Salvatore Bonafede


Salvatore Bonafede is an Italian composer and pianist.
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Early life

The son of jewellers, Salvatore Bonafede was born in Palermo on 4 August 1962.. His father, Antonino Bonafede, was a self-taught jazz pianist and a follower of Erroll Garner. Through his father's influence Salvatore became interested in jazz and began playing the piano at the age of four. His early experiences date back to the early 1970s at the Brass Group Jazz Club in Palermo, Italy playing in jam sessions with Dexter Gordon, Joe Albany, Woody Shaw, Irio De Paola and Giorgio Gaslini.
In 1973 he made his first engagement as a jazz pianist in the Italian National Television Rai 1 program Sapere: Jazz in Italy conducted by Franco Cerri, followed by his participation in the television programs Chitarra and Fagotto, in which he performed with the RAI television orchestra, and Di Jazz in Jazz.
He studied classical music at the Conservatory of Palermo from 1974 to 1981, where he currently holds the chair in jazz piano. From 1984 to 1986, while performing both as a leader and as a sideman with Bob Berg, Steve Grossman and Lew Tabackin, he was also the pianist of the Brass Group Big Band of Palermo, playing with Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, Pete Rugolo, Paul Jeffrey, Ernie Wilkins, Lester Bowie and Toshiko Akiyoshi.

United States (1986-1994)

In 1986 he won a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston and moved to the U.S.
In Boston he started playing as a sideman in the bands of Bill Thompson, Hal Crook, George Garzone, Roy Okutani and Bruce Gertz, teachers of his at Berklee.
Between 1986 and 1989 he studied percussion with Alan Dawson and also studied privately with Charlie Banacos. He continued his classical piano studies with Emanuel Zambelli at Berklee College and saxophone with Jerry Bergonzi, with whom he started a professional musical partnership which resulted in two tours in Australia and one in Italy . He also made three albums as a sideman with Jerry Bergonzi.
He collaborated steadily with the Brandeis University Jazz Big Band conducted, in those years, by Ricky Ford.
In 1989 he graduated from Berklee College of Music and in the same year he moved to New York where he stayed until 1994.
Between 1989 and 1994 in New York he studied privately with Paul Bley, Dave Holland, Lee Konitz, Andy LaVerne, Hal Galper and Richie Beirach. He met saxophonist Joe Lovano who hired him as his sideman and with whom he formed a professional bond and friendship. He also, many times, played with musicians Bill Stewart, Joshua Redman, Mark Turner, Bob Mintzer, Charlie Mariano, Randy Brecker, Lew Tabackin, Dewey Redman, Tom Harrell and Judy Silvano. Also in this period he played with the Mel Lewis Orchestra in which he replaced the pianist Kenny Werner for a season at the Village Vanguard.
In addition to his musical activity he taught at Harvard University, the South Australian C.A.E School of Music, and the Concord Community Music School.
In New York he also started his recording career as leader. In 1990 he recorded his first album for the Japanese label Ken Music, Actor-Actress, leading a quartet featuring Joe Lovano, Cameron Brown and Adam Nussbaum. In 1991, for the same label, he recorded Plays, a second album made up of his own compositions, leading a trio with Marc Johnson and Paul Motian with whom he toured Italy together with Joe Lovano in 1992.

Back in Italy (1994-present)

In 1994 he came back to Italy and settled in Palermo. Since then he has been touring both as a sideman and as a leader with Tom Harrell, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Bobby Watson, Sheila Jordan, Norma Winstone, Eddie Gomez, and has performed with Maria Pia De Vito, Roberto Ottaviano, Pierre Vaiana, Lee Konitz, Tony Scott, Eliot Zigmund, Peter Erskine, John Abercrombie, Adam Rogers, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ralph Towner, Esperanza Spalding, Jeff Ballard.
He has taken part in multi-ethnic jazz projects, some of which were conceived by the saxophonist Pierre Vaiana with whom he has been collaborating since 1990 and others by the saxophonist Luigi Cinque.
Since 1997 he has taught at music conservatories in Italy. He has been tenured since 2001 and has been invited to teach master classes and workshops by Italian and international institutes Jazz nights, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Festival Internazionale del Jazz – Esplorazioni, Roma Jazz's Cool, Saint Louis Music Center, Academy of Music in Gdańsk, ArtEZ Conservatorium, Conservatoire communal des Arts Albdelmoumen Bentobel, Academy of Music Franz Liszt, Académie International d'Eté de Wallonie, Centre Culturel Fokal.
Since 2016 Bonafede has written music education books with his wife, singer and educator Roberta Giuffrida.

Cinema and theater

Many influences and references to his composing activity derive from the world of motion pictures; his first album, entitled Actor-Actress, and many of his compositions are dedicated to films, directors and actors.
Since 2001 he has collaborated with directors Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco as a soundtrack composer both for the cinema and for the theatre, winning several awards, including Best Soundtrack and a nomination for Nastro d'Argento for Best Score in 2003 and Come inguaiammo il cinema italiano – La vera storia di Franco e Ciccio, in 2004.
Since his return to Sicily he has worked continuously with director Franco Maresco both in cinema, and in the theatre. He also takes part in concert-shows conceived by Franco Maresco, such as Tony's Dream– Tributo a Tony Scott and Jass – Ovvero quando il jazz parlava siciliano and Joe Lovano plays John Coltrane –Tributo a John Coltrane,.
In 2004 Bonafede released an album, Journey to Donnafugata, dedicated to the film The Leopard by Luchino Visconti made up of originals and revisited music of Nino Rota. This work kept him busy for two years during which time he went back to the places and the locations in which the film was shot. The project, which started as an album, developed both into live performances and into stage shows.
He has also been chosen by some directors as an actor.

Discography

As leader

Actor/Actress Salvatore Bonafede Trio Plays Nobody's Perfect Plays Gershwin Ortodoxa Journey to Donnafugata Paradoxa For the Time Being Dream and Dreams
  • ''Sicilian Opening''

As sideman

With Jerry BergonziCaught in the Act! Jerry On Red Inside Out Tilt
With others

Cinema

  • Tutti for Louis - Omaggio a Louis Armstrong 1900-2000, directed by Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco - Documentary
  • Miles gloriosus - Tributo a Miles Davis 1926-1991, directed by Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco - Documentary
  • Il ritorno di Cagliostro, directed by Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco
  • Come inguaiammo il cinema italiano - La vera storia di Franco e Ciccio, directed by Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco
  • Palermo, una città lunga un sogno, directed by Mario Bellone – Documentary
  • Lavoro Liquido, directed by Michele Cinque – Documentary
  • Io sono Tony Scott ovvero Come l’Italia fece fuori il più grande clarinettista del jazz, directed by Franco Maresco
  • A tutto tonno,directed by Antonio Bellia - Documentary
  • Transeuropæ Hotel, directed by Luigi Cinque
  • Belluscone. Una storia siciliana, directed by Franco Maresco
  • Gli uomini di questa città io non li conosco – Vita e teatro di Franco Scaldati, directed by Franco Maresco - Documentary
  • Sicily Jass, directed by Michele Cinque,
  • La mia battaglia. Franco Maresco incontra Letizia Battaglia, directed by Franco Maresco - Documentary

Television

  • Sapere: il Jazz in Italia
  • Chitarra e Fagotto
  • Di Jazz in Jazz
  • Tandem
  • Viva il jazz
  • Millennium – La Notte del 2000
  • En Territorio Intimo
  • Emmerdale
  • Emmerdale Farm
  • Emmerdale Omnibus
  • I migliori nani della nostra vita
  • Teenage Dreams
  • Musicultura Festival
  • Ai confini della pietà
  • Il Caffè
  • Jazz: la musica più comica del mondo
  • Jazz Life
  • Le stelle di Capri, Hollywood
  • Letterature 2009: 8º Festival Internazionale di Roma

Radio

  • Rai Tre Jazz Club
  • Invenzioni a due voci
  • Rai Radio Tre
  • I concerti del Quirinale
  • I concerti del mattino
  • Zeppelin
  • Radio3 Suite
  • Le Monde est un Village

Theatre

  • La Ballata del Sale di Salvo Licata
  • Sinfonia dei due Mondi
  • Marocco
  • Palermo può attendere
  • Viva Palermo e Santa Rosalia
  • Inventario Siculo-Palermitanesco
  • Al Buio
  • Donna di Cuori. Favola nera di una ribelle
  • Le Notti di Segesta: La Notte del Gattopardo
  • Lucio di Franco Scaldati
  • Tre di Coppie di Franco Scaldati
  • La Catastròfa di Paolo Di Stefano
  • Guerrin Meschino di Gesualdo Bufalino

DVD

  • Alentejo Story Concert regia Michele Cinque
  • Jazz Confusion regia Fabio Badolato e Jonny Costantino
  • Su contu de Sarroch regia Romano Usai

Scores

  • The European Real Book
  • Italian Jazz Real Book
  • The Real Easy Book Vol.3

Publications

  • Grande Dizionario degli Accordi in tutte le Tonalità with Roberta Giuffrida
  • Grande Dizionario degli Accordi con Rivolti in tutte le Tonalità with Roberta Giuffrida