MAX IONATA HAMMOND TRIO (Italy, Austria)
Max Ionata, saxophone
Luca Mannutza, hammond organ
Clemens Marktl, drums
Admission free!
Max Ionata is considered one of the most important contemporary Italian saxophonists. He received the first prize of the Baronissi National Jazz Competition and the Audience Award at the Tramplin Jazz International Competition in Avignon. In 2012 and 2013, he received the Jazzit Award for Best Tenor Saxophonist in Italy, and the prestigious Jazz Life magazine described him as a musician “who pushed milestones in jazz”. He is an artist with a truly international reach. He has recorded more than 70 CDs with Italian and foreign musicians. He is the leader of various projects and collaborates with top artists with whom he performs around the world, such as Robin Eubanks, Reuben Rogers, Clarence Penn, Lenny White, Billy Hart, Joe Locke, Anne Ducros, Steve Grossman, Miles Griffith, Mike Stern, Bob Mintzer, Bob Franceschini, Flavio Boltro, Fabrizio Bosso, Enrico Pierannunzi, Mario Biondi, Renzo Arbore and many others.
Luca Mannutza, after completing his piano studies at the G.P. Palestrine played many musical genres in Cagliari, and due to his exceptional ear for improvisation and creativity, he found himself in jazz. He initially collaborated with renowned Argentine saxophonist Hector Sostit and New York trumpet player Andy Gravish, and later with the best Italian jazz musicians such as Paolo Fresu, Emanuele Cisi, Bebo Ferra, Roberto Gatto and Fabrizio Bosso. He is also a member of the internationally most successful Italian jazz band The High Five Quintet and various projects with an endless number of musicians. Among other awards, he won the International Massimo Urban Award, with the Max Ionata Quartet he received the Audience Award at the Tramplin Jazz International Competition in Avignon, and in 2002 he entered the final round of the Martial Solal International Competition in Paris, considered the most authoritative jazz competition for pianists.
After graduating from the Klagenfurt Conservatory, drummer Klemens Marktl continued his studies in the Netherlands and the jazz capital of New York, where he learned from two legends, Jimmy Cobb and Jimmy Wormwort, and contemporaries such as Kenny Washington, Lewis Nash, Jeff “Tain” Watts , John Riley, Tony Moreno, Ralph Peterson Jr., Ali Jackson, Rodney Green, Johnathan Blake, Kendrick Scott and many others. As a well-honed drummer, he returned to the Netherlands, where he quickly established himself, won the first Leiden Jazz Award and recorded his debut album, after which he moved to New York again. He soon joined rising New York jazz stars such as Vincent Herring, Rob Bargard, John Swana, Waldron Riks, Winton Marsalis, Robert Lynch and Chris Potter. In 2004, he returned to his native Austria, where he continued his successful music career. In addition to numerous projects with an enviable list of collaborators, he teaches jazz percussion at the Klagenfurt Conservatory.
The concert is organized with the support of the Italian Institute of Culture in Slovenia.
