Ada Montellanico

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A unanimously acclaimed artist of highly refined sensibility, Ada Montellanico’s broad vocal repertory ranges from American jazz standards — which she interprets with rare originality and delicacy — to the expressive lyrics/music relationships explored on her first CD entitled The Encounter, recorded in 1993 with Jimmy Cobb, Walter Booker and Massimo Faraò; and on her very successful 1996 L’Altro Tenco, dedicated to the compositions of Italian singer/song-writer Luigi Tenco, and a recording that marked the opening of an interpretative universe that was soon to prove one of the most inspired of the contemporary Italian jazz scene.
Ma L’amore no, recorded in 1997 with the Enrico Pieranunzi trio featuring Lee Konitz and Enrico Rava, is an even sharper and more brilliant example of a vocal talent capable of tripping adroitly out of an exhilarating and dynamic scat into soft, warm, dreamy atmospheres of intimate nuance. In 2000 Ada paired up with renowned classical guitarist Arturo Tallini to record a tribute to the Spanish poet Lorca entitled Zorongo, a masterful reinterpretation of 16th century Spanish folk songs.
Suoni Modulanti was released in 2002, and here the interaction between lyrics and music becomes even more intense thanks to an entirely original series of selections of Ada’s own composition as well as by other well-known authors writing for her such as Enrico Pieranunzi, Massimo Nunzi and Daniele Luttazzi.
In the summer of 2003 Ada participated in Massimo Nunzi’s very successful musical rendition of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in which she sung the lead role of Miranda. Her collaboration with Nunzi continued on Casa Moderna, the last CD recorded by that renowned Roman trumpet player. She also participated, between 2005 and 2006 as a guest performer in another two projects by Massimo Nunzi and his orchestra, I Grandi del Jazz - Istruzioni per l'uso: le forme moderne del Jazz I (1940-1960) staged at Rome’s Teatro Sistina, and La Notte della Televisione Italiana at Rome’s Auditorium.
The CD Danza di una Ninfa was introduced at Perugia’s historic Teatro Pavone during the 2005 edition of the Umbria Jazz Festival, where Ada and Enrico Pieranunzi performed along with a group of highly acclaimed musicians that also included the great Paul McCandless. The concert was centred on several particularly poignant selections from the repertory of Italian singer/ songwriter Luigi Tenco, newly arranged by Pieranunzi for the occasion, along with four previously unpublished written pieces set to music by Ada and Pieranunzi. A series of concerts followed this one which resulted in widespread appreciation in Italy and also abroad for the CD; some particularly important dates included the Roccella Jonica summer festival, the Taormina festival and the Auditorium in Rome.
Ada has also been performing regularly for many years now with such major chamber ensembles as Gianni Oddi’s saxophone quartet Ialsax, the a cappella vocal group Kammerton Vocal Ensemble and the classical Blue Note Ensemble conducted by Marcello Faneschi, with which she developed a Gershwin repertory. Ada has also been extremely active abroad, especially in France and the Netherlands. She participated in the 22nd edition of the “Tenco Award”, ranking among the best performers of 1997, and performed with Pieranunzi and Rava in the event’s finale, which was broadcast on national television (RAI 2).
She was the 1999 winner of the “Montefortino Award” for best representative of the Italian artistic panorama.
In April of 2003 she brought Italian jazz to Cuba, playing concerts in Santiago de Cuba and Havana along with a series of Cuban musicians.
In September 2005 she participated for the third year running in Rome’s “Notte Bianca” (an all-nighter held once a year in Rome when museums are open and concerts go on all night long); she also gave a concert in Budapest at the Italian Cultural Institute, as well as many others in Rome at the Romanian Academy, the French Academy, French Embassy and Italian Foreign Ministry. From August 2005 to January 2006 Ada was the performed in "Il canto d’amore e di morte dell’alfiere", from an original story by Rainier Maria Rilke, a tribute to Lisa Natoli produced by the Roccella Jazz Festival–25th edition, staged in Roccella Jonica during the summer jazz festival and in Rome at the Teatro Vascello and the Teatro del Lido di Ostia.
In addition to her musical activities, Ada Montellanico has been a guest lecturer at many conferences and conventions. She spoke on 7 October 2005 at the conference “Identità e imagine feminile”, held at the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome. Her speech, entitled “Suono e Immagine Femminile: una ricerca” was later published in the journal “Sogno della farfalla”, no. 1, January 2006, for Nuove Edizioni Publishers in Rome.
Ada also appeared as a special guest on the CD Pieranunzi & Friends, supplement to the April 2006 issue of “l’Espresso” magazine, which was dedicated to jazz.
She has performed on the following radio and television programmes:
VillageeRadioScrigno onRAI1-2-3, Notturno Italiano on Radio RAI INTERNATIONAL, Radio 24, RCF; programmes for New Year’s 2004 and 2005 broadcast around the world by RAI INTERNATIONAL, and Vincenzo Mollica’s doreciakgulpon TG1.
Festivals in which Ada has taken part over the years: “Four Roses”, Atina, Venice, Catania, Ancona, Genova, Calvì, Ferrara, “Villa Celimontana” in Rome, Monteroduni, Fabriano, Fogliano, Bari, Ivrea, Ciampino, Nocera, Vicenza, Lucca, Udine, Imola, Milazzo, Montalcino, “Women in Jazz” in Chieti, Cerisano, Roccella Jonica, “Women in Jazz” at the Rome Opera House, “Suoni in Cava” in Apricena, “Bussinjazz”, Gabbicce, Mosciano S. Angelo, Scalea Jazz, Umbria Jazz, Controcanto – Women in Jazz 2005 Frascati, “Jazz in blu” at Casalgrande, Palermo.
Artists she’s performed with: Enrico Pieranunzi, Enrico Rava, Massimo Urbani, Renato Sellani, Roberto Gatto, Danilo Rea, Gianluigi Trovesi, Maurizio Giammarco, Mario Raja, Massimo Faraò, Jimmy Cobb, Lee Konitz, Walter Booker, Nat Adderley, Ben Sidran, Gary Bartz, George Cables, Albert Heath, Jesse Davis, Paul McCandless and others;
CDs recorded under her own name:
Ada Montellanico & Jimmy Cobb Trio "The Encounter" (Philology 1993).
Ada Montellanico Quart. & Enrico Rava "L'Altro Tenco" (Philology 1996)
Enrico Pieranunzi Trio & Ada Montellanico "Ma l’amore No" (Soul Note 1997)
Ada Montellanico & Arturo Tallini "Zorongo" (Agorà-Musikstrasse 2000)
Ada Montellanico "Suoni Modulanti" (Abeat 2002)
Ada Montellanico & Enrico Pieranunzi Ensemble "Danza di una ninfa" (Egea 2005)
Ada Montellanico "Il Sole di un Attimo" (Egea 2008)
Ada Montellanico "Omaggio a Billie Holiday" (L'Espresso-Repubblica 2008)
Ada Montellanico has also written a book titled Quasi Sera - Una storia di Tenco, about her musical research work on Luigi Tenco, published by Stampa Alternativa/Nuovi Equilibri, part of the “Sconcerto” series, which is enjoying considerable success in Italian bookshops. On the occasion of the publication of this latest literary effort she met with students from two Roman universities for whom she ran lecture/workshops at the Departments of Communication Sciences and Economics.
Ada Montellanico duets with Daniele Luttazzi in "The Flowers in Spring" for his new upcoming album titled 'School is boring'. Daniele Luttazzi is one of the most beloved comedians in Italy. He is also a master songsmith who's able to craft very fine tunes.
http://www.danieleluttazzi.it/
http://www.indiestore.com/danieleluttazzi