Roberto Magris
Roberto Magris is an Italian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Early life
Magris was born in Trieste, Italy, on 19 June 1959. He had piano lessons between the ages of four and sixteen. He became interested in jazz after hearing the Oscar Peterson album The Way I Really Play in 1977.Later life and career
In the 1980s, he led the jazz trio Gruppo Jazz Marca and recorded three albums, Comunicazione Sonora , Aria di Città and Mitteleuropa , re-issued in 2006 by the English Label Arision. In 1987 he founded his Italian quartet, which operated for nearly 20 years, performing tours in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America and recording two albums, Life in Israel and Maliblues. In the 1990s he founded the acid-jazz groups DMA Urban Jazz Funk and Alfabeats Nu Jazz, performing in Europe and in America and recording two albums, Up to the Beat and Stones. In 1998 Magris formed the Europlane Orchestra.In 2005, Magris partnered with Hungarian saxophonist Tony Lakatos on the album Check-In. In 2006 Magris collaborated with bassist Art Davis and drummer Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson on the album Kansas City Outbound. That same year, he collaborated with alto saxophonist Herb Geller on the album Il Bello del Jazz and some years later, the JMood released a more album with Herb Geller entitled An Evening with Herb Geller & The Roberto Magris Trio – Live in Europe 2009.
In the United States, Magris has become the musical director of JMood and has also recorded two albums in tribute to the trumpeter Lee Morgan, two albums on trio with Elisa Pruett and Albert "Tootie" Heath devoted to the music of pianist Elmo Hope, and another to the legacy of alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. He has also recorded one album in Los Angeles with Idris Muhammad and saxmen Paul Carr and Michael O'Neill, Mating Call, one album with Philadelphian Sam Reed, one double CD set in tribute to the bebop era, Aliens in a Bebop Planet, three albums with his trio from Kansas City, Roberto Magris Sextet Live in Miami @ The WDNA Jazz Gallery with a group including Brian Lynch, Sun Stone featuring Ira Sullivan and Suite!, recorded in Chicago with a group including trumpeter Eric Jacobson and tenor saxophonist Mark Colby.
In Europe, Magris has performed at festivals and jazz clubs with the MUH Trio, which has its base in Prague and recorded the albums Prague After Dark in 2016 and A Step into Light in 2020 .
Magris has performed concerts on piano solo and for jazz piano, orchestra, and strings with the Big Band Ritmo Sinfonica from Verona and the Orchestra Giovanile del Veneto, recording the album Restless Spirits - Big Band Ritmo-Sinfonica Città di Verona plays the music of Roberto Magris.
Critic Edward Blanco at AllAboutJazz called Magris "one of the finest piano players on the planet".
Playing style
Jazz critic Ira Gitler wrote: "As a pianist, reflects some of his most admired models – Wynton Kelly, Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans, Kenny Drew, Jaki Byard, Randy Weston, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Paul Bley, Don Pullen and Steve Kuhn – in his own way. There is a quick, supple right hand and the rich harmonies of the two-handed transition in his playing that don’t necessarily summon up instant comparisons to any of the above or others."Discography
- Life in Israel, with Larry Smith, Marco Castelli, Ofer Israeli, Luigi Rossi and Davide Ragazzoni
- Music of Today, with Martin Klingeberg, Achim Goettert-Zadek, Marco Castelli, Joerg Drewing, Albrecht Riermeier, Rudi Engel and Davide Ragazzoni
- Maliblues
- Check-In, with Tony Lakatos, Michael Erian, Robert Balzar, Gabriele Centis and Fulvio Zafret
- Il Bello del Jazz, with Herb Geller, Darko Jurkovic, Rudi Engel and Gabriele Centis
- Current Views, with Philip Catherine, Bill Molenhof, Roberto Ottaviano, Vitold Rek a.o.
- Kansas City Outbound with Art Davis and Jimmy „Junebug“ Jackson
- Mating Call, with Paul Carr, Michael O'Neill, Elisa Pruett and Idris Muhammad
- Canzoni Italiane in Jazz
- ', with Brandon Lee, Logan Richardson, Elisa Pruett and Albert "Tootie" Heath
- One Night in with Hope and More Vol. 1, with Elisa Pruett and Albert "Tootie" Heath
- Aliens in a Bebop Planet, with Matt Otto, Dominique Sanders, Brian Steever, Pablo Sanhueza and Eddie Charles
- Ready for Reed - Sam Reed Meets Roberto Magris, with Sam Reed, Kendall Moore, Steve Lambert, Dominique Sanders, Brian Steever and Pablo Sanhueza
- Cannonball Funk'n Friends, with Hermon Mehari, Jim Mair, Dominique Sanders and Alonzo Scooter Powell
- One Night in with Hope and More Vol. 2, with Elisa Pruett, Brian Steever and Albert "Tootie" Heath
- ', with Hermon Mehari, Jim Mair, Peter Schlamb, Elisa Pruett, Brian Steever and Pablo Sanhueza
- An Evening with Herb Geller & The Roberto Magris Trio – Live in Europe 2009, with Herb Geller a.o.
- Enigmatix, with Dominique Sanders, Brian Steever, Pablo Sanhueza and Monique Danielle
- Need to Bring Out Love, with Dominique Sanders, Brian Steever, Julia Haile and Monique Danielle
- Live in Miami @ The WDNA Jazz Gallery - Roberto Magris Sextet with Brian Lynch, Jonathan Gomez, Chuck Bergeron, John Yarling and Murph Aucamp
- World Gardens, with Dominique Sanders, Brian Steever and Pablo Sanhueza
- Sun Stone, with Ira Sullivan, Mark Colby, Shareef Clayton, Jamie Ousley, Rodolfo Zuniga
- Suite!, with Mark Colby, Eric Jacobson, Eric Hochberg, Greg Artry, PJ Aubree Collins
with the MUH Trio (Magris/Uhlir/Helesic Trio)
- Prague After Dark, with František Uhlíř and Jaromir Helešic
- A Step into Light, with František Uhlíř and Jaromir Helešic
with the Gruppo Jazz Marca
- Comunicazione Sonora
- Aria di Città
- Mitteleuropa
with the Europlane Orchestra
- Live at Zooest
- Plays Kurt Weill, with Ines Reiger
with the Big Band Ritmo-Sinfonica Città di Verona
- Restless Spirits - Big Band Ritmo-Sinfonica Città di Verona plays the music of Roberto Magris
with the DMA Urban Jazz Funk
- DMA Urban Jazz Funk - Up to the Beat
with the Alfabeats Nu Jazz
- Stones