PASQUALE CALÒ QUARTET

Pasquale Calò, alto and tenor saxophone, keyboards, electronics
Salvoandrea Lucifora, trombon, electronics
Carlos Rodenas Borja, double bass, electric bass
Alessandro Campobasso, drums and percussion

The Puglian saxophonist, composer, arranger and conductor Pasquale Calò is also the founder of the Improvisers Collective and the eponymous artistic platform Mediterraneo Radicale, which is now active in several European countries. As a composer and conductor, he is active in ensembles such as the Torino-Milano Improvisers Orchestra, the Mediterraneo Radicale Orchestra, the European Improvisers Orchestra and the Orchestra Mediterranea degli Improvvisatori. He has collaborated with major artists in the fields of jazz, world, contemporary, improvised and electroacoustic music. Since 2006 he has performed on stages in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Hungary. He also has experience in conducting masterclasses and workshops in Brazil, Italy and Spain – in particular the ongoing urban workshops for improvised music Mediterraneo Radicale in Bari, Milan, Terlizzi and Turin.

Since 2012 he has been leading two research projects, Common Roots (research on the relationship between contemporary music, with a focus on the fields of radical improvisation, and the characteristic elements of folk music traditions) and Solo Saxophone (the artistic process has led to the production of four performances – Seven Mantras, Archè, Forbidden and Autocracy, which have been performed live in several European countries). In 2010, he also carried out a research on Programming Tools for Improvisers Ensemble, which looked into the elements of music programming for large improvisers ensembles, developed in several countries in Europe and Brazil, and culminated in the production of several orchestral works.

Calò will be presenting his quartet and project Where I Come From at SAXGO24. Where I Come From was born as a diary of the elements of folk music traditions that Pasquale Calò encountered in Italy, Spain, the Balkans, India, North Africa and Central and South America. Over the years, it has changed hands between many performers and has been performed by various ensembles. The work focuses on the concept of identity. It has led Pasquale to delve into its tradition in order to identify and develop in a new light those elements that we have inherited from this oldest part of our culture.