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Massimo Biolcati
21st century jazz is a global movement, and New York bassist Massimo Biolcati embodies the music’s creative reach. A first-call accompanist, producer, composer and bandleader, he is known as a founding member of Gilfema, the acclaimed collective trio with Hungarian drummer Ferenc Nemeth and West African guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke that recorded two albums for Obliqsound. The group also recorded three albums for Blue Note as the Lionel Loueke Trio, including Karibu featuring Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock.
Since moving to New York City in 2003, he has been thriving as a sideman working widely with Paquito D’Rivera, Terence Blanchard, Ravi Coltrane, Lizz Wright andLuciana Souza. As a leader he released Persona (2008, Obliqsound), an ambitious and critically hailed debut album of original compositions played by Loueke, pianist Peter Rende, and drummer Jeff Ballard, with vocal contributions by Lizz Wright and Gretchen Parlato.
While touring the world and performing widely in New York, Biolcati also runs his own record label Sounderscore, a venture that is allowing him to release his own solo projects (Incontre – 2020, Momenta – 2022, On a Misty Night – 2023) in addition to producing albums by longtime friends and collaborators Lionel Louekeand Ferenc Nemeth.
Biolcati also runs iReal Pro, the music app he created in 2009 that has become an essential tool for musicians and music students. Since its inception, Biolcati has spent several years honing the code and developing the app’s features and capabilities.
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Eshed Korten Biolcati Kim: A Way Out
![Read "A Way Out" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/cb36822a45e712352922619a6c7ecf95.jpg)
by Friedrich Kunzmann
One of the more exciting scenarios in jazz unfolds when a group of players comes together, not to realize one individual's specific vision, but just for the sake of making music together and to develop a chemistry which, ideally, was there from the beginning. The group effort here presents the fruits of such an occasion. A Way Out captures a contemporary jazz quartet that's in it for the joy of playing together. Forming the band name under which ...
read moreGilfema: Three
![Read "Three" reviewed by Pat Youngspiel](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/5970f95f0fdb88a9d7d7e2522f096c13.jpg)
by Pat Youngspiel
Few trios are as immediately recognizable as Gilfema. It's almost impossible to mistake the interplay between Ferenc Nemeth, Massimo Biolcati and Lionel Loueke. The three Berklee College of Music and Thelonious Monk institute graduates have been going at it together for more than 15 years now, their eponymous debut album having been released in 2005 for New York-based label Obliqsound. Between uneven meters, jazzy harmonies and afro-pop-infused rhythms and melodies, the three collaborators continue to express their individual musical visions ...
read moreMassimo Biolcati: Positive Polymath, Cooperative Catalyst
![Read "Massimo Biolcati: Positive Polymath, Cooperative Catalyst" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/88ef1b3e62b1d3d036db0c50c46f73c7.jpg)
by Dan Bilawsky
With a viewpoint colored by vast experiencesformative classical and jazz encounters while growing up in Sweden and Italy, immersive education at Boston's Berklee College of Music, finishing work under the masters at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and real-deal maneuvering in New York and beyondbassist Massimo Biolcati plays and writes with a globalist's perspective. While best known for sideman gigs with peers like Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke and giants of the music several years older, such as trumpeter Terence ...
read moreMassimo Biolcati: Incontre
![Read "Incontre" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/a5cb89ed61bc7ec5a2acf053707befc0.jpg)
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Massimo Biolcati is somewhat of a quiet giant. This is revealed not only by the elegant way in which he handles his double bass but is furthermore expressed by his humble personality on-stage as well as off. So much for the quiet aspect. Why a giant? Raised in Italy and Sweden, Biolcati graduated from both the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and Berklee College of Music, where he met his Gilfema bandmates Lionel Loueke and Ferenc Nemeth to form ...
read moreMassimo Biolcati: Persona
![Read "Persona" reviewed by Martin Gladu](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/2008/massimobiolcati.jpg)
by Martin Gladu
Given the industry's current state of affairs, maintaining a record label, let alone an improvisatory music based one, requires creativity to say the least. One such venture to really start garnering attention to itself is Michele Locatelli's six year-old ObliqSound. While theirs is still a relatively young history, the New School University alum and the label's devoted staffers are nevertheless to be praised not only for their acumen in developing a sophisticated brand and business, but also for sustaining their ...
read moreMatt Slocum, Black Elk's Dream Available April 1, 2014 On Chandra Records Featuring Walter Smith III, Dayna Stephens, Gerald Clayton And Massimo Biolcati
![Matt Slocum, Black Elk's Dream Available April 1, 2014 On Chandra Records Featuring Walter Smith III, Dayna Stephens, Gerald Clayton And Massimo Biolcati](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/317fdd6368068f4fac8fa0588d7d4e2a.jpg)
Source:
Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
US Tour April 3-10, NYC record release performance: April 24 at The Kitano Black Elk's Dream, drummer/composer Matt Slocum's most adventurous and visceral recording to date, features eleven new original works as well as Pat Metheny's Is This America?". Inspired by the visionary Native American leader Black Elk and the book Black Elk Speaks, Slocum composed and arranged the project for an innovative cast of longtime friends and creative associates including saxophonists Walter Smith III & Dayna Stephens, pianist Gerald ...
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