Singer, instrumentalist, but also journalist, television and radio
personality,GeGè Telesforo represents a professional figure of
a thousand facets.
The fundamental
common denominator of his multiple activities is music,that is "Good
Music", to which he devotes all his creative energy.
GeGé's artistic endeavors started when his incredible vocal talent
was discovered by Renzo Arbore. Over the years he has developed his
own personal style of "scat", renewing a particular form of
vocal improvisation, almost forgotten abroad and which never existed
in Italy. GeGè put together the best musicians of the Italian
jazz scene. His unforgettable concerts in the mid 80's presented a renewal
of old jazz standards, using breathtaking arrangements and moving harmonies.
Later, he began to establish himself abroad performing with such "Jazz
Masters" as Jon Hendricks, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, DeeDee
Bridgewater and many others. In the United States, thanks to his association
with Ben Sidran, pianist, singer, writer and producer, Telesforo has
found a second home, where he has recorded in important studios and
has collaborated with the most recognized international musicians for
GoJazz Records. His undisputed talent has been exported around the world,
as far as Japan where he has had an incredible success playing his part
with The Go Jazz All Stars. For sometime Telesforo has focused his musical
evolution on aggressive funk style, in which jazz elements and improvisations
come together to form a rigorous and unmistakable rhythm dominated by
groove.
Now, accompanying Telesforo is a band of extraordinary musicians, "PureFunkLive".
The various elements of this energetic band assure a dynamatic sound
impact tru1y impressionable in which he is able to free his creative
singing.
Vincenzo Martorella
(journalist and music critic)
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"The sound heard the whole world round"
by Jon Hendricks
Those of us engaged in the practice of what Duke Ellington called America’s
export-import Cultural Art Form", Jazz Music, are constantly on
the "listen out" for practitioners of our craft far from our
own shores.
Some of these off-shore practitioners have been so proficient, so adept,
so just-plain-good that they have joined the ranks of world-wide Jazz
artists;
Stephane Grappelly and George Shearing, to mention but two. The list,
however, is long and growing longer all the time.
There is hardly an American Jazz musician traveling the world who doesn’t
have a story of some "bad cat" in some country or other he
has visited who "can really burn", as the saying goes. I myself,
for example, remember my five years in London, England during which
time I hardly missed America musically, so downright "down"
were the English cats I played with at Ronnie Scott’s Club, including
Ronnie himself.
However, this situation, while being true where instrumentalists are
concerned, has not always been true where authentic Jazz Singers are
concerned, and by "authentic Jazz Singers", I mean cats (or
chicks) who can
scat, since, in my considered opinion, if you can’t scat you may
be a Jazzy singer, but no Jazz Singer.
Louis Armstrong, the Father of us all, invented Jazz Singing and scatted
like no one ever heard before or since. And those who followed Satch
vocally, Leo Watson, Bon-Bon (with Jan Savit’s Orchestra), Bing
Crosby (be surprised if you want to), Babs Gonzalez, Dave Lambert, Me,
Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin, Clark Terry and George Benson, although
they moved scat through
swing into Bebop, know we owe it all to Satchmo.
So when you hear some cat in some land far from the U.S. of A. scatting
his brains out in the manner born your ears are going to perk up and
you are not going to rest until you know who THIS cat is! I felt that
way when I heard a German Bebop singer, Willi Johannes, and I felt that
way the first time I heard Gege’.
When I first heard Gege’ on "The International Doc Club",
the television show he hosted in Rome, I said to myself, "Self,
this is one bad motorcycle!"
That opinion has not changed, nor will it ever. Gege’ is bad.
He’s good too, of course, but he’s better than good. He’s
BAD!
It’s not so much in what he does. It’s the awareness of
conception and subtleties he puts into it that astound. When you hear
him you know you’re listening to a soul that’s on the inside
singing out, not on the outside looking in. This ain’t no cat
trying to git it. This is a cat that’s GOT it!
Gege’ was born in Foggia, a town South of Rome between Bari and
Naples on October 14, 1961. His father loved American Jazz Music, so
little Gege’ was exposed to the sounds from childhood. "At
14 or 15, it was no Beatles for me", he says, and I certainly did
hear that. On entering the Economy University in Rome, ostensibly to
study how to make a decent living, Gege’ continued playing drums
and percussion at night in local Roman Jazz clubs,
also continuing his piano studies in order to facilitate hiscomposing,
all the while continuing to sing.
In his
nocturnal visits to these Roman Jazz clubs he encountered drummer Roberto
Gatto, who is, according to Gege’, "the best in Italy",
but in some other places too. Anyway, after hearing him, Gege’
abandoned drumming, a feeling I can completely empathize with, since
I came to New York at Bird’s invitation from Toledo, Ohio, where
I had played drums for 8 years, heard Roy Haynes with Bird and gave
up drums forever.
Having played drums and percussion in an orchestra led by Renzo Arbore,
the famous Italian producer, Gege’ was asked to host a television
show Renzo was going to do called "The International Doc Club"
(a kind of combination of our Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live all
in one). This was a gig Gege’ performed admirably for more than
two years (over 450 shows) until the popular show went off the tube.
During that time, he was, however, host to some of his all-time heroes,
Miles Davis, Betty Carter, Jimmy Smith, James Brown and Jon Hendricks
and Company. He lists as his favorite singers Eddie Jefferson, Johnny
Hartman (especially the album
with Coltrane), Mel Torme, and bless his heart, Me. I am as honored
to be in such company as Gege’s favorites as I am to be on this
album.
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Producer's Note
by Ben Sidran
Gege’
Telesforo, as Jon Hendricks has pointed out, is Italy’s foremost
jazz singer. He has hosted national radio and television programs for
many years, and is a media celebrity who represents the best of the
living jazz tradition. For several years, he was the host of the television
program "Doc", a nightly performance program in Rome that
showcased the best international musical talent. During this period,
he performed with or interviewed such stars as Dizzy Gillespie, Deedee
Bridgewater, Betty Carter, Miles Davis, James Brown and Jimmy Smith.
His recordings on Go Jazz have
featured his scat-singing with such jazz masters as Clark Terry, Jon
Hendricks and Bob Malach. But what makes him truly special is that he
is both a bebopper and a bluesman. His current band, Pure Funk Live,
is a hard-driving collection of young musicians who can swing as hard
as any group in the world. Gege continues to produce radio and television
programs -- his radio program "Rompitasche" (1989/1996 Radio
Dimensione Suono Network)
was the highest rated nightly show in Rome for several seasons and his
television series "Tribu" broke new ground for the interaction
of high technology with great live music — and he is touring continuously,
both in Italy and around the world (recently he was heard in Germany,
Spain and in the USA) leading his own band and playing his part with
the Go Jazz Allstars.
La biografia
di Gegè in pdf
