Italian trumpet player, flugelhorn player and jazz musician (b. Berchidda, Olbia, 1961). Graduated from the Conservatory of Cagliari in 1984, he quickly established himself as one of the most important names in contemporary jazz at an international level, both as a soloist and within various groups: the Paolo Fresu Quintet (a long-lived ensemble founded in 1984 and still active), the duo with F. Di Castri and the Paolo Fresu Angel Quartet (home to electronic experimentation). His style, imbued with melancholic and nocturnal atmospheres, owes much to great jazz masters such as C. Baker, G. Evans and M. Davis; however, over the years he has freed himself from these models that in some way contributed to the limitation of his expressive possibilities. F. is involved in various projects related to the promotion of the traditional Sardinian repertoire and has numerous collaborations in the field of “cultured” music (with the Rai Symphony Orchestra and the Verona Arena Orchestra, among others). He has carried out intense teaching and institutional activities and has received numerous awards, among which the Django d’Or award stands out, received in 1996 as best jazz musician and in 2001 as best international musician with the album Mélos. In 2010 he opened the record label Tŭk Music; in the summer of 2011 (on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday) he made a tour of fifty concerts in Sardinia, accompanied by artists such as L. Einaudi, F. Soriga, G. Testa, U. Caine, S. Benni, D. Rea, P. Turci, E. Rava. Of his most recent discography, the albums Mistico mediterraneo (2011), Nidi di note (2012), Desertico (2013), 30 (2014), Jazzy Christmas (2015) and Eros (with O. Sosa, 2016) are worth mentioning. In 2017, the artist published the autobiographical text La musica siamo noi, in which he talks about his relationship with jazz, and in 2018 the collection of poems and short prose Poesie jazz per cuori curiosi. In 2021, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, the artist published the reissue of Heartland and the unreleased CDs Heroes and The sun on the sea; the essay La storia del jazz in 50 ritratti and the album Tango Macondo, made in collaboration with D. Di Bonaventura and P. Vacca, are from the same year.
photo: Andrea Rotili – taken from Fresu’s facebook page
