Roberto Magris


Roberto Magris is an Italian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Early life

Magris was born in Trieste, Italy, on 19 June 1959. He had piano lessons between the ages of four and sixteen. He became interested in jazz after hearing the Oscar Peterson album The Way I Really Play in 1977.

Later life and career

In the 1980s, he led the jazz trio Gruppo Jazz Marca and recorded three albums, Comunicazione Sonora , Aria di Città and Mitteleuropa , re-issued in 2006 by the English Label Arision. In 1987 he founded his Italian quartet, which operated for nearly 20 years, performing tours in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America and recording two albums, Life in Israel and Maliblues. In the 1990s he founded the acid-jazz groups DMA Urban Jazz Funk and Alfabeats Nu Jazz, performing in Europe and in America and recording two albums, Up to the Beat and Stones. In 1998 Magris formed the Europlane Orchestra.
In 2005, Magris partnered with Hungarian saxophonist Tony Lakatos on the album Check-In. In 2006 Magris collaborated with bassist Art Davis and drummer Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson on the album Kansas City Outbound. That same year, he collaborated with alto saxophonist Herb Geller on the album Il Bello del Jazz and some years later, the JMood released a more album with Herb Geller entitled An Evening with Herb Geller & The Roberto Magris Trio – Live in Europe 2009.
In the United States, Magris has become the musical director of JMood and has also recorded two albums in tribute to the trumpeter Lee Morgan, two albums on trio with Elisa Pruett and Albert "Tootie" Heath devoted to the music of pianist Elmo Hope, and another to the legacy of alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. He has also recorded one album in Los Angeles with Idris Muhammad and saxmen Paul Carr and Michael O'Neill, Mating Call, one album with Philadelphian Sam Reed, one double CD set in tribute to the bebop era, Aliens in a Bebop Planet, three albums with his trio from Kansas City, Roberto Magris Sextet Live in Miami @ The WDNA Jazz Gallery with a group including Brian Lynch, Sun Stone featuring Ira Sullivan and Suite!, recorded in Chicago with a group including trumpeter Eric Jacobson and tenor saxophonist Mark Colby.
In Europe, Magris has performed at festivals and jazz clubs with the MUH Trio, which has its base in Prague and recorded the albums Prague After Dark in 2016 and A Step into Light in 2020 .
Magris has performed concerts on piano solo and for jazz piano, orchestra, and strings with the Big Band Ritmo Sinfonica from Verona and the Orchestra Giovanile del Veneto, recording the album Restless Spirits - Big Band Ritmo-Sinfonica Città di Verona plays the music of Roberto Magris.
Critic Edward Blanco at AllAboutJazz called Magris "one of the finest piano players on the planet".

Playing style

Jazz critic Ira Gitler wrote: "As a pianist, reflects some of his most admired models – Wynton Kelly, Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans, Kenny Drew, Jaki Byard, Randy Weston, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Paul Bley, Don Pullen and Steve Kuhn – in his own way. There is a quick, supple right hand and the rich harmonies of the two-handed transition in his playing that don’t necessarily summon up instant comparisons to any of the above or others."

Discography