Drummer, composer, Tony Cigna, born in Italy, started to play music while very young, cultivating, from the very beginning, a great interest for jazz-music and everything that surrounded the jazz-scene. After having finished his studies, he decided to dedicate all his time to music, participating in various groups and jazz-festivals. In 1979 he participated at “Brazilian music and rhythms “ with the Brazilian percussionist Afonso Vieira. In 1984 he frequented the courses of Berklee College of Music and had Jimmy Cobb as docent. In the same period he played with the big-band conducted by the saxophonist Paul Jeffrey at the Umbria International Jazz festival. In 1985, in Italy he collaborated with musicians such as the Canadian tenor sax and flute player Larry Nash, the alto and soprano sax player Gianni Gebbia, the double-bass player Lelio Giannetto, the alto sax player Orazio Maugeri and the American trumpet player and composer Jeff Silvertrust.
He transferred to Denmark [Copenhagen] where he made some master classes with Ed Thigpen docent at the "Rhythmic Conservatory" in Copenhagen, and have played with a lot Scandinavian jazz musicians. In 1991, together with the danish tenor saxophonist player Thomas Agergaard, the pianist Nikolaj Hess and the double-bass player Ole Rasmussen, he recorded “To meet again”, which was produced and distributed by the danish jazz label Olufsen records. For many years now, Tony Cigna has been working as free lance and sideman in different groups and recordings as well as a music teacher on full time scale at the civic music schools. In March 2000 the italian TDS records released his latest music project, latin(o)touch. This record contains some of his own compositions and the musicians are: Tony Cigna on drums and cymbals, Larry Nash on flute, Mauro Schiavone on piano, Orazio Maugeri on tenor and sopran sax, Giuseppe Greco on guitar, Riccardo Lo Bue on bass. The Cd has been well received with positive reviews in various music magazines. In Denmark the magazine JAZZspecial has published an interview. In 1998/99 and 2003 Tony Cigna toured in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Turkey, Denmark and Italy with the world music group “Taberna Mylaensis”, giving concerts in theaters and festivals as well as performing in television for the VPRO TV in Holland and for the RAI Italian television. In the same period a live Cd “La chiami Sicilia” was produced and released by PAN records.
Presently Tony Cigna is touring with various groups and doing gigs with different Scandinavians, Italian and French musicians such as Thomas Fryland, Marco Tamburini, Jesper Riis, Jonas Westergaard, Orazio Maugeri, Niels Ryde, Enrico Rosa, Daniel Franck, Christina Von Bülow, Flavio Piantoni, Giuseppe Costa, Francois Bahu. Besides, from the beginning of 2005 he has become a part of a project, "ReBop Union", leaded by the talented young guitarist and composer, Francesco Cigna, with whom he has co produced a Cd called "Blue Notes", released in September 10th 2007, by the Danish jazz label Calibrated.