Enrico Fazio

Enrico Fazio has a diploma in Double Bass and a degree in Musical Disciplines. In 1985 he won a scholarship from the Cini Foundation in Venice for the European Year of Music, with international teachers of the contemporary area, including Luigi Nono.

In 1976 he was a founding member and for many years president of the Centro Musica Creativa (C.M.C.) in Turin, one of the first self-managed cooperatives of jazz musicians and operators in the sector in Europe, a point of reference for contemporary jazz with many international festivals and a catalogue of over 50 records as CMC Rec.

He has been playing professionally in jazz since the age of 17: in 1974 he was a founding member of the group Art Studio, the forefather of musical research in Italy, which has been mentioned several times as one of the best contemporary jazz groups in international referendums. For many years he has been a member of the Carlo Actis Dato 4tet, the Pino Minafra Sud Ensemble, the Anglo-Italian 4tet (with Fiorenzo Sordini, Elton Dean and Harry Beckett; occasionally with Keith Tippett and Jim Dvorak), and numerous other projects.

Since the early ’80s he has been active as a leader with three main projects: a combo born as a quintet and nowadays growing in size under the name of Critical Mass, based on the research of the relationship between writing and improvisation (Wabi Sabi, the last CD released by the English LeoRec, was voted at the 2nd place among the best records of the year at Top Jazz 2019); Compagni di Strada, a collection of duets based mainly on free improvisation (with Sergej Letov, Claudio Lodati, Giancarlo Locatelli…); E. F. Ensemble, an orchestral group of variable formation, both jazz and classical, based on multimedia projects (Lieto Fine, Favola, Girotondo…).

He has recorded over 60 records (about 20 as leader or co-leader), collaborated with renowned artists and participated in international festivals all over the world.

In 1991 he won the International Jazz Composition Competition linked to the S:Anna Arresi Festival, dedicated to Mingus. Since 1999 he has been a teacher of Jazz Composition and Head of Department at Conservatories (in Cosenza, Rovigo, Venice, and currently in Alessandria); since 2007 he has focused his activity particularly on jazz composition. He has concentrated his activity in particular on writing and teaching.