Who are the (new) ladies of Italian jazz

The jazz festival of Cormòns

For example, the presence of instrumental women has always been rarer than that of men. And in addition to the musical aspect, it is still found today a disparity in the top roles of the organizational sphere. “In the panorama of jazz, not only Italian of course, today we are faced with highly trained musicians: instrumentalists, composers, vocalists who use the voice as an innovative medium” explains Paola Martini, president of the Circolo Controtempo of Cormòns, organizer of the Jazz & Wine Of Peace festival.

«Research and what we are witnessing distinguish them it is a progressive growth of new generations of jazz musicians which offer top-level productions and are the bearers of a constantly evolving style. Expertise, sensitivity and refinement of inventiveness, all female characteristics, are enriching jazz “. And in general there is a growing presence of artists throughout Europe, a sign that something is moving. As shown by the four protagonists who are told here.

“For me jazz is an inner research”

Debora Petrina 50 years old, lives in Padua. Pianist, composer, songwriter, guitarist, dancer and writer. She has been defined by Paolo Fresu as “multiple and capable of multiplying art”.

“I consider the jazz an existential inclination, an artistic lifestyle, a journey, making various sources one’s own and then reworking them into something completely original. For me it is a continuous inner, vital, urgent search, and therefore my path is also wavering, just like a jazz improvisation: I move from avant-garde classical to songwriting.

I feel jazzman in the soul, and my being lies precisely in this, in not falling within a defined pattern. I mix a lot, as in the case of my latest works; I have recently published New World Symphonies, for voice and two pianos: an exploration into an imaginary world, in unknown territories, where I also sing in invented languages.

And it just came out The age of disorder, my first cd all in Italian, composed and written by me over the past two years. It is no coincidence that inspiration usually comes to me from personal experiences, and periods of “disorder”, at times irrational or traumatic, bear fruit, become a source of creativity. The musician’s job, however, is not just composing and playing, there is the communication and social part, organization, registration and care of the technical and logistic side …

Do you live there? No, something else needs to be done: the situation has worsened, many places have closed. I work part-time in a middle school, and I like to experiment in this area too. I have the boys compose and improvise, capable of opening horizons, and this is stimulating.

Just as it is, for me, dance, which gave me back to listening to the body, it helps me in teaching and accompanies me in my performances. There is a fact, however: a woman who, as in my case, is a producer, composer, songwriter, with a fairly marked personality, sometimes finds herself isolated.

There are still some schematisms that it was hoped were overcome; in jazz and even in rock, men are a bit communal. Without generalizing, they are often frightened by competition; and by the tenacity that we show. The positive note is that in the new generations this aspect is felt less. These are themes that touch me, and my experiences as a woman in the world of music I am at the center of a book I’m working on ».

“It gives me the idea of ​​the movement”

Camilla Battaglia 32, from Milan, lives between Florence and Berlin. She is a singer, pianist, composer The pentagram has always accompanied her (her parents are the pianist Stefano Battaglia and the singer Tiziana Ghiglioni) and she loves to experiment.

“Music has always been part of my family, of my existence, but then there was an important moment, that is when I decided to make it “my” life and to take an independent path. I remember perfectly when I walked out of a famous studio in Milan – I had just recorded my first album – and I thought: “I’d like to do this for my whole life.”

I studied piano, classical singing, I graduated in jazz singing and composition; I use the voice as my first “instrument”, also to write music, although singing is not the only thing I do. What is jazz for me? A changing language, a sort of “sponge” that absorbs everything it touches, and at the same time an ongoing process.

I love his prehensile nature, capable of incorporating, of opening up to the new, which leaves many possibilities open; I have the feeling of never being still, of always having something to experience. During my stay in Berlin, in 2017 I met Rosa Brunello: working together was natural, our professional relationship is super conspicuous and being on stage together, as for the festival Jazz & Wine of Peace, it is very intense.

Today the role of women is changing, there are points of reference for both instruments and voices: those who are younger can say “this is what I want to do, it is no longer a taboo”. Are you 13 and love drums, double bass? You finally have some people to look at, you can do it. The process goes on and I hope that in twenty years a young woman will not ask herself the problem of not being able to do something because it is not relevant to her gender.

It will surely take even longer curators, promoters, women’s press offices, sound techniques; in this field the male presence is prevalent, but I am sure it will change over time, the leap has been made, and I believe that musicians between 20 and 30 years find macho behavior anachronistic; the environment is improving, even if there are those who say “Now to play you have to be a woman, only you do it…”. Do they prefer a men’s club? Good for them.

I am only saddened by the people who experience the interaction in such a sublime art like music. I used to take it, now I prefer to direct the energies on my projects, like Perpetual Possibility, recently released disc, dedicated to the verses of TS Eliot, for solo voice and electronics. And also on the news: from November I will start teaching at Siena Jazz University ».

“Jazz is something magical”

Rosa Brunello 36 years old, born in Mirano, lives in Mogliano Veneto. Double bass player, bassist and composer, she loves to blend acoustic and electronic sounds to challenge the boundaries between genres. Her motto: music without borders «Something magical, which touches inner keys, which gives thousands of sensations, from joy to melancholy; this is how I see music, which I have always been in love with, since I was a child. I started with the guitar and the piano, then I moved on to the electric bass and, becoming passionate about jazz, the double bass.

Jazz is a genre that encompasses hundreds of facets; inside I also find popular music, reggae, electronic, rock … I grew up there, I stored it, and in this moment I could not imagine my life without it. And I really like it when there is an exchange of energies between me and the audience and vice versa: then there, for me, is the victory of the evening, of the concert. I transmit and receive, the most important aspect.

Being able to work with such a special and powerful art is a privilege. I often tell myself that I am lucky, and this helps me to face the bad times; this profession is made up of richer and poorer moments, not only economically, but also qualitatively and quantitatively. It is not easy for anyone, we have lived these last few years so particular, complex; It is difficult to live from concerts, but I consider myself lucky, because for the moment I can.

Also I’m proceeding with a project, a new record that I already love to madness, Sounds Like Freedom; I finished it in May and now I’m carrying it around. And then there is the work with my friend Camilla Battaglia – together we form the Hoodya duo – with whom I composed unreleased tracks and tracks from our upcoming album A Song has a Thousand years. In fact, it happens more and more often to find ourselves among women, and it is a beautiful, different feeling.

Over ten years ago the environment was decidedly more masculine, but now I often find myself meeting musicians, even younger than me, who are really talented; it is a magnificent novelty, very stimulating ».

“The clarinet is a part of my body”

Zoe Pia 36, ​​from Oristano, lives in the province of Rovigo. Clarinetist, composer, teacher, in 2018 she created the Pedras et Sonus Jazz Festival, of which she is project manager and artistic director “For me and my brother, as children, the playroom was that of musical instruments: guitars, drums, keyboards …

I found the clarinet under the Christmas tree when I was eight. I started playing it in the village band, which my father was a part of; from there the long course of studies, the Conservatory in Cagliari, the musical improvement on different fronts, from chamber music to composition, up to jazz, which for me is a container of rights, of freedom. It encompasses all that is positive, constructive and respectful, needs mutual listening, embraces, does not denigrate anything.

I also see it in my role as a teacher: I teach in a middle school with a musical focus, and last year I launched a project, the Little Jazz Festival, in which the children, taken to organizing a festival in all respects, have learned to value themselves together with others. It was also a kind of social experiment, that this year we will reply with some novelties, and the vitality shown has regenerated me; they were so happy that on the last day they asked me if they could hug me.

For those who do my profession, teaching is important: in the end in Italy almost everyone teaches, also because the time dedicated to production, to creation, is unpaid; the disparity between orchestral music is evident, where you receive a salary, and that of the chamber or jazz itself. The teaching is accompanied by the fundamental part purely dedicated to the musical aspect; for me the clarinet is a bit of an extension of my body, if I stay a few days without playing I suffer from it on an emotional level.

Through music I like to convey what I am – including the sides of my character linked to Sardinia – and communicate freedom, which at times can be bloody, at times sweet, melancholy; my experiences echo in it, from avant-garde chamber music, from Brahms to twelve-tone music. And I love to draw inspiration from the mysterious and energetic side that Sardinian archaeological sites contain, from tools such as launeddas, which I reinterpret in a personal way, at dances, where the best player was the one who knew best how to improvise. Here is the essence of Sardinian jazz. And what I hope to give to the public when I am on stage is the possibility of detaching from reality, in semi hypnosis ».

iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED