Tullio De Piscopo (born 24 February 1946 in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, 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 Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and two years later he moved to Milan, where he joined the Franco Cerri quintet. He later began a successful career as session drummer, playing with many international artists, including

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, Stéphane Grappelli, Massimo Urbani,

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, Slide Hampton,

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, Ástor Piazzolla, Aldemaro Romero, Gato Barbieri, Eumir Deodato, Mina,

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, Franco Battiato, Fabrizio De André, Pino Daniele,

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and others. Between the 1970s and 1980s, De Piscopo played on several occasions with

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

Pino Presti, with whom he established one of the top rhythm sessions in the Italian music scene. In 1974 and 1975, he was a member of New Trolls Atomic System. In 1979 De Piscopo played the drums in the album '' L'era del cinghiale bianco'' by the singer-songwriter Franco Battiato. The album reached the number one spot in Italy immediately after its publishing. In 2021, Tullio De Piscopo formed a jazz trio formed by him (

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

), Aldo Zunino ( bass player), Dado Moroni (

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

) . De Piscopo released his first solo album, ''Suonando la batteria moderna'', in 1974. One of his most successful songs is " Andamento lento", which won

Festivalbar The Festivalbar () was an Italian singing competition that took place in the most important Italian squares during summer, such as the Piazza del Duomo, Catania or Piazza Bra, Verona. The first edition took place in 1964 and was broadcast by ...

in 1988. His 1984 single "Stop Bajon (Primavera)" reached No.1 spot in Italy and No.58 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1987. His 1985 song "Radio Africa" (written by Lino Nicolosi and Dora Carofiglio) was a collaboration with Guinean singer Mory Kanté. He is also the owner of the record label Bagaria. He also wrote scores for several films. Current DragonForce drummer Gee Anzalone was taught by Piscopo at the NAMM Academy in Milan and refers to him as an influence.

Discography

* ''Suonando la batteria moderna'' (1974) * ''Volume 2'' (1975) * ''Concerto per un film: L'arma'' (1978) * ''Live'' (1981) * ''Metamorphosis'' (1981) * ''Acqua e viento'' (1983) * ''Passaggio da Oriente'' (1985) * ''Drum Symphony'' (1986) * ''Bello carico'' (1988) * ''Album'' (1989) * ''De Piscopo'' (1991) * ''Cosmopolitana'' (1993) * ''Zzacotturtaic'' (1995) * ''Pasión mediterranea'' (1997) * ''Jazz Friends'' (2000) * ''Live in Zurich at Mood's Club'' (2004) * ''Bona Jurnata'' (2007)

References

External links

Official site
(note: flash-only) {{DEFAULTSORT:De Piscopo, Tullio 1946 births Living people Musicians from Naples Italian jazz drummers Italian male drummers Italian pop musicians Italian session musicians Italian bandleaders Italian male singers Tango musicians 20th-century Italian musicians 21st-century Italian musicians 20th-century drummers 21st-century Italian drummers 20th-century Italian male musicians 21st-century Italian male musicians Italian male jazz musicians