Gabriele Evangelista
He was born in Poggibonsi (Siena) in 1988 and he grew up in Livorno. In 2006 he graduated in double bass studies with highest honours and “menzione d’onore ministeriale” from the Livorno “P. Mascagni” conservatory of music. He studied with Maestro Paolo Tommasi and then with Maestro Alberto Bocini.
Before dedicating himself only to jazz, between 2002 and 2007, Gabriele played in different orchestras and chamber groups, playing classical music, also as double bass soloist. He received a lot of recognition and important scholarships (in 2004 he won “Marco Salvini” scholarship from the Institute “P. Mascagni” in Livorno; in 2005 he was the only one doublebass player reaching the final in the national competition “Soroptimist”, for the best students in conservatories and italian music institutes; in 2007 he won the first prize for scholarships in the music school in Fiesole). In 2007 he participated in the Gustav Mahler International Academy for young orchestra musicians, under the guidance of Maestro Wolfram Christ and Maestro Alberto Bocini.
During his academic studies he found out a natural bent for creativity, and he discovered the most congenial language for him in jazz and improvised music. So he began to study the subject in depth. His jazz education started in 2008 with the high training course “Roma Jazz’s Cool”, where he studied with Scott Colley and Salvatore Bonafede.
Between 2008 and 2010, during the high training course “In.Ja.M” in Siena Jazz, he followed lessons with Rufus Reid, Paolino Dalla Porta, Riccardo Del Fra, Furio Di Castri, Eddie Gomez, Drew Gress, Hein Van de Geyn, Enrico Rava, Jeff Ballard, Tim Berne, Billy Hart and many others. He was also selected to participate in the Panama Jazz Festival 2010 with the best students of the course. Among the great number of awards he received, we can mention the first place in the international jazz contest in Moncalieri (2005) with “Quartetto Formica” (Gabrio Baldacci, Daniele Paoletti, Giacomo Riggi) and the first prize in the “Elba Jazz Contest” with the Alessandro Lanzoni group “Teen Quartet” (2008). Since 2010 Gabriele has been playing in Enrico Rava’s bands and he recorded three albums with him for the ECM Records: “Tribe” (2011), “Wild Dance” (2015) and “Edizione Speciale” (2021). He also played in Roberto Gatto trio with Alessandro Lanzoni (“Replay”, Parco della Musica Records). In 2016 he received SIAE prize as the best young player in “Una striscia di terra feconda” Festival. He took part in the television programmes “Sostiene Bollani”, “L’importante è avere un piano” and “Via dei Matti numero 0” by and with Stefano Bollani, with whom he has been playing in trio and in “cocerto Verde” for piano and orchestra. He is also a regular member of these groups: Francesco Bearzatti “Portrait of Tony”, Simone Graziano “Frontal”, Karima “No filter”, Alessandro Presti quuintet and others. He also played with: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Potter, John Scofield, Dave Douglas, Seamus Blake, Micheal Blake, Bill Stewart, Tim Berne, Dave Kikosky, Jeff Ballard, Gianluca Petrella, Billy Hart, Rita Marcotulli, Giovanni Falzone, Chris Speed, David Binney, Alex Sipiagin, Giovanni Guidi, Fabrizio Sferra, Danilo Rea and many others. He played in the most important festivals and jazz clubs, in Europe and United States (Birdland, San Francisco Jazz Festival), in Canada (Montreal Jazz Festival), in Morocco, Tunisia, Israel, India, China, Ethiopia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Iran, Argentina. In parallel with the performer career, he has been embarking didactic work, giving private lessons and masterclasses. From the 2017/2018 school year, he is the double bass and combo class teacher in the three-year diploma course “SJU – Siena Jazz University” in Siena Jazz – Accademia Nazionale del Jazz.
