Gianni Denitto | Saxophonist & Composer

Live Projects

This page presents Gianni Denitto's main live projects, additional formats, selected collaborations and masterclasses, bringing together jazz, electronics, improvisation and global musical traditions.

Main Projects

The Shadow Line

Selected among the 100 best albums of 2024 in the Jazzit Awards

Transformation, memory and awareness

The shadow line is the threshold between who we are and who we are becoming: a boundary that, once crossed, marks an irreversible transformation. Inspired by Joseph Conrad's novel, The Shadow Line is Gianni Denitto's quintet project, shaped by choice, loss, responsibility, memory and change.

The presence of younger musicians reflects this focus on growth, bringing different generations and perspectives into the same sound. The concert centres on five pieces from The Shadow Line, alongside Sarajevo and Suresh, linked to outward journeys and cultural encounters.

Shadow lines concern everyone. The project begins with personal experience and builds a narrative in which each listener can recognise part of their own path.

Format

Alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, bass and drums

Ask for details

Explore the full project

TUN: Torino Unlimited Noise

One of the pioneers of techno-jazz in Europe

TUN, Torino Unlimited Noise, is a trio of internationally active jazz musicians and one of the pioneers of techno-jazz in Europe. The project blends deep electronic grooves with improvisation and contemporary jazz language, developing a distinctive live sound between jazz and club culture.

From the early EP Jason to the album New Door, TUN has expanded its international profile through concerts across Europe and collaborations with Dub FX. Singles such as All Combined and Cycles, together with remixes by figures from the European techno scene including Tensal and Sunil Sharpe, have reinforced the trio's position at the intersection of jazz innovation and contemporary electronic music.

“Italian collective Torino Unlimited Noise is at the forefront of this new sound, drawing on the history of jazz and the futurism of techno to create brand-new sounds that are challenging yet compelling.”
Itsoundsfuture.com

Format

Gianni Denitto, alto saxophone and electronics
Fabio Giachino, synths
Mattia Barbieri, drums and drum pads

Available with special guest Dub FX

Dub FX can join TUN for selected concerts, expanding the trio's live sound through voice, beatboxing, looping and electronic performance.

Ask for details

Watch the playlist Follow TUN on Instagram

Tangier Sound Clash

Sounds from Morocco, jazz and electronics

Tangier Sound Clash began with a journey to Tangier and a box of records found in a small music shop: recordings of traditional Moroccan music that seemed to have been forgotten, but in which DJ and producer FILOQ recognised the beginning of a new project.

In those recordings he found a natural space for Gianni Denitto's work across jazz, electronics and global musical traditions. The original material is selected, processed and brought into a new musical language.

FILOQ builds sounds and beats from fragments given a second life. Denitto combines saxophone, effects, live sampling and improvisation, developing the material in real time. The performance does not follow a rigid form: its structures change through the interaction between the two artists.

Tangier Sound Clash does not restore or decorate. It begins with real recordings and carries them into new music.

Tangier Sound Clash has been presented by Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo and performed at Fano Jazz by the Sea, Samichay, T(h)reesound Fest, Ventotene Open Festival, GoGoBo Beach Party and Consonanze Festival. At the Jazzin Festival in Tangier, Denitto and FILOQ performed and improvised with Chano Domínguez.

The project is also available with Tunisian singer and oud player Sarra Douik, who is featured in the project's released recordings.

Format

Gianni Denitto, alto saxophone, effects and live sampling
FILOQ, electronics, beats and production

Available with special guest Sarra Douik

Ask for details

Watch the full live set

La Strada

Concert for saxophone and string quartet

Available from 2027

La Strada is Gianni Denitto's new project for alto saxophone and string quartet. The music, entirely composed and arranged by Denitto, explores the encounter between jazz and chamber writing.

The project combines written form, improvisation and timbral research, creating a space in which the voice of the saxophone enters into dialogue with the harmonic and expressive possibilities of the string quartet.

Currently in development, La Strada will be available from 2027.

Format

Alto saxophone and string quartet

Ask for details

Additional Live Formats

Jazz Who?

Gianni Denitto · Furio Di Castri · Ruben Bellavia

Jazz Who? is a pianoless trio for alto saxophone, double bass and drums. The project explores a repertoire shaped by different ideas of the high, the spiritual and the transcendent, moving between jazz standards, original arrangements and open improvisation.

Drawing on music associated with artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Hermeto Pascoal, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis and Giuseppe Verdi, the trio reshapes familiar material through collective interplay and rhythmic freedom.

Without a harmonic instrument, the sound remains exposed, direct and mobile, leaving each musician fully involved in the form and direction of the performance.

Format

Gianni Denitto, alto saxophone
Furio Di Castri, double bass
Ruben Bellavia, drums

Ask for details

Meditative Roots

Gianni Denitto & Alessandro D'Alessandro

Meditative Roots is a concert for alto saxophone and organetto, moving through Indian music, Western classical music, folk songs and contemplative atmospheres.

Following a ten-day tour in Kolkata, invited by the Consulate General of Italy, Gianni Denitto and Alessandro D'Alessandro developed an essential dialogue based on breath, melody and the encounter between different musical traditions. The repertoire crosses distant geographies while maintaining an intimate, acoustic form centred on listening.

Format

Gianni Denitto, alto saxophone
Alessandro D'Alessandro, organetto

Ask for details Read the ANSA feature

Selected Collaborations

Photo by Stefano Barni

Kora Beat

Kora Beat is one of the most distinctive world-jazz projects in Italy. Founded in Turin by Senegalese kora player and singer Cheikh Fall, the band explores the meeting point between West African traditions, jazz, funk and contemporary African rhythms such as mbalax and coupé-décalé.

Gianni Denitto contributes saxophone and effects, creating a dialogue between the melodic lines of the kora and the timbral possibilities of the horn.

Active since 2013, Kora Beat has performed in Italy, Senegal and India, appearing at venues and festivals such as Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Firenze Percussion Festival, Douta Seck Cultural Centre in Dakar and Bihar Diwas in Patna.

Line-up

Cheikh Fall, kora, voice
Gianni Denitto, saxophone, effects
Simone Bellavia, bass
Badara Dieng, percussion
Samba Fall, drums

“Dense, tangible world music, steeped in contemporary African sounds and rhythms, with a jolt of jazz and funk...”
Marco Basso, La Stampa

Watch

One World

One World is a collaboration between Italian saxophonist Gianni Denitto and Grammy-awarded Indian percussion master Bickram Ghosh.

Presented at the Indian Museum in Kolkata in December 2024, the project brings together two musical worlds through a set of original compositions shaped by dialogue, rhythmic research and intercultural exchange.

The music reflects the idea that geographical and cultural distance can be bridged through sound, bringing Denitto's saxophone language into conversation with Indian rhythmic traditions and contemporary global music.

Featuring

Bickram Ghosh, tabla, percussion
Gianni Denitto, saxophone
Suresh Vaidyanathan, ghatam
Abhisek Mallick, sitar
Anay Gadgil, keyboards
Pranav Dath, drums

Watch Read the article

Photo by Marzia Benigna

FIRE feat. Adrian Sherwood

FIRE is a collective project bringing together electronic music, dub, jazz, global beats and visual art around the idea of fire as a force of both creation and destruction.

The project brought together dub legend Adrian Sherwood, who crafted the live mix of the performance, with a group of Italian musicians working across jazz, electronics and contemporary global sounds.

Gianni Denitto contributes saxophone and effects within a line-up that includes trumpet, vibraphone, multi-instrumental production and live electronics, creating a dense and hybrid sound world shaped by improvisation, rhythm and sonic experimentation.

Line-up

Adrian Sherwood, live mix
Ivan Bert, trumpet
Gianni Denitto, saxophone, effects
Marco "Benz" Gentile, multi-instrumentalist, producer
FiloQ, producer
Pasquale Mirra, vibraphone, MIDI marimba

Watch Listen to the album

Photo by Roberto Cifarelli

Alberto Gurrisi Hammond 4et

Built around the rich, soulful sound of Alberto Gurrisi's Hammond organ, this quartet brings together four musicians with different backgrounds and a shared connection to the language of jazz.

The sound draws on the hard bop tradition and the classic jazz of the 1950s and 1960s, while remaining open to the stylistic developments that followed. The repertoire includes original compositions and reimagined standards, arranged specifically for this line-up.

Active since 2011, the quartet has performed in jazz clubs and festivals throughout Italy. After the debut album 888, released in 2015, the group returned in 2025 with Social Distance, a studio album made entirely of original material.

Line-up

Gianni Virone, tenor saxophone
Gianni Denitto, alto saxophone
Alberto Gurrisi, Hammond organ
Alessandro Minetto, drums

Listen to the album Watch

Zion Train

Since 2014, Gianni Denitto has collaborated on recordings and live performances with Neil Perch and Zion Train, one of the pioneering projects of UK dub music.

Founded by Neil Perch, Zion Train connects sound system culture, live electronics, bass music and political consciousness, with an international career spanning more than three decades.

In live performances with Zion Train, Denitto has shared the stage with Dub Dadda, Paolo Baldini, Raiz from Almamegretta and Dave Fullwood, bringing saxophone and effects into a powerful dub and electronic live context.

Role

Gianni Denitto, saxophone, effects

Listen Watch

Masterclasses

Gianni Denitto is available for masterclasses, talks and educational projects for conservatories, academies, universities, festivals and cultural institutions.

His teaching work draws on years of international touring, collaborations across different musical cultures and masterclasses held in conservatories, academies and cultural institutions in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Jazz Improvisation

Techniques and creative approaches to jazz improvisation for all instruments, with a focus on phrasing, melodic development, interaction, rhythm and personal sound.

Saxophone, Effects and Electroacoustic Sound

A masterclass on the use of effects and electronics as tools for timbral research, electroacoustic expression and live performance.

Self-Management for International Careers

A practical talk on how to build opportunities abroad, manage international contacts, develop artistic positioning and approach concerts, residencies and cultural institutions outside Italy.

Jazz Saxophone

Individual or group lessons on modern saxophone language, sound, technique, articulation and stylistic flexibility.

Jazz and World Music Ensemble

Group workshops on collective improvisation, ensemble interaction and the meeting point between jazz language and global musical traditions.

Experience

TEDx Talk
Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Italian Cultural Institutes and Embassies in Beijing, Mumbai, Athens, Barcelona, Johannesburg, Maputo, New Delhi, Helsinki, Tirana, Guangzhou and Perth

Institutional references

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