Gottfried di Franco 5tet

After years of collaboration in their respective bands playing around Europe, saxophonist Stefan Gottfried & guitarist Gabriele di Franco, decided to put their music and energies together and form a common project, the Gottfried di Franco 5tet. The two leaders cumulate more than a half-century of jazz practice as musicians, composers, band leaders in an international jazz background. Their repertoire is entirely composed of original compositions by Stefan Gottfried & Gabriele di Franco. 

Stefan Gottfried is one of Austria’s top tier alto and soprano jazzsaxophonists of his generation.  Stefan started his studies and graduated with cum laude with a Bachelor Studies at Musik und Kunstuniversität in Vienna, studying Jazz-Saxophone with the American saxophonist Andy Middleton.  The aspiring musician moved to the Netherlands where he is currently studying at Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag with his mentor Toon Roos.

Stefan has been part of a large number of ensembles and Big Bands including the Jeunesse Musicales Jazz World Orchestra, the Big Band of the Royal Conservatoire, CodArts Big Band Rotterdam and others. He’s a member of the Metropole Academy of the Metropole Orkest. He has had the opportunity to perform at international festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, Brosella russels, Jazz am Podium Basel and at renowned venues such as Porgy & Bess Vienna, Tivoli Vredenburg, Sugarfactory Amsterdam, De Kleine Willem Enschede. He has shared the stage and recorded with Jazz Greats such as Bob Mintzer, Bill Holman, Luis Bonilla, Bert Joris, Andy Middleton and many more.

His compositions, harmonically and melodically modern and dynamic, are rooted in the jazz tradition but incorporate impressionistic facets and concepts therefore provide the perfect setting to create music with great emotional depth. Stefan’s multilayered way of composing gives a great deal of importance to the interplay between the musicians, providing besides through-composed passages a lot of spaces for creativity and ideas to flow and is demanding musicians to perceive, interpret and transmit the musical content as a collective.

Gabriele di Franco, born in Italy and currently residing in Brussels is an Italian arranger, composer, and guitarist. He has spent a long stretch of his life as a professional musician; performing, recording and collaborating with many artists coming from all over the world.

Gabriele graduated in 2014 with a major in Jazz guitar at the Conservatory of Nino Rota (IT) with an additional year of study at the renowned Musik und Kunstuniversität Wien (AUT) where he was rewarded a Bachelor. After graduating Gabriele moved to Brussels to attend a Master study in Jazz Composition&Arranging at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (KCB). Here he studies with mentors such as Kris Defoor.

Composing music at a very young age influenced by jazz and world music, Gabriele quickly gets a grasp of these different concepts and interprets them in his own way. This path brought him to leading his own band BIJA, that has been awarded the price “Band Revelation of the year 2012”. That same year he was also the finalist of the “Tiberio Nicola Award 12” and at the “Jimmy Wood Award”. Two years later Gabriele and his band released their debut album “BIJA” (Slam). He also achieved the podium at “International Fara Jazz Contest 2014” and at “International Jazz Competition of Bucharest 2015” with his trio MYNAH and at the “Brussels Jazz Marathon 2016” together with his band Rubiks. In 2016 Gabriele recorded his second album “INTRO” (Emme Record Label) with his trio MYNAH and spent a long time on his European tour. Since October 2016 Gabriele is working as composer, arranger and conductor for the Bud Powell Orchestra.

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