Gianni Mimmo has built an international reputation for his unique treatment of musical timbre and his exploration of the advanced techniques on the soprano saxophone. His peculiar work is mainly focused on the relationship among distant artistic declinations and his style is based on a deep knowledge of the instrument and on a sound consciousness which is the constitutional element of his voice.
Gianni has developed a unique blend of abstract lyricism and contemporary flavours. His projects have been excellently reviewed by international magazines and webzines.
In the last few years some features of his music have shifted to unsuspected directions and his personal curiosity led him to new connections adding some fresh subtleness to his instrumental tone and developing a more compositional attitude to his improvisation.
As composer he often works with graphic scores where elements coming from different musical languages find a new form where fragments and more unbound ideas ask for a fresher interpretation and performing responsibility.
His pantheon is pretty crowded and includes several names coming from art, music and philosophy: painters like Jackson Pollock, John McLaughlin, Toti Scialoja, Mario Sironi, Felice Casorati; adventurous jazz musicians like Steve Lacy, Roscoe Mitchell, contemporary souls like John Cage, Robert Ashely, Earle Brown, philosophers and beautiful minds like Giorgio Agamben and John Berger, writers like Yasunari Kawabata and Herman Melville, poets like Marina Cvetaeva and Wisława Szymborska.
His current projects include collaboration with musicians as Harri Sjöström, Alison Blunt, John Russell, Daniel Levin, Hannah Marshall, Elisabeth Harnik, Clementine Gasser, Gianni Lenoci, Cristiano Calcagnile, Lawrence Casserley, Martin Mayes, Vinny Golia, Garrison Fewell, Benedict Taylor, Gino Robair, Jean-Michel van Schouwburg, Nicholas Isherwood, Ove Volquartz, Nicola Guazzaloca, Xabier Iriondo, Michele Marelli, Teppo Hauta-hao ,Mario Arcari, Achim Kaufmann, Matthias Bauer, Veli Kujala, Enzo Rocco, Angelo Contini, Stefano Pastor, Stefano Giust, Alessio Pisani, with dancers Marcella Fanzaga, Norontako Bagus Kentus, Sebastian Prantl, photographer Elda Papa, video artists and poets as well.
He extensively tours in Europe and USA invited by international festivals and venues and runs the indie label Amirani Records.
Next Live
St. Johann in Tirol (A)
Festival artcts '25
WILD CHAMBER TRIO ( Gianni Mimmo soprano sax, Elisabeth Harnik piano, Clementine Gasser 5-string cello)
Japan
TBA
March 24 to April 6 Gianni Mimmo plays Hashira Yamamoto photographs. Recording and live concerts in JAPAN
Bari
TBA
May 14 to 18, 2025 - Gianni Mimmo soprano sax-Ove Volquartz (bass and contra bass clarinets, flute) SAY WHEN (AUT RECORDS)cd launch MONOPOLI, ITALY at Gianni Lenoci's studio plus other dates in BARI area
Graz (A)
STOCKWERKJAZZ
WILD CHAMBER TRIO ( Gianni Mimmo soprano sax, Elisabeth Harnik piano, Clementine Gasser 5-string cello)
KLAGENFURT (A)
INNENHOFKULTUR
WILD CHAMBER TRIO ( Gianni Mimmo soprano sax, Elisabeth Harnik piano, Clementine Gasser 5-string cello)
News
Wild Chamber Trio live at MUG – Munich Underground at Einstein Kultur
Thursday, 13 March 2025 8 p.m.
MUG – Munich Underground at Einstein Kultur
Gianni Mimmo, soprano saxophone [I]
Elisabeth Harnik, piano [A]
Clementine Gasser, cello [CH]
About a dozen years after their debut recording,the Wild Chamber Trio, a cross-alpine meeting of the Italian Gianni Mimmo, Swiss Clementine Gasser, and Austrian Elisabeth Harnik, luckily decided to pick up the threads again, and will take us on a joyride through the land of jazz energy and classical sonority without a road map.
The idea of playing improvised music in a “chamber” setting dates back to the early 60s, when cool-jazz reed player Jimmy Giuffre stepped further away from convention in the company of the then-young, now-legendary Steve Swallow and Paul Bley. Compared to the explosive, confrontational, blues-steeped flights of his more-famous contemporary Ornette Coleman, Giuffre’s drumless music was one of an intimate, boundless, searching dialogue.
Sixty years later, the trio continues the conversation, navigating through sounds of considerable variety and surprising originality. All three constituents possess the prerequisite musical skills for high-level free improvisation. They have the musical ears and brains to pick up and instantly expound upon the most abstract statements of their partners, and the physical ability to execute each impulse seamlessly.
The real liberating factor in the group, however, is the huge range of effects the musicians conjure from their actual instruments. The possibilities for new textures expand with each successive minute of their musical conversation. When the trio deals in notes, their dialogues show deep invention and expert cohesion, but when they play with sounds, they attain near-telepathy.
The improvisations open with powerful collective statements of atmosphere, and at moments of climax, the ensemble sound is an overwhelmingly rich cacophony, leaving the listener with the wish not to let the concert ever end.
Location: MUG – Munich Underground at Einstein Kultur
Entrance fee: 15 Euro, members of Offene Ohren e.V. 12 Euro, free admission up to 21 years (inclusive)
