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Born on August 17th 1960, Maria Pia De Vito is an Italian vocalist, composer and arranger and is a standout of the contemporary European jazz scene.

She studied opera and contemporary singing and began her music career in 1976 as a vocalist and musician (plectra, percussion, piano) in research groups committed to ethnic music as well as ethnic and non-ethnic polyphony, mostly related to the Mediterranean, Balkan and South-American areas.

Since 1980 she has been active in the jazz sphere, collaborating steadily with musicians like John Taylor, Ralph Towner, Rita Marcotulli, Ernst Rejiseger, Paolo Fresu, Norma Winstone, Steve Swallow, Gianluigi Trovesi, David Linx, Diederik Wissels and gigging with musicians having the calibre of Joe Zawinul, Michael Brecker, Miroslav Vitous, Uri Caine, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Eliot Ziegmund, Cameron Brown, Steve Turre, Maria Joao, Ramamani Ramanujan, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Nguyen-le and many others, playing many of the most important international festivals and touring Europe and overseas.

After 15 years practicing the great American jazz songbook of scat and be-bop, in 1994 she begins a new phase of her work with the project Nauplia, conceived and directed together with Rita Marcotulli, her first trespass into free form and the crossover with European jazz. The vocal textures form the basis of the sound, which will see the encounter between the hybrid of jazz and the peculiarities of Neapolitan singing (”Nauplia”, “Fore Paese”, “Triboh”). 

The concept of improvisational possibilities of the voice in contact with several cultural contexts becomes the basis of her new direction, whose first release is “Phonè”, a work about the voice preceding the language and about rhythm and dance in their different cultural inflexion.  It is a project that marks the beginning of the collaboration with John Taylor.

At Umbria Jazz ‘98 she presented the Phoné project, which featured John Taylor, Gianluigi Trovesi, Enzo Pietropaoli and Federico Sanesi. Among their most important performances, the group played in Weimar, in occasion of WEIMAR 1999.

Since 1996 she has collaborated with British composer Colin Towns with his Big Band, The Mask Orchestra. She played live at the major festivals in England and Germany including the remarkable exhibition at the Queen Elizabeth Hall of London with the “Mask Symphonic” (70 musicians) and the participation of Norma Winstone.

In 1997 the Maria Pia De Vito / John Taylor / Ralph Towner trio is born, marked with the release of the album “Verso”.

In 2001 the name of Maria Pia was critically lauded by the most celebrated signatures of American jazz press as she is  in the category “Beyond Artist” of the 49th Down Beat Critics Poll.  In this list, her name appears alongside outstanding artists such as Caetano Veloso, Joni Mitchell, Cesaria Evora, Olu Dara, Carlos Santana, Uri Caine and Marisa Monte.

This very important acknowledgement was to be her stepping stone into the international market.

In 2001 she also imposed herself on the Italian scene, winning the POSITANO JAZZ prize.

In 2002 she released the CD “Nel Respiro” with the John Taylor and Ralph Towner trio, with the participation of Steve Swallow and Patrice Heral, with whom she begins a profitable artistic collaboration.

2003 is the year for the project and the release of the CD “Tumulti” which represents her most experimental work to date.  Oriented to interaction between voice, improvisation and electronics, co-leading the project with Patrice Heral and collaborating with cello player Ernst Reijseger and Austrian pianist Paul Urbanek, multi-awarded in his country for his “reverse composing” works.

“Tumulti” received enormous critical approval and was performed live at jazz festivals in Italy and abroad.

On “So Right” (2005) together with the co-leaders Danilo Rea and Enzo Pietropaoli and the contribution of drummer Aldo Romano, she reflects on song form through the reinterpretation of seven songs by Joni Mitchell and five of her own compositions.

Over the last few years she has been a leading player in projects including “Il Brutto Anatroccolo” (The Ugly Duckling) with music by Giorgio Gaslini, “Gesualdo on Gesualdo da Venosa”, by (and with) Tino Tracanna and Corrado Guarino, “Oltre Napoli”, “La Notte” and “Lettera da Orsara” by Bruno Tommaso, and “Il Celeste Specchio” by Carlo Boccadoro.

She regularly collaborates with the sculptor and video-maker Marisa Albanese with whom she has produced three videos which were presented in art museums and galleries.

2009 has seen the release of her latest album, “Mind The Gap”, a further exploration of the crossover territory between freeform jazz, traditional European music and abstract electronica, and contains a reinterpretation of the Bjork hit “Hidden Place”.

Discography:

Maria Pia De Vito / John Taylor / Ralph Towner Trio:
Verso – 1997
Nel Respiro – 2002

Phoné (Maria Pia De Vito, John Taylor, Gianluigi Trovesi, Enzo Pietropaoli, Federico Sanesi):
Phoné – 1998

Nauplia (Rita Marcotulli, Maria Pia De Vito):
Nauplia – 1994
Fore Paese – 1996
Triboh – 1997 (featuring percussionist Arto Tunçboyaciyan)

Solo:
Tumulti – 2003
So Right – 2008
Mind The Gap – 2009

Colin Towns:
Still Life – 1998
Dreaming Man with Blue Suede Shoes – 2004

Maria Pia De Vito & Huw Warren:
Dialektos – 2008

If you speak Italian, you might find this interview interesting (regardling Tumulti), or if not, you might just want to skip to the bits where she’s playing with her band…

Unfortunately it’s the only Maria Pia De Vito video I can find on YouTube that has even remotely decent sound quality.

Needless to say, check her out on Spotify.

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