Antonio Ciacca


Antonio Ciacca is a jazz pianist.

Early life

Ciacca was born in Germany and brought up in Italy. He began playing the piano at the age of seven. He has been taught by Steve Grossman, Kenny Barron, Marcus Belgrave and Barry Harris.

Later life and career

Ciacca toured Europe with the Larry Smith Quartet in 1995 and 1996, played in Japan with the Eiji Nakayama Quartet in 1998, and toured Europe with Joe Henderson and Steve Lacy in 1999. Ciacca studied further with Jaki Byard in 1998–99, and dedicated the album Hollis Avenue to him. Ciacca founded the Detroit Gospel Singers, and toured Europe with them in 2000. He has a masters degree in Afro-American musicology from the University of Bologna. He became Director of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2007.

Musical style

The DownBeat reviewer of the album Lagos Blues wrote: "Ciacca is informed by a broad range of influences. Two are particularly obvious, those being hard bop and Duke Ellington."

Discography

As leader

As sideman