From the Tyrrhenian coast to Sardinia, seven dates in which the music of Thelonious Monk and Kurt Weill meets the history of Italy’s jazz festivals.
From the Tyrrhenian coast to Sardinia, seven dates in which the music of Thelonious Monk and Kurt Weill meets the history of Italy’s jazz festivals.
Koro Almost Brass travels the length of Italy all summer with a calendar of seven concerts, taking in some of the most significant events on the national jazz scene. The wind quintet brings together several of Italy’s most authoritative musicians in an unusual line-up, approached with a sensibility that looks as much to improvisation as to chamber music: a balance of tonal refinement, close attention to sound and expressive energy that lets the project speak to very different audiences and settings.
The tour opened on 21 May in Rovigo, in a region that has built a lively musical culture over the years around the Jazz Department of the “Francesco Venezze” Conservatory. On 18 June the group appeared at the PercFest in Laigueglia, the European Festival of Jazz and Percussion, which in 2026 celebrates thirty years. Founded in 1996 on an idea by double bassist Rosario Bonaccorso — still the festival’s artistic director — it has welcomed artists such as Benny Golson, Kenny Barron, Lee Konitz, Paolo Fresu and Stefano Bollani.
Five more dates now follow. On 21 July Koro Almost Brass reach Merate for Suoni Mobili, the touring series created by Musicamorfosi, which every summer turns historic villas, courtyards and public spaces across the provinces of Lecco, Milan and Monza e Brianza into meeting points between music and place.
On 8 August the ensemble plays Bagolino for San Rocco in Musica, a festival that since 2018 has brought the sixteenth-century Church of San Rocco to life under the artistic direction of violinist Daniele Richiedei. It is a setting particularly suited to the project, where concert performance and chamber listening become central to the experience.
On 11 August the group travels to Basilicata for the Majatica Jazz Festival in Ferrandina, founded in 2017 and now part of the region’s intangible cultural heritage. Directed by Fabio Vito Lacertosa and Raffaele Pecora, the festival has hosted artists including Fabrizio Bosso, Andy Sheppard and Enzo Avitabile.
Two days later, on 13 August, Koro Almost Brass appear at the BargaJazz Festival, one of the longest-running institutions in Italian jazz. Founded in 1986, the festival is historically bound to the work of Bruno Tommaso and the BargaJazz Orchestra, a creative workshop whose alumni include Stefano Bollani and Paolo Fresu.
The tour closes on 14 August in Alà dei Sardi, one of the towns taken in by Time in Jazz, the festival created and directed by Paolo Fresu since 1988, which every summer brings concerts and original productions to venues across northern Sardinia.
It is an itinerary through historic festivals, touring series and settings of real artistic and architectural interest, and it confirms Koro Almost Brass in their calling: to work along the fertile border between jazz, contemporary writing and a chamber-music sensibility. A project in which the legacy of Monk and Weill becomes a narrative in sound, addressed as readily to lovers of improvisation as to the audience for art music.
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🎧 Listen to the latest Koro Almost Brass album, released by Caligola Records, on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, YouTube Music and on all major download and streaming platforms.
