Massimo Urbani (8 May 1957 – 24 June 1993) was an Italian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

alto saxophonist The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E, smaller tha ...

. He played principally in the

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

style.

Life and career

Urbani was born in

Primavalle Primavalle is the 27th of Rome, identified by the initials Q. XXVII. It is part of the Municipio XIV. History Thanks to several archaeological discoveries, the first settlements in the area can be dated back to 1st century BC: a structure of t ...

, Rome on 8 May 1957, the oldest of five brothers.Bailey, C. Michael (18 March 2005
"Remembering Saxophonist Massimo Urbani"
AllAboutJazz. His first instrument, from 1968, was the clarinet, but he soon switched to the alto saxophone. Urbani died of a heroin overdose on 23 June 1993. ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' commented that "Urbani's senseless death robbed Europe of a player whose records are a flawed testament to a bopper of enormous guts and facility."

Discography

* 1974 ''Jazz a Confronto 13'' ( Horo) * 1977 ''Invitation'' (Philology * 1979 ''360° Aeutopia'' (

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

) * 1980 ''Dedications to A.A. & J.C. – Max's Mood'' (Red) * 1981 ''Go Max Go'' (Philology) * 1983 ''Max Leaps In'' with

Tullio De Piscopo Tullio De Piscopo (born 24 February 1946 in Naples, Italy) is an Italian drummer, percussionist and singer-songwriter. De Piscopo was born in Naples. His father was an orchestra percussionist. In 1969 he moved to Turin and two years later he moved ...

, Mike Melillo, Massimo Moriconi) * 1984 ''The Urbisaglia Voncert'' (Philology) * 1987 ''Easy to Love'' (Red) * 1987 ''Duets Improvisations for Yardbird'' with Mike Melillo (Philology) * 1988 ''Urlo'' (Elicona) * 1990 ''Out of Nowhere'' (Splasc) * 1991 ''Round About Max with Strings'' (Sentemo) * 1993 ''The Blessing'' (Red)

References

External links

* * 1957 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Italian people Italian jazz saxophonists Italian jazz clarinetists Italian male saxophonists 20th-century Italian musicians 20th-century Italian saxophonists 20th-century Italian male musicians Italian male jazz musicians {{Italy-musician-stub