 1991 to 1995, Gaslini composed works for Carlo Actis Dato's Italian Instabile Orchestra, and was the first holder of jazz courses at the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome (1972–73). As to contemporary music, he composed symphonic works, operas and ballets represented at the Scala Theatre in Milan and other Italian theatres, in addition to film scores, including Bali (1970), Your Hands on My Body (1970), Cross Current (1971), The Hassled Hooker (1972), The Night of the Devils (1972), So Sweet, So Dead (1972), When Women Were Called Virgins (1972), Five Women for the Killer (1974) and Kleinhoff Hotel (1977). In 1975 he was contacted by Dario Argento to score Deep Red, having previously scored Argento's The Five Days in 1973. Argento was disappointed by the music, and only three of Gaslini's original themes were retained.
Gaslini died at 84 in Borgo Val di Taro, in the province of Parma, where he had been living for years together with his longtime wife and 14 dogs and cats.

## Discography
### As leader

| Recording date | Title | Label | Year released | Notes |
| 1966-02 | Nuovi Sentimenti | La Voce Del Padrone | 1966 | With Don Cherry and Enrico Rava (trumpet), Steve Lacy (soprano sax), Gianni Bedori (alto sax, flute), Gato Barbieri (tenor sax), Kent Carter and Jean-François Jenny-Clark (bass), Aldo Romano and Franco Tonani (drums) |
| 1967? | New Sound Jazz #2 | Cinevox | 1967 | |
| 1968-04, 1968-06 | Il fiume Furore | I dischi del sole | 1968 | |
| 1968? | Grido | Durium | 1968 | In concert |
| 1969? | Un quarto di vita | Durium | 1969 | with I Nuovi Angeli and Edmonda Aldini |
| 1969? | Newport in Milan | Produttori Associati | 1969 | with big band |
| 1970? | Africa ! Mikrokosmos | Produttori Associati | 1970 | |
| 1972? | Una cosa nuova | Produttori Associati | 1972 | |
| 1973-03 | Message | BASF | 1973 | |
| 1973? | Favola Pop Reportage Da "L'Isola Di Utopia" | Produttori Associati | 1973 | |
| 1973-10, 1973-12 | Fabbrica occupata | Produttori Associati | 1974 | Co-led with Jean-Luc Ponty |
| 1973-11 – 1974-07 | Colloquio con Malcolm X | PDU | 1974 | |
| 1976? | Canti di popolo in jazz | PDU | 1976 | Co-led with Bruno Tommaso |
| 1976? | Jean-Luc Ponty meets Giorgio Gaslini | Produttori Associati | 1976 | |
| 1976-01 | Murales live | Dischi della Quercia | 1976 | In concert |
| 1976-04 | New Orleans Suite | Dischi Della Quercia | 1976 | Quartet, with Gianni Bedori (tenor sax, soprano sax), Julius Farmer (electric bass), John Vidacovich (drums) |
| 1977-06 | Free Actions | Dischi Della Quercia | 1977 | Sextet, with Gianni Bedori (tenor sax, soprano sax), Gianluigi Trovesi (alto sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet), Paolo Damiani (bass), Gianni Cazzola (drums), Luis Agudo (percussion); in concert |
| 1977-11 | Graffiti | Dischi Della Quercia | 1978 | [2LP] Sextet, with Gianni Bedori (tenor sax, soprano sax), Gianluigi Trovesi (alto sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet), Paolo Damiani (bass), Gianni Cazzola (drums), Luis Agudo (percussion); in concert |
| 1981-05 | Gaslini Plays Monk | Soul Note | 1981 | Solo piano |
| 1984-07 | Schumann Reflections | Soul Note | 1984 | Trio, with Piero Leveratto (bass), Paolo Pellegatti (drums) |
| 1987-10 | Multipli | Soul Note | 1988 | With Roberto Ottaviano (alto sax, soprano sax, sopranino sax, bass clarinet), Claudio Fasoli (tenor sax, soprano sax), Bruno Tommaso (bass), Giampiero Prina (drums) |
| 1990-07 | Ayler's Wings | Soul Note | 1991 | Solo piano |
| 1990-03, 1990-09, 1991-03, 1991-06 | Masks | Soul Note / Musica Jazz | 1992 | With orchestra |
| 1994-01 | Lampi | Soul Note | 1994 | With Daniele Di Gregorio (vibes, marimba, percussion), Roberto Bonati (bass), Giampiero Prina (drums) |
| 1996-02 | Jelly's Back In Town | Dischi Della Quercia | 1996 | With orchestra |
| 1996-07 | Mister O | Soul Note | 1997 | With orchestra |
| 1995-05, 1997-06 | Ballets | Soul Note | 1998 | With strings |
| 2000-06 | Sacred Concert. Jazz Te Deum | Soul Note | 2002 | In concert with orchestra |
| 2000-09, 2001-03, 2001-04 | Enigma | Soul Note | 2001 | Partially in concert (2000–09). With Proxima Centauri Orchestra. |
| 2002-05 | Il Brutto Anatroccolo | Il Manifesto | 2005 | with Orchestra Jazz della Sardegna |
| 2002-06 | Urban Griot | Soul Note | 2003 | With Proxima Centauri Orchestra; In concert |
| 2003-09 | Plays Sun Ra | Soul Note | 2005 | Solo piano |
| 2003-11 | Elle | Velut Luna | 2004 | |
| 2006? | Musica Totale | Azzurra | 2006 | |
| 2007-01 | Jazzitaliano Live 2007 | Casa Del Jazz | 2007 | Trio, with Roberto Bonati (bass), Roberto Dani (drums, percussion); in concert |
| 2007-05 | Ellaura | Velut Luna | 2007 | With Laura Conti |
| 2011-05 | Piano Solo: Incanti | Cam Jazz | 2011 | Solo piano; in concert |
| 2013-12 | Piano Works | Stradivarius | 2013 | Alfonso Alberti (piano) |
| 2015-09 | Murales Promenade | Stradivarius | 2016 | Alfonso Alberti (piano), Yoichi Sugiyama (conductor), Haydn Orchestra Of Bolzano And Trento |
Compilations
* L'Integrale, Anthologia Cronologica No. 1, No. 2 (Soul Note) – rec. 1948–1964
* L'Integrale, Anthologia Cronologica No. 3, No. 4 (Soul Note) – rec. 1964–1968
* L'Integrale, Anthologia Cronologica No. 5, No. 6 (Soul Note) – rec. 1968–1969
* L'Integrale, Anthologia Cronologica No. 7, No. 8 (Soul Note) – rec. 1973–1974
* Giorgio Gaslini: Sinfonico³ (Velut Luna, 2010) – classical rec. 1992, 1997, 1999, 2008, 2009
* Gaslini sinfonico 4 (Velut Luna, 2014) – classical rec. 1999, 2011, 2013
Main sources:

### As sideman

With Mario Schiano
* Jazz a confronto 8 (Horo, 1974)

## Selected filmography

* La notte (1961)
* Le sorelle (1969)
* Le tue mani sul mio corpo (1970)
* La pacifista (1970)
* Incontro d'amore a Bali (1970)
* Un omicidio perfetto a termine di legge (1971)
* Quando le donne si chiamavano madonne (1972)
* Il vero e il falso (film)|Il vero e il falso (1972)
* La notte dei diavoli (1972)
* Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile (1972)
* Le cinque giornate (1973)
* Profondo rosso (1975) (with Goblin)