:. Carla Marciano .:

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BIO e QUOTES - ITALIANO

Altosassofonista e compositrice salernitana, apprezzata sia per la grande passionalità ed energia, quanto per il fraseggio particolarmente articolato e l'inconsueta vena interpretativa e compositiva, considerata dalla critica specializzata tra i migliori nuovi talenti del jazz nazionale e non solo. E' inoltre annoverata tra i principali musicisti di jazz che usano il sassofono sopranino, uno dei sassofoni più difficili da padroneggiare, strumento poco comune e poco utilizzato.

Carla Marciano si avvicina alla musica all'età di undici anni, dapprima al pianoforte, poi al sax alto e si diploma in clarinetto presso il Conservatorio di Musica di Salerno.

Successivamente entra a far parte della “Matera Concert Band” di Ettore Fioravanti, con la quale si esibisce in alcuni festival italiani di jazz.

"TRANE’S GROOVE" (con Alessandro La Corte al pianoforte, Aldo Vigorito e Dario Deidda al contrabbasso, e Donato Cimaglia alla batteria) è il titolo del suo primo lavoro discografico, pubblicato nel 2002 dalla DDQ (una delle tre etichette della famiglia Bonandrini, insieme a Black Saint e Soul Note).
Con questo CD, tra brani originali e qualche classico della musica afroamericana, Carla Marciano rendeva omaggio al grande John Coltrane, esplorando e rivisitando il suo linguaggio strumentale con particolare attenzione al periodo modale.

Il suo secondo CD, "A STRANGE DAY", è stato prodotto nel 2005 dalla BLACK SAINT, la prestigiosissima e storica etichetta di Giovanni e Flavio Bonandrini (dal 1984 al 1989, la migliore etichetta discografica di jazz nel mondo, secondo il referendum della celeberrima rivista statunitense DOWNBEAT) il cui catalogo, da sempre molto apprezzato anche in America, vede la Marciano tra i pochi artisti italiani dell'elenco.
Avvalendosi della preziosa collaborazione dei conterranei Alessandro La Corte al pianoforte, Aldo Vigorito al contrabbasso e Gaetano Fasano alla batteria, Carla Marciano, con questo progetto, è volta a sviluppare un discorso personale, principalmente attraverso brani originali di sua composizione. Con un rigoroso disegno di base, il quartetto propone una musica passionale, istintiva, a volte impetuosa ed irruente e a tratti interrotta da atmosfere spirituali e momenti di meditazione. Si passa dai brani modali, in cui il fraseggio si spinge spesso fino ad estreme soluzioni armoniche, alle ballads, morbide ed ammalianti.

Nel 2006 Carla Marciano, insieme al suo quartetto, ha presentato questo lavoro negli Stati Uniti, in tre importanti jazz festival: l'HARTFORD INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, la rassegna del FIREHOUSE 12 Music Club a New Haven e l'ITALIAN WOMEN IN JAZZ FESTIVAL (prodotto dall'Istituto di Cultura Italiano di New York) al SYMPHONY SPACE THEATRE di Broadway a New York.
Inoltre ha presentato lo stesso progetto in Montenegro, all'INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL "A TEMPO" del MONTENEGRIN NATIONAL THEATRE di Podgorica.

Nel 2008 è stato pubblicato il suo terzo CD “CHANGE OF MOOD”, prodotto ancora una volta dalla BLACK SAINT, prima che i Bonandrini si ritirassero e le loro tre etichette fossero acquisite dalla CAM JAZZ. Con lo stesso quartetto, ormai stabile da anni (A. La Corte - A. Vigorito - G. Fasano), Carla ribadisce l’intenzione di portare avanti un discorso musicale coerente e con una chiara identità, che vive appunto sull’alternanza tra momenti dalla coinvolgente carica passionale ed emotiva ed altri più riflessivi. Il CD contiene esclusivamente brani originali, di sua composizione.

Il suo quarto CD "STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS" è stato recentemente pubblicato da un'altrettanto stimata etichetta italiana: la ALFA MUSIC. Un "live" in studio, ancora una volta in compagnia dello stesso quartetto (A. La Corte - A. Vigorito - G. Fasano), per una musica senza filtri, sempre più diretta ed emozionale, in cui la Marciano utilizza un linguaggio improvvisativo aperto ad ogni rischio per comunicare il proprio mondo interiore, le proprie emozioni, le proprie passioni o ansie più profonde. Il CD contiene esclusivamente brani originali di sua composizione, eccetto un'eleborazione, di A. La Corte, dell'English traditional "God rest ye merry, gentlemen"

Carla Marciano ha destato l'attenzione delle più importanti riviste specializzate e siti web internazionali, tra cui: DOWNBEAT (USA), JAZZIZ (USA), JAZZ TIMES (USA), CADENCE MAGAZINE (USA), ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA), MUSICA JAZZ (I), JAZZ IT (I), JAZZMAN (F), JAZZ REVIEW (UK), JAZZ RU (Russia), JAZZ REVIEW MAGAZINE (USA), JAZZ MAGAZINE (I), JAZZ MONTHLY (USA), SUONO (I), JAZZ CONVENTION (I), JAZZITALIA (I), MUSIC BOOM (I), KATAWEB/MUSICA (I), FIDELIO (H), CHITARRE (I), SLAGWERKKRANT (NL), solo per citarne alcune, ed i suoi CD hanno ricevuto recensioni estremamente positive.

Inoltre, è stata ospite di alcuni programmi televisivi e radiofonici nazionali, tra cui: "Sottovoce" su RAI 1 - "Music Club" su RADIO 1 RAI - "Al Top Musica" e "Alta Fedeltà" su SAT 2000 - "Musik Musik" su CONTO TV e la sua musica è stata trasmessa da numerosi canali radiofonici nazionali ed internazionali [RADIO 3 RAI ("Radio 3 Suite Jazz", "Battiti", "Primo Movimento", "Fonorama") - RTSI/ Radiotelevisione Svizzera - WRTC, WWUH, WPKN, WNUA, KLCC, WICN (USA) - SMOTH FM (UK) - BAYERN 2 RADIO, RADIO X Frankfurt (Germania) - JAZZ RADIO ARDIA Yogyacarta (Indonesia) - TAINTRADIO (Canada) - UN RADIO (Colombia) - ed altri]

Il CD “ A STRANGE DAY” è stato incluso nella lista dei TOP TEN CDs del 2006 della prestigiosa rivista specializzata americana CADENCE MAGAZINE.

Già presente nella TOP TEN della categoria "Miglior nuovo Talento" del TOP JAZZ 2005, Carla Marciano si è classificata quarta sempre nella stessa categoria del TOP JAZZ 2007, referendum della critica specializzata, indetto dalla rinomata rivista italiana MUSICA JAZZ. Ha inoltre ottenuto un considerevole piazzamento nella sezione "Ance" del TOP JAZZ 2009.

Il CD "STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS" ha ricevuto il JAZZIT AWARD 2012 dalla nota rivista specializzata italiana JAZZIT.

Nel giugno 2010 la Marciano ha ricevuto il PREMIO INTERNAZIONALE PRINCIPESSA SICHELGAITA (riconoscimento destinato alle donne della provincia di Salerno distintesi in campo nazionale ed internazionale), con medaglia della PRESIDENZA del SENATO della REPUBBLICA ITALIANA per la sezione "Arte".

Carla Marciano, con il suo quartetto, ha presentato i suoi progetti in numerosi ed importanti jazz festival e club. Solo per nominarne alcuni:
SYMPHONY SPACE THEATRE, New York (USA) - HARTFORD INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, Hartford (USA) - EUROPEAN JAZZ EXPO', Cagliari - CLUSONE JAZZ FESTIVAL - FIREHOUSE 12, New Haven (USA) - "ITALIAN JAZZ GRAFFITI" PICCOLO TEATRO STREHLER, Milano (con Civica Jazz Band diretta da E. Intra e R. Bonati) - VICENZA JAZZ "New Conversations" - "A TEMPO" MONTENEGRIN NATIONAL THEATRE, Podgorica (MONTENEGRO) - ISEO JAZZ - BOLZANO JAZZ "Jazz and Other" - VILLA CELIMONTANA JAZZ FESTIVAL, Roma (due edizioni) - ATELIER MUSICALE (con Cerri-Intra Doppio Trio), Milano - CASA DEL JAZZ, Roma - ALEXANDERPLATZ JAZZ CLUB, Roma (varie edizioni) - PIACENZA JAZZ FEST - FANO JAZZ BY THE SEA - LA PALMA, Roma - PINOCCHIO JAZZ CLUB, Firenze (due edizioni) - PORDENONE JAZZ KOINE' - BEAT ONTO JAZZ FESTIVAL, Bitonto - EDDIE LANG JAZZ FESTIVAL, Monteroduni - LA SOSTA/"JAZZMIN", Villa S.Giovanni (due edizioni) - ESPERANTO JAZZ FESTIVAL, Roma - DONNE IN JAZZ, Frascati (tre edizioni) - BLUE BRASS (The Brass Group), Palermo - LUCCA JAZZ DONNA (tre edizioni) - OKTOBER JAZZ, Benevento - OVER JAZZ, Salerno - INCONTRI INTERNAZIONALI DELLA MUSICA, Salerno - PAESAGGI SONORI (MT) - TEATRO COMUNALE REGINA MARGHERITA (stagione concertistica jazz), Caltanissetta - GHEROARTE', Milano - POMIGLIANO JAZZ FESTIVAL (NA) - TOSCANA JAZZ FESTIVAL - NICK LA ROCCA JAZZ FESTIVAL - VIGGIANO JAZZ - FESTIVAL DELLE SERRE, Cerisano - WORLD MUSIC PROJECT Molise (con Tullio De Piscopo Project) - e molti altri...

Attualmente collabora spesso con Tullio De Piscopo, unendosi alla sua Band nella parte jazzistica dei suoi concerti.

Ha suonato, occasionalmente, con:
Victor Bailey, Hiram Bullock, Bill Evans (sax), Franco Cerri, Enrico Intra, Tullio De Piscopo, Ernst Reijseger, Wolfgang Haffner, Ettore Fioravanti, Massimo Manzi, John B.Arnold, Carl Anderson, Enzo Avitabile, Antonio Onorato, Tony Arco, Vito Tommaso, Karl Potter e tanti altri...

QUOTES

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
“One of today's strongest female saxophonists...The force is in her sax-blood.” Mark.F.Turner

JAZZ TIMES (USA)
“Marciano is a marvelous saxophonist and improviser, consistently demonstrating impressive control of her instruments and her material, most of which she composed herself...” David Franklin

DOWNBEAT (USA)
“Now Italy has Carla Marciano, a powerful and passionate musician. She has developed a tick and broad tone on both instruments as well as a fluid articulation and is equally at ease in a serene ballad, a brazen uptempo piece or an open improvisational flight...” Alain Drouot

CADENCE MAGAZINE (USA)
“The undying stamina that she exhibits through several up-tempo pieces, with sheets of sound flowing in all directions, shows a propensity for excitement and awe-inspiring expression. She comunicates on a personal level, taking advantage of her beautiful tone quality to "sing" lyrically with genuine passion...
She takes her liberal breaks with a powerful force. Several selections push it to the limit, absorbing all the energy from the room and channeling it into an open space as would the eruption of a volcano. At other times, the mood shifts toward sensitive ballads..." Jim Santella

JAZZIZ (USA)
“Marciano and her quartet have recorded a provocative and thrilling album that honors the memory and spirit of Coltrane. She channel his spirit while maintaining her own voice...
She employs just the right amount of vibrato and a balances strong spiritualty with visceral earthiness. Her serpentine improvisations are often exploratory and sometimes quite contemplative...
Marciano excels as a composer. Her carefully constructed pieces allow for a stimulating variety of both individual and group spontaneity...” Hrayr Attarian

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
“A wonderful album. Plenty of fire and velocity, without ever becoming too hot to touch or too fast to keep up with. One of the more exciting albums of the year. Enjoy!” Dave Sumner

JAZZ MONTHLY (USA)
An incredible sax player…She has amazing “sax stamina” and incredible “saxability”…She is toast and the most of all Italy, one of the strongest sax player in the world and her music will truly ignite you!” Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

HARTFORD COURANT (USA)
“As soon as Marciano began playing, the air in the room became charged by the volcanic force of her music. Surprisingly, she produced these mighty sounds on the diminutive sopranino saxophone, an instrument rarely used in jazz…“ Chuck Obuchowski

JAZZ MONTHLY (USA)
“Like a shot of espresso Carla Marciano Quartet serves up a punchy taste of the avant-garde, stirs it with the sounds of bebop, then simmers with longingly-romantic interludes.. An extraordinary album! Her maturity as an artist, both in composition and performance, will take your breath away on the tracks...” D.J. Fazio

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
- John Coltrane’s spiritual daughter -
“Carla's lyricism shines through every number like a lighthouse submerged under water of several streams, for thats what here sidekicks are each one of them rushing in a helpless gush to keep pace with her restless march towards lofty ends.
...As if Coltrane has been reincarnated into the shapely and attractive form of an Italian young lady, whose sax appears to be an extension of her body: not an artificial appendage, but a lively and expressive member.... Carla chose to enter our world too late, decades after John Coltrane passed away. What wonderfully explosive combination would have Carla and Coltrane made, if they had met each other! The mind shrinks at the enormity of such an imagined encounter. Power to you, Carla, may you reach and scale effortlessly the highest peaks in your musical career.” Max Babi (India)

JAZZMAN (France)
"Italian jazz has gained an extremely talented saxophonist named Carla Marciano. Carla serves as a cultural exception in Italy, where there are few female jazz instrumentalists. The sax-woman adds an out-of-the-ordinary strength of interpretation to her inspiration and advanced technique in contrast with her apparent fragility..." Francisco Cruz

CADENCE MAGAZINE (USA)
“Marciano's choice of tunes evolve quickly into a trance-like, spiritual realm where her instrument becomes the immediate means of expression for her feeling…” Bill Donaldson

SLAGWERKKRANT (The Netherlands)
“I was just knocked out by someone that had Trane down so good and that was that young and that was young and that was Italian. And I was also knocked out by her command of the horn…” Hugo Pinksterboer

CARDIFF JAZZ SOCIETY (UK)
“Carla is a profligate improviser and has a considerable technical ability that gives her control of both music and instrument…Carla’s technical skill and improvisational flair lend much excitement to her solo work...Carla’s lyricism gleams through each tune and every track sounds like an established jazz classic, performed by musicians of repute at the peak of their form... A superbly exciting album… “ Ken Cheetham

JAZZ REVIEW MAGAZINE (USA)
“Marciano sets a tone that is both graceful and original. The compositions experiment within lush layers of transcending vibes that floats within a sea of spiritual certainty…” Cheryl Hughey

BIRD IS THE WORM (USA)
“Channeling Coltrane’s early-60s period, when he’d deconstruct songs like “My Favorite Things” and rebuild them into dazzling towers of ferocity and loveliness, Marciano attacks compositions with the same zeal, and offers up a very cool recording.” Dave Sumner

JAZZ REVIEW (UK)
“Marciano has plenty of ideas...” Hugh Gregory

MUSICA JAZZ (I)
“La sua musica è in costante tensione tra omaggio dichiarato e slancio del tutto personale. Impressionante per magnificenza tecnica e intuizione espressiva: costruzioni articolate,volute mozzafiato, controllo perfetto di un materiale incandescente. La vicinanza a Coltrane si coglie nel senso del collettivo e non solo nella prova della sassofonista, peraltro eccezionale… Un disco di notevole maturità.” Stefano Merighi

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (I)
“Il suono della Marciano ricopre spesso il ruolo di primaria importanza, con assoli prolungati che ne evidenziano sia la grande forza narrativa che un'energica voglia - a tratti furiosa - di mettersi in discussione in ogni passaggio, come se volesse spingere la musica sempre in avanti, rinnovandone di volta in volta confini e significati.” Roberto Paviglianiti

JAZZ CONVENTION (I)
“La Marciano suona con un'energia senza pari, domina lo strumento e sa spingersi lontano grazie alle sue spiccate doti tecniche. Da entrambi gli strumenti riesce a tirare fuori un suono personalissimo, con un timbro ben preciso e carico di lirismo. Dà la sensazione di essere completamente a suo agio nonostante non sia facile improvvisare abbandonandosi pienamente al flusso di coscienza, schivando ostacoli e procedendo a volte, con una velocità che fa tremare i polsi... “ Flavio Caprara

IRD (I)
“Ovunque Carla Marciano mette in mostra una voce strumentale che non può lasciare indifferenti: i suoi interventi solistici sono sempre incisivi, pensati e costruiti con precisi intendimenti espressivi. In Italia è lei la più autorevole personalità sassofonistica femminile.” Roberto Valentino

JAZZ MAGAZINE (I)
“Con una battuta un po'rozza si potrebbe dire che suona come un uomo, ma la sassofonista salernitana non ha bisogno di mettersi a confronto con i colleghi su queso piano…
Marciano imbraccia il contralto, ma sembra un tenore, il registro è scuro e profondo...Un fraseggio che alterna intensi momenti poetici a incisivi interventi che coprono l'intero range dello strumento...
Quando poi imbocca il sopranino la timbrica è straordinaria.” Giulio Cancelliere

JAZZ IT (I)
“La Marciano è sempre al limite delle possibilità dello strumento…La musica è potente, affascinante, profondamente meditativa e carica di tensione espressiva…”Chiara Giordano

SUONO (I)
“Una musicista fra le più interessanti dell’intero panorama jazz italiano ed europeo (e non parlo solo al femminile, naturalmente…), molto considerata anche negli Stati Uniti. E’ impressionante ascoltare quanta energia il quartetto sia in grado di sprigionare con la sua musica. La formazione è un “treno” che non perde colpi nella sua corsa, gli strumenti sembrano compenetrati uno nell’altro, le composizioni di Carla Marciano sono cariche del più puro bop e di altrettanto blues e la sua bravura con entrambi gli strumenti è tanto naturale quanto impressionante. I suoi assoli sono allo stesso tempo irruenti e passionali…” Sergio Spada

JAZZ COLOURS (I)
“Carla Marciano si conferma compositrice ingegnosa e strumentista prodiga di improvvisazioni generose… Un disco che trasuda genuina passione.” Enzo Boddi

MUSIC ZOOM (I)
“La Marciano al sax alto ed al sopranino, si lancia in delle escursioni che fanno emozionare chi l´ascolta, semplicemente grandiosa nel modo in cui riesce a fare rivivere certe sonorità ed a renderle credibili! La forza e l´energia della sassofonista salernitana suonano incredibili, difficilmente riscontrabili presso altre colleghe. Nel panorama del jazz italiano questo gruppo ha di sicuro un ruolo importante, ma anche a livello internazionale di sicuro non teme molti confronti sul genere.” Vittorio Lo Conte

SOUND CONTEST (I)
“Con il contralto e con l’in genere poco frequentato sopranino l’artista salernitana si avventura in assoli, compone un sound, evoca atmosfere, disegna volute tematiche, che intercettano in modo impressionante l’essenza, il mood di John Coltrane… Sembra volerci riportare a quell’America immediatamente post-kennedyana da cui scaturi' un’espressione jazzistica senza precedenti... E’ quel feeling, e’ quel connubio inestricabile di arte e umanita', di individuale e di ‘politico’, che Carla Marciano riesce a far suoi, esibendo una maestria e una potenza volumetrica, tecnica, sonora, da cui e’ impossibile non lasciarsi suggestionare….” Pietro Mazzone

DISCO CLUB (I)
“Chi crede che le "quote rosa" del jazz contemporaneo in Italia siano riservate al canto si ricreda subito: ci sono parecchi esempi che vanno in tutt'altre direzioni, e qualche certezza: Carla Marciano, ad esempio, che, in “Stream Of Consciousness” suona da signora assoluta sax contralto e sopranino, un aggeggio gradevole alla vista, ma micidiale nell'intonazione. Affiancata da un trio classico eccellente, Marciano sfodera una torrenziale capacità di fraseggio, il "flusso di coscienza" del titolo…” Guido Festinese

MUSICA JAZZ (I)
“Bisogna ancora una volta sottolineare la genuinità della sua ispirazione, l’audacia del sound e delle dinamiche, la forza del suo fraseggio che porta a progressioni frenetiche e coinvolgenti…” Libero Farnè

KATAWEB/MUSICA (I)
“…Ribadiamo lo straordinario talento di questa giovane sassofonista campana, che imbraccia con eguale perizia il sax alto e il sopranino. Fraseggio angolare caratterizzato da un eccezionale senso ritmico e sonorità spigolose se non taglienti sono le principali caratteristiche della Marciano…Evitando con cura l'autocompacimento virtuosistico quando è il momento di affrontare temi famosi o di cavalcare l'onda lunga del bop più ortodosso e glorioso…” Vittorio Pio

JAZZITALIA (I)
“Di certo c'è che questa giovane donna dalla straordinaria sensibilità, si appresta ad essere sempre più riconosciuta come un talento di caratura internazionale... Questo CD è solo una delle pagine più belle della storia del jazz italiano…” Massimiliano Cerreto

AUDIPHILE SOUND (I)
“…e non vi venga di prenderla per una delicata ed eterea presenza femminile nel mondo macho del jazz. Lei qui combatte ad armi pari… “ Daniele Cecchini

ANIMA JAZZ (I)
"Dalla prima volta che la sentii suonare dal vivo la ribattezzai Carla “Uragano” Marciano, per la sua incontenibile vena improvvisativa, straripante di potenza comunicativa.
Una quasi "spudorata" passionalità che ti colpisce diretta al cuore ed allo stomaco, con una forza espressiva ed una velocità di fraseggio che nemmeno Muhammad Alì dei tempi migliori sarebbe stato capace di "schivare"! L’irruenza del suo fraseggio è però sempre sostenuta naturalmente da un profondo "bisogno" interiore. Tecnica e cuore, fantasia ed originalità, forza evocatrice e pulsante vivacità comunicativa, "gestite" con grande professionalità e genio, sostenute ed esaltate da un'ensemble ottimo... Uno straordinario "Uragano" di energia musicale, che trova nel profondo di se stessa le più vibranti intuizioni musicali abbinate ad una incredibile potenza e capacità espressiva. Un corpo esile ma un'anima "che fà per due" e che riesce a trovare le vie più imprevedibili per arrivare ad esprimere musica di altissimo livello, sia tecnico che comunicativo.
Per me, in definitiva e senza ombra di dubbio, la più grande sassofonista di tutta la storia del Jazz italiano... Profondamente orgogliosi di una musicista capace di affrontare a testa alta i confronti più ardui a livello internazionale." Bruno Pollacci

BIO and QUOTES - ENGLISH

Carla Marciano is an Italian saxophonist and composer from Salerno, considered by the critics as one of the most talented new Italian musicians. She plays alto and sopranino saxophones with great passion and instinctivity and is appreciated for the deep energy, the particularly articulated phrasing and the unusual interpretative vein and sense of composition. Moreover she is numbered among the most notable jazz musicians using the sopranino saxophone, one of the least common of the saxophones in regular use today.

She started studying music at the age of eleven, first playing the piano and then the alto saxophone and she graduated in clarinet at the Conservatory of Music in Salerno.

Then, for some years, she played in some Italian jazz festivals with the “Matera Concert Band” directed by Ettore Fioravanti.

"TRANE’S GROOVE” (with Alessandro La Corte - piano, Aldo Vigorito and Dario Deidda - bass, Donato Cimaglia - drums) is the title of her first CD, released in 2002 by DDQ (the Bonandrinis' third label with Black Saint and Soul Note).
Thanks to this project she wished to pay homage to the great John Coltrane, with original compositions and some standards, exploring and re-examining his instrumental language with a particular attention to his modal period.

Her second CD "A STRANGE DAY" was released in 2005 by BLACK SAINT, the Giovanni and Flavio Bonandrini's prestigious as well as historical Italian label (the DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE critics poll's best label in the world, from 1984 to 1989), so much appreciated in USA. Few Italian musicians have recorded for this label and Carla Marciano is one of them.
With this project and the precious collaboration of Alessandro La Corte on piano, Aldo Vigorito on bass and Gaetano Fasano on drums, she develops a personal discourse, mainly through her original compositions. With a precise sketch at the bottom, the quartet proposes a passionate and instinctive music, sometimes impetuous and vehement and sometimes interrupted by spiritual atmospheres and moments of meditation and reflection. You can pass from the modal pieces, which are the right ground to express a liberty of phrasing that often pushes on to extreme harmonic solutions, to the soft and seductive ballads.

In 2006 Carla Marciano introduced this CD in USA, performing, with her quartet, at three remarkable jazz festivals: the HARTFORD INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, the FIREHOUSE 12 Fall Jazz Series in New Haven and the "ITALIAN WOMEN IN JAZZ FESTIVAL" (produced by Italian Cultural Institute of New York) at the SYMPHONY SPACE THEATRE on Broadway in New York.
Moreover, she introduced the same project in Montenegro, performing at the "A TEMPO" INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL of MONTENEGRIN NATIONAL THEATRE in Podgorica.

"CHANGE OF MOOD" is the title of her third CD, released in 2008 once again by BLACK SAINT, before the Bonandrinis retired and their three labels were acquired by CAM JAZZ. This CD contains solely her original compositions and she leads the same quartet (A. La Corte - A. Vigorito - G. Fasano).

Her fourth CD "STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS" has been just released by ALFA MUSIC, another highly esteemed Italian label. She is once again the leader of her usual quartet comprising of A. La Corte, A. Vigorito and G. Fasano. The CD contains solely her original compositions, except for an elaboration of the English traditional "God rest ye merry, gentlemen" by A. La Corte and was recorded live in the studio, with the musicians all playing in a single space, so as to create an emotional and filter-free music, which is as direct and uncompromising as possible.

Carla Marciano has attracted attention from the most important international jazz magazines and websites, such as: DOWNBEAT (USA), JAZZIZ (USA), JAZZ TIMES (USA), CADENCE MAGAZINE (USA), ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA), MUSICA JAZZ (I), JAZZ IT (I), JAZZMAN (F), JAZZ REVIEW (UK), JAZZ RU (Russia), JAZZ REVIEW MAGAZINE (USA), JAZZ MAGAZINE (I), JAZZ MONTHLY (USA), SUONO (I), JAZZ CONVENTION (I), JAZZITALIA (I), MUSIC BOOM (I), KATAWEB/MUSICA (I), FIDELIO (H), CHITARRE (I), SLAGWERKKRANT (NL), just to name a few and her CDs have received extremely positive reviews.

She was a guest at the Italian TV programme "Sottovoce", broadcasted on the national television's channel RAI 1 and at others TV programmes broadcasted nationwide, as "Al Top Musica" and "Alta Fedeltà" on SAT 2000. Moreover, her music was broadcasted on numerous national and international radio channels, among which: RADIO 1 RAI, RADIO 3 RAI (Italy) - RTSI (Switzerland) - WRTC, WWUH, WPKN, WNUA, KLCC, WICN (USA) - SMOTH FM (UK) - BAYERN 2 RADIO, RADIO X Frankfurt (Deutschland) - JAZZ RADIO ARDIA Yogyacarta (Indonesia) - TAINTRADIO (Canada) - UN RADIO (Colombia) - and many others.

The CD “A STRANGE DAY” was included in the prestigious American CADENCE MAGAZINE’s TOP TEN CDs' list for 2006.

Already included in the TOP TEN list of the "Best Italian New Talent" category of the TOP JAZZ 2005, Carla Marciano ranked fourth in the same category of TOP JAZZ 2007, the critics' poll organized by the MUSICA JAZZ Italian famous magazine and she was the only female artist to make the list. Moreover she placed prominently in the "Reeds" category of TOP JAZZ 2009.

The CD "STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS" has been just awarded with the JAZZIT AWARD 2012 by the well-known Italian magazine JAZZIT.

In June 2010 Carla was awarded with the PREMIO INTERNAZIONALE PRINCIPESSA SICHELGAITA and the medal by the PRESIDENCY of the SENATE of the ITALIAN REPUBLIC in the "Art" section.

Carla Marciano performed her music projects, with her quartet, in numerous and important jazz festivals and clubs, among which:
"ITALIAN JAZZ GRAFFITI" PICCOLO TEATRO STREHLER, Milano - HARTFORD INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, Hartford (USA) - EUROPEAN JAZZ EXPO', Cagliari - CLUSONE JAZZ FESTIVAL - SYMPHONY SPACE THEATRE, New York (USA) - FIREHOUSE 12, New Haven (USA) - VICENZA JAZZ "New Conversations" - ISEO JAZZ - MONTENEGRIN NATIONAL THEATRE, Podgorica (MONTENEGRO) - BOLZANO JAZZ "Jazz and Other" - VILLA CELIMONTANA JAZZ FESTIVAL, Roma (two editions) - ATELIER MUSICALE (with Cerri-Intra Double Trio), Milano - CASA DEL JAZZ, Roma - ALEXANDERPLATZ JAZZ CLUB, Roma (many editions) - PIACENZA JAZZ FEST - FANO JAZZ BY THE SEA - LA PALMA, Roma - PINOCCHIO JAZZ CLUB, Firenze (two editions) - PORDENONE JAZZ KOINE' - BEAT ONTO JAZZ FESTIVAL, Bitonto - EDDIE LANG JAZZ FESTIVAL, Monteroduni - LA SOSTA/"JAZZMIN", Villa S.Giovanni (two editions) - ESPERANTO JAZZ FESTIVAL, Roma - DONNE IN JAZZ, Frascati (three editions) - BLUE BRASS (The Brass Group), Palermo - LUCCA JAZZ DONNA (three editions) - OKTOBER JAZZ, Benevento - OVER JAZZ, Salerno - INCONTRI INTERNAZIONALI DELLA MUSICA, Salerno - PAESAGGI SONORI (MT) - TEATRO COMUNALE REGINA MARGHERITA, Caltanissetta - GHEROARTE', Milano - POMIGLIANO JAZZ FESTIVAL (NA) - TOSCANA JAZZ FESTIVAL - NICK LA ROCCA JAZZ FESTIVAL - VIGGIANO JAZZ - FESTIVAL DELLE SERRE, Cerisano - WORLD MUSIC PROJECT Molise (with Tullio De Piscopo Project) - and many others...

She has occasionally played with:
Victor Bailey, Hiram Bullock, Bill Evans (sax), Franco Cerri, Enrico Intra, Tullio De Piscopo, Ernst Reijseger, Wolfgang Haffner, Ettore Fioravanti, Massimo Manzi, John B.Arnold, Carl Anderson, Enzo Avitabile, Antonio Onorato, Tony Arco, Karl Potter and many others...

QUOTES

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
“One of today's strongest female saxophonists...The force is in her sax-blood.” Mark.F.Turner

JAZZ TIMES (USA)
“Marciano is a marvelous saxophonist and improviser, consistently demonstrating impressive control of her instruments and her material, most of which she composed herself...” David Franklin

DOWNBEAT (USA)
“Now Italy has Carla Marciano, a powerful and passionate musician. She has developed a tick and broad tone on both instruments as well as a fluid articulation and is equally at ease in a serene ballad, a brazen uptempo piece or an open improvisational flight...” Alain Drouot

CADENCE MAGAZINE (USA)
“The undying stamina that she exhibits through several up-tempo pieces, with sheets of sound flowing in all directions, shows a propensity for excitement and awe-inspiring expression. She comunicates on a personal level, taking advantage of her beautiful tone quality to "sing" lyrically with genuine passion...
She takes her liberal breaks with a powerful force. Several selections push it to the limit, absorbing all the energy from the room and channeling it into an open space as would the eruption of a volcano. At other times, the mood shifts toward sensitive ballads..." Jim Santella

JAZZIZ (USA)
“Marciano and her quartet have recorded a provocative and thrilling album that honors the memory and spirit of Coltrane. She channel his spirit while maintaining her own voice...
She employs just the right amount of vibrato and a balances strong spiritualty with visceral earthiness. Her serpentine improvisations are often exploratory and sometimes quite contemplative...
Marciano excels as a composer. Her carefully constructed pieces allow for a stimulating variety of both individual and group spontaneity...” Hrayr Attarian

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
“A wonderful album. Plenty of fire and velocity, without ever becoming too hot to touch or too fast to keep up with. One of the more exciting albums of the year. Enjoy!” Dave Sumner

JAZZ MONTHLY (USA)
An incredible sax player…She has amazing “sax stamina” and incredible “saxability”…She is toast and the most of all Italy, one of the strongest sax player in the world and her music will truly ignite you!” Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

HARTFORD COURANT (USA)
“As soon as Marciano began playing, the air in the room became charged by the volcanic force of her music. Surprisingly, she produced these mighty sounds on the diminutive sopranino saxophone, an instrument rarely used in jazz…“ Chuck Obuchowski

JAZZ MONTHLY (USA)
“Like a shot of espresso Carla Marciano Quartet serves up a punchy taste of the avant-garde, stirs it with the sounds of bebop, then simmers with longingly-romantic interludes.. An extraordinary album! Her maturity as an artist, both in composition and performance, will take your breath away on the tracks...” D.J. Fazio

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
- John Coltrane’s spiritual daughter -
“Carla's lyricism shines through every number like a lighthouse submerged under water of several streams, for thats what here sidekicks are each one of them rushing in a helpless gush to keep pace with her restless march towards lofty ends.
...As if Coltrane has been reincarnated into the shapely and attractive form of an Italian young lady, whose sax appears to be an extension of her body: not an artificial appendage, but a lively and expressive member.... Carla chose to enter our world too late, decades after John Coltrane passed away. What wonderfully explosive combination would have Carla and Coltrane made, if they had met each other! The mind shrinks at the enormity of such an imagined encounter. Power to you, Carla, may you reach and scale effortlessly the highest peaks in your musical career.” Max Babi (India)

JAZZMAN (France)
"Italian jazz has gained an extremely talented saxophonist named Carla Marciano. Carla serves as a cultural exception in Italy, where there are few female jazz instrumentalists. The sax-woman adds an out-of-the-ordinary strength of interpretation to her inspiration and advanced technique in contrast with her apparent fragility..." Francisco Cruz

CADENCE MAGAZINE (USA)
“Marciano's choice of tunes evolve quickly into a trance-like, spiritual realm where her instrument becomes the immediate means of expression for her feeling…” Bill Donaldson

SLAGWERKKRANT (The Netherlands)
“I was just knocked out by someone that had Trane down so good and that was that young and that was young and that was Italian. And I was also knocked out by her command of the horn…” Hugo Pinksterboer

CARDIFF JAZZ SOCIETY (UK)
“Carla is a profligate improviser and has a considerable technical ability that gives her control of both music and instrument…Carla’s technical skill and improvisational flair lend much excitement to her solo work...Carla’s lyricism gleams through each tune and every track sounds like an established jazz classic, performed by musicians of repute at the peak of their form... A superbly exciting album… “ Ken Cheetham

JAZZ REVIEW MAGAZINE (USA)
“Marciano sets a tone that is both graceful and original. The compositions experiment within lush layers of transcending vibes that floats within a sea of spiritual certainty…” Cheryl Hughey

BIRD IS THE WORM (USA)
“Channeling Coltrane’s early-60s period, when he’d deconstruct songs like “My Favorite Things” and rebuild them into dazzling towers of ferocity and loveliness, Marciano attacks compositions with the same zeal, and offers up a very cool recording.” Dave Sumner

JAZZ REVIEW (UK)
“Marciano has plenty of ideas...” Hugh Gregory

MUSICA JAZZ (Italy)
“Her music is constantly divided between avowed homage and entirely personal genius. Impressive for both its technical magnificence and its expressive intuition: articulated constructions: breathtaking volutes, the perfect control of an incandescent material. Being close to Coltrane creates a sense of community and this can be seen not only in saxophonist’s rehearsal, exceptional as she is... This is a remarkably mature disc which foresees further developments.” Stefano Merighi

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (Italy)
“The sound created by Marciano often plays an essential role, with extremely long solo performances which highlight both the great narrative strength together with a forceful – at times even furious desire – to put her musical expertise at stake during each passage, as if she would like to continuously thrust her music further and further forward, time after time creating new limits and meanings.” Roberto Paviglianiti

IRD (Italy)
“Everywhere Carla Marciano displays an instrumental voice that cannot leave you indifferent: her soloist performances are always incisive, well-conceived and constructed by means of precise expressive meanings. In Italy, she is the most pre-eminent female saxophonist on the scene.” Roberto Valentino

JAZZ MAGAZINE (Italy)
“Roughly joking, one could say that she plays like a man, yet the saxophonist from Salerno doesn’t need to measure herself against her colleagues in this way... Marciano embraces a contralto saxophone, but it seems a tenor, the register is sinister and profound... A phrasing that alternates intense poetic moments with incisive interventions that cover the entire range of the instrument... Then when she puts the sopranino to her lips the tone is extraordinary.” Giulio Cancelliere

JAZZ IT (Italy)
“Marciano always pushes the instrument to its limits... The music is powerful, fascinating, deeply meditative and laden with expressive tension...” Chiara Giordano

SUONO (Italy)
“She is one of the most interesting musicians on the entire Italian and European jazz scene (and, naturally, I am not only speaking of female artists…), who is greatly appreciated also in the United States of America... It is amazing to hear how much energy the quartet is capable of unleashing via its music. The quartet formation is like a “train” that doesn’t miss a beat along its route, the instruments seem to pervade one another, Carla Marciano’s compositions are full of the purest bop and with just as much blues; her talent with both instruments is just as natural as it is incredible. Her solo pieces are impetuous and passionate at the same time...” Sergio Spada

JAZZ COLOURS (Italy)
“Carla Marciano confirms her unique technical ability as an ingenious composer and instrumentalistwho is extravagant in performing lengthy improvisations... This is a CD oozing with genuine passion.” Enzo Boddi

MUSIC ZOOM (Italy)
“Carla Marciano, playing both the alto and the sopranino saxophones, launches herself into ranges of notes that enchant all those who listen to her, the way in which she manages to bring certain sounds back to life and to make them credible is simply astonishing! The strength and the energy coming from this saxophonist from Salerno sound incredible, skills which cannot be easily found in any of her colleagues. On the Italian jazz scenario, this group definitely plays a significant role, but also at an international level, they are certainly one of a kind.” Vittorio Lo Conte

SOUND CONTEST (Italy)
It is by performing on the contralto and the generally less-known sopranino saxophones that the musician from Salerno carries out her solo performances, she composes a particular s o u n d, she evokes atmospheres, she creates theme-based advancements which impressively capture the essence and the mood of John Coltrane... ! It is as though it she wants to take us back to America in the period immediately after Kennedy, which triggered an unprecedented jazz style... It’s that kind of feeling, it’s that inextricable blend of art and humanity, of being individual and ‘political’, that Carla Marciano manages to make her own, by performing with mastery and a volumetric, technical, resonant power that is impossible not to let oneself be influenced by...” Pietro Mazzone

DISCO CLUB (Italy)
“Those who believe that the ‘female quotas’ of contemporary jazz in Italy are limited to the art of singing, have to change their minds: there are many women who are making progress in totally different fields, and others who are excelling: Carla Marciano, for example, who in Stream Of Consciousness performs as the leading lady contralto and sopranino saxophonist, a pleasure to be seen, a phenomenon as regards intonation. Accompanied by an excellent classic trio of musicians, Marciano unleashes a torrential geniality of the art of melodic phrasing, the ‘stream of consciousness’ from which the title takes its name...” Guido Festinese

MUSICA JAZZ (Italy)
“Once again, it is necessary to underline the authenticity of her inspiration, the audacity of the sound and dynamics as well as the strength of her melodic phrasing which leads to frenetic and captivating progressions...” Libero Farnè

KATAWEB/MUSICA (Italy)
“... we reaffirm the extraordinary talent of this young saxophonist from the Campanian region of Italy , who embraces either the alto saxophone or the sopranino with equal skill. Cornerstone phrasing characterised by an exceptional sense of rhythm and angular if not cutting sonorities are Marciano’s main characteristics... Carefully avoiding virtuosistic self-satisfaction when it is the moment to face famous themes or to ride the more orthodox and glorious high wave of bop...” Vittorio Pio

JAZZITALIA (Italy)
“ It is certain that this fine, extraordinarily sensitive young woman is getting ready to become increasingly recognised as an internationally famous artist...
By listening to this CD, means living a glorious moment in the history of our jazz in real time” Massimiliano Cerreto

ANIMA JAZZ (Italy)
“Carla Marciano, Carla “Hurricane” Marciano, as I have called her since the first time I heard her playing, because of her unrestrainable improvising vein, shows, as usual, an overflowing communicative power, that is " true", vibrant, unrestrainable indeed. Her almost "impudent" passionate attitude hits you straight to the heart and punches you in the stomach, with such an expressive strength and fast fraseggio that even Muhammad Alì wouldn’t have been able to “dodge her blows”! Nevertheless I’d like to reassure you as I have had a forty year jazz experience and I am not incompetent and naive to be impressed by incredible virtuoso performances, mistaking them for absolute values. In Carla “Hurricane” Marciano’s improvising performances the impetuous fraseggio is always naturally supported by a deep inner “need”, by an inseparable union of this great musician’s intimate nature and her musical expression. None of the notes is “wasted” to “show off”, as this showing off is absolutely not compatible with Marciano’s great reserve and professional seriousness, as for her playing is like looking at herself in a mirror…
Technique and heart, fantasy and originality, evocative strength and pulsing communicative liveliness, “run” with great geniality and professional skills and supported and praised by an excellent ensemble… An extraordinary "Hurricane" of musical energy that she finds deep down, the most vibrant musical intuitions combined with an incredible strength and expressive skills. A slim body with a soul that "big enough for two" and she manages to find the most unforeseeable ways to arrive at and to express top quality music at both technical and communicative levels. For me, surely and without any doubt at all, she is the greatest female saxophonist of all times in the history of Italian jazz.
One of the greatest musicians that the Italian Jazz (…and not only the Italian one…”) has ever had!” Bruno Pollacci