September 2017 saw Marco Marconi heading for the Jazz FM to meet Chris Philips for an interview and to record 3 of his latest compositions from Trialogue live in the studio.

To listen to interview (The Blueprint on Jazz FM, Saturday 23rd September 2017), click on the MixCloud link and move the slider to 2:03:00.

Italian jazz pianist Marco Marconi made the bold move to live in the UK where he plays, teaches and records. His background is in classical music.

Marco recently released his third album, a trio recording ‘Trialogue’ and joined Chris Philips in conversation and in session on #TheBlueprint.

This is one of three beautiful compositions he played live. Enjoy the passion and virtuosity of this fiery Latin jazz piece.

Marco Marconi is a pianist whose music expresses influences and deliberate nods to many genres, from classical to jazz to pop with many in between categories known only to Marco and this, from the start gains him points because the appeal of this extraordinary player is broad.

Read the full review from Sammy Stein here: Review of Trialogue – Jazz in Europe

…What is engaging about this pianist is the layers he adds, the attention to minutiae which the ear either completely misses, which is fine as there are things going on enough to entertain or you suddenly pick up the additions, the extra little trills and linkages he inserts and you wonder how the heck he does it and is there more? Once or twice, the business almost got the better of me but listen after listen you genuinely hear more. The combination of a truly intuitive musician and the player with well-chosen tracks makes this album something of a gem. It is so easy to trivialise words and players by saying they are genius, or deeply talented and at the end of the day, each reviewer has their preferences. For me, this is honestly one of the classiest, varied and interesting albums I have heard and musically it is so packed with talent it almost is beyond description (almost). Those words often bandied about without meaning here should be applied and understood. This CD is genius. This is an album to have, play and listen again because it just keeps giving. An admission here is that if anyone had told me a while back I would be quite so enamoured of a CD where the main instrument is the piano I would question their sanity because none I have heard has the excitement and variety I need to remain interested right to the end. This CD puts that notion to shame. Trialogue genuinely entertained and delighted from the first to last note.

The Marco Marconi Trio is recording its new album, Trialogue, today (19 Jan 2017) under the 33Jazz label at the Session Corner recording studios in Luton.

The album is going to be a brilliant mix of Marco’s new compositions, a standout medley of a famous film score, funky version of a Bee Gee’s number and stunning arrangements of a couple of classic jazz tunes.

Following on from their publicly acclaimed album, Nordik, it’s going to be a hard act to follow but the Trio is more than ready for the challenge.

For ways to support the Trio, visit Pledge Music Trialogue and be part of the Trialogue adventure.

Marco Marconi Trio review – smooth jazz with just enough sting
Vortex, London (Dec 2015)
Classically trained and cinematically inspired, Marconi leads his band in a set of impetuous rhythm changes, glossy contrapuntal playing and swaying swing

Italy’s Fazioli company, builders of the bespoke instruments that have as much budget-boggling attention put into their aesthetics as their musical virtues, in 2010 invited Marco Marconi to show how jazz could sound on their creations – and the Umbria-raised, UK-resident pianist undoubtedly feels like a Fazioli soulmate. He has classically trained polish, a focus on cinematically seductive melody as both a composer and an interpreter, and refinement of a sophisticated kind of smooth jazz with just enough edge to sting.

From the first notes, Marconi’s trio – with regular bassist Andrea Di Biase (who has worked with British stars including the late Kenny Wheeler and singer Norma Winstone) and understated drummer Lloyd Haines – sounded focused on letting the leader’s often romantic music breathe. Their opener was a rapturous mid-tempo ballad; they followed it with a waltzing swinger of sleek piano and bass motifs in unison, in which Marconi’s improvisations would gracefully roll through repeating treble figures with canny chord shifts beneath, while Haines’s brushwork and hi-hat accents fluttered and snapped.

Nordik, the title track of the pianist’s new album, displayed an attractively whippy melody of impetuous rhythm changes interspersed with swaying swing, and turned into a showcase for the leader’s glossy contrapuntal playing and for Di Biase’s ethereally dreamy upper-register sighs with the bow.

John Fordham, The Guardian, 3 Dec 2015

Full review here: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/dec/03/marco-marconi-trio-review-smooth-jazz-with-just-enough-sting 

“Every so often the fates contrive to bring together musicians of incredible talent, put them in the hands of a good recording engineer, give them a good producer and the result is an album which is very special. Nordik is the result of such a series of events.”

“Too High Don’t Try” kick starts this CD and from the start it is clear this is something different, a new take on the trio of piano, bass and drums. The swingy, mesmeric theme is relished by the piano, underpinned by bass and drums and develops into a rippling, writhing beast of a number with dare-devil bursts of speed set off by short, sharp chords. The drum solo from Enzo Zirilli is effective and very engaging and tops the number cleverly until the theme is re-introduced by piano and bass. It is not until the second or third listen that you realise how complex the piano part is in the second half of the number, and how astonishingly rapid the finger movements are.

‘Nordik’ is slower and the piano dominates but not in a brash way. The theme is structured and weaves in an out around some great improvising sections where the piano, especially in the mid section, leads but the other instruments willingly follow providing key support to Marconi’s riffling, fast fingered notations. There is a gorgeous piano and percussion interlude with the piano playing short little riffs and open chords and the drum supporting before the theme is picked up again by the whole group. Again, the fast fingered work of Marconi defies possibilities.

For the full review by Sammy Stein (Jazz In Europe), please click the link below:

http://jazzineurope.mfmmedia.nl/2015/06/cd-review-marco-marconi-trio-nordik/

A lucky meeting with Paul Jolly of 33Jazz after a concert at The Market Theatre in Hitchin, led to Paul signing me to his label in May 2015 and releasing Nordik, my latest album recorded with my Trio at the Fazioli Concert Hall in November 2013.

Nordik features nearly all original compositions which have been brought to life by my fabulous trio members, Andrea di Biase on double bass and Enzo Zirilli on drums.

We are looking forward to touring with the album at the end of 2015 with a launch gig in Jan 2016!