Inizia lo studio del sax alto a sedici anni prendendo qualche lezione privata, continuando poi come autodidatta.
Dopo due anni abbandona il contralto per il tenore e il soprano.
Segue anche qualche seminario con importanti musicisti italiani e, nel 1986, con Michael Breker. A diciannove anni inizia la sua carriera professionale suonando con vari musicisti dell’ area torinese e, a ventuno, viene chiamato a far parte del ricostituito gruppo storico “Area”, suo primo ingaggio importante con cui ha modo di mettersi in luce a livello nazionale partecipando a tourné, festival, programmi radiotelevisivi e all’ incisione di un disco.
Dal 1990 al 1996 si trasferisce a Milano dove avvia nuove e durature collaborazioni con, tra gli altri, Antonio Faraò, Luigi Bonafede, Massimo Colombo; nel ’94 costituisce il suo quartetto con Paolo Birro, Marco Micheli, Francesco Sotgiu e registra il primo disco a suo nome grazie al quale vince nel gennaio ’95 il referendum “Top Jazz” indetto dalla rivista Musica Jazz, come “Miglior nuovo Talento”.
Dal 1996 intensifica la sua attività all’estero, specialmente a Parigi dove suona regolarmente nel gruppo del pianista Jean Pierre Como, con cui inciderà un disco per la Blue Note.
Inizia anche una collaborazione col batterista Daniel Humair.
Il suo nome compare ancora nel “Top Jazz” del gennaio ’97: è uno dei dieci musicisti italiani e il suo CD in duo con Paolo Birro “May Day” è uno dei dieci dischi scelti dell’anno.
Nel 1988 e 1999 si esibisce sempre più spesso in Francia e all’estero compiendo anche una tourné in Cina nel luglio ’99.
Nell’ottobre 2000 pubblica il suo primo disco “francese” con, tra gli altri, Aldo Romano e Paolo Fresu, disco che riceve immediatamente alcuni riconoscimenti quali il “Jazz up” da Radio Paris Jazz e un “Coup de coeur” dalla catena televisiva Muzik.
Attualmente si esibisce in duo con Paolo Birro, con il quartetto “Changes” (in programma la registrazione di un CD) con Stefano Battaglia, Piero Leveratto, Fabrizio Sferra, in trio con Daniel Humair e Paolino Dalla Porta, e, all’estero, in quartetto con Aldo Romano, Nathalie Lorier, Remy Vignolo, oppure con Aldo Romano, N’Guyen Le e Michel Benita.
Intense anche le sue collaborazioni come solista in progetti altrui.
Ha suonato in concerti, festival, dischi e programmi radiotelevisivi in Europa, Stati Uniti, Cina.
Dal 1985 ad oggi, stabilmente o occasionalmente, ha collaborato con: Nat Adderley, Gary Bartz, Lou Blackbourn, Walter Booker, Cameron Brown, George Cables, Tommy Campbell, Jimmy Cobb, Billy Cobham, Bobby Durham, Bruce Forman, Benny Golson, Steve Grossman, Billy Hart, Albert “Tootie” Heat, Red Holloway, Vic Juris, Jack McDuff, Jimmy Owens, Reggie Johnson, Akira Tana, Clark Terry, Toqinho, Warren Vaché, Jimmy Woody, Eliot Zigmund, Area II, Flavio Boltro, Luigi Bonafede, Salvatore Bonafede, Giulio Capiozzo, Rossana Casale, Gigi Cifarelli, Furio DiCastri, Tullio DePiscopo, Antonio Faraò, Paolo Fresu, Roberto Gatto, Sandro Gibellini, Dado Moroni, Enrico Rava, Aldo Romano, Michel Benita, André Ceccarelli, N’Guyen Le, Daniel Humair, Sixun, Giovanni Tommaso, Fabio Concato, Angelo Branduardi.
Si è esibito nei più importanti festival italiani tra cui: Messina (’85), Ivrea (’90, ’95),Umbria jazz (’91), Iseo (’95, ’97), JVC Newport Torino (’96), Valtellina (’97), La Spezia (’95, ’98), Genova (’98), Verona Jazzitalia (’98), Ancona (’99),Nuoro (’00), Reggio Calabria (’00).
Tra i festival stranieri: Delta jazz ( Olanda ’92), Terneusen ( Olanda ’93), Oupeye ( Belgio ’94), Calvi ( Francia ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97), JazzRally ( Belgio ’98), Francheville ( Francia ’98), Aguillon ( Francia ’99), 1° Heineken Beat ( Cina, Pechino ’99), Grignan (Francia ’00).
He began using the alto saxophone at the age of sixteen taking private lessons, continuing thereafter with as a self-taught musician. Two years later he dropped the alto saxophone for the tenor and the soprano. He then partook in several seminars with important Italian musicians and, in 1986, with Michael Breker. At nineteen years of age he began his professional carrier playing with different musicians from the area of Turin, at twenty-one he was called to take part in a historical reformed group called “Area”, his first important booking which then put him in the spot light nationwide leading to the participation in tours, festivals, broadcasting programmes and also in he recording of an album. From 1990 to 1998 he moved to Milan where he started new and lasting collaborations with, among others, Antonio Faraò Luigi Bonafede, Massimo Colombo; in 1994 he set up the first quartet in his name with Paolo Birro, Marco Micheli, Francesco Sotgiu and he recorded his first album in his name thanks to which, in January 1995, he won the “Top Jazz” critic poll and was described by the magazine Musica Jazz, as “ Best new talent ”. From 1996 his activity abroad intensified, especially in Paris where he played regularly in the pianist Jean Pierre Como’s group, with whom he recorded the album un disco per le Blue Note . He also began collaborating with the Swiss drummer Daniel Humair. In 1996 he founded, together with Luigi Bonafede, The Five for Jazz , with Flavio Boltro, Francesco Sotgiu and Rosario Bonaccorso, and with them recorded an album. His name appeared once again in “Top Jazz” of January 1997: as one of the ten Italian musicians and his CD a duo with Paolo Birro “May Day” is one of the ten albums of the year. From 1999 he played more and more in France and abroad also performing on tour in China in July ’99 (1° Heineken Beat of Beijing). In October of 2000 he released his first album in his name in France with, among others, Aldo Romano and Paolo Fresu, an album that immediately received considerable recognition from “Jazz up” of Radio Paris and a “Coup de Coeur” from the television chain Muzik. In 2001 the album “Hidden Songs” received appraisal in France and the influential weekly paper “Tèlèrama” listed it as one of the best CDs of the year (from the distinguished music critic Michel Contat). In between 1999 and 2001 he performed in various international bands: as a duo with Paolo Birro, as a trio with the Swiss drummer Daniel Humair and Paolino Dalla Porta, as a trio with the Slovenian Zlatko Kaucic and Nicola Muresu and as a the leader of a quartet with the Belgian pianist Nathalie Loriers, Remy Vignolo, Aldo Romano, and with the Vietnamese guitarist N’Guyen Le, and Michel Benita. In the year 2000 he formed, with the pianist Stefano Battaglia, the group “Changes” , together with Piero Leveratto and Fabrizio Sferra, with whom he recorded an album and performed with in Italy, France and Belgium. From 2001 to 2004 he carried out intense concert performances at a high international levels. From September 2001 up until today (2004) he is a soloist in the French drummer Aldo Romano’s group “Because of Bechet”, with Emmanuel Bex, Remi Vignolo, and Francesco Bearzatti. With this group he released an album for Universal and participated in over seventy concerts, playing in shows all over France, performing on the most prestigious of transalpine stages and also organizing a tour, in October 2004, on Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile he collaborates, with continuity, in various bands directed by the French bassist Jean Marc Jafet, with Paul Ceccarelli, Robert Persi, Christian Escoudé, Babik Reinardht, Marcia Maria and others, and in a quintet with the French trumpet player Francois Chassagnite with whom he has been invited, for two consecutive years now, to the important festival of Marciac. Since 2002 he has been playing in a trio with the Slovenian drummer Zlatko Kaucic and Nicola Muresu and with them he has been on several tours in both Slovenia and Italy. In 2004 he founded a new Italo-French quartet in his name , with Paolo Birro, Yoann Serra and Simone Monnanni, with them recorded a new album in Antibes. In 2004 he was called to be part of the roman pianist Enrico Pieranunzi’s group , participating, in one of many, to the “Fellini Jazz” project holding concerts in Paris and in other main Italian festivals.
