Bio
Michelangelo Brandimarte
Bass player, composer and arranger, born in 1981, he started to study piano at the age of 7 and bass at 14. He graduated in Electric Bass at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese in 2003 and he also graduated magna cum laude in Jazz Electric Bass at Pescara Conservatory where he also took his degree in Jazz Upright Bass with full marks (110/110).
He participated in several music festivals such as the prestigious Pistoia Blues Festival with the band Alex Whatanna & Tha Big Fat Balls in 2004; in the same year and in 2008, he enjoyed with the Fabulous Wood at Hills In Blues, a festival which took place in his hometown Atri.
He also joined several international festivals such as Melizzano In Blues (2008), Ameno Blues Festival (2009), Porretta Soul Festival (2009), Subiaco Blues Festival (2009), Suoni Mediterranei jazz festival (2009), Atri Music Camp (2012/2013), Lugocontemporanea (2013), Pescara Jazz (2013,2017,2020), Umbria Jazz Winter 2013, Umbria Jazz (2014,2015), Jazzahed! in Germany (2015), and many others.
He has been teaching bass since 2004 at the Spoltore Music Academy and in 2006 he also started teaching at the Cultural Association Otis Redding of Atri. He taught electric bass, computer music and harmony from 2013 to 2016 at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese.
He played bass for the recording of the album Have You Seen the Rose by Paolo Giordano, in which the bass guru Michael Manring also participated, together with Frank Gambale and Michael Cusson.
In September 2008, he became part of the Momo Family that played at the Atlantis Music Convention in Atlanta, GA, USA. In the meanwhile, he also continued his research in the experimentation of electric bass and the applied use of computer.
In 2009 he found the Nemo Project band and he is the composer of all the tracks of their first album entitled Nemo Project, on sale from December 1st, 2010; few years later, in January 2015, their new album SILENT featuring Cuong Vu and Ramberto Ciammarughi was published.
He is also author of four songs of Chiaroscuro, released in 2013 with the 3db Trio (dodicilune 2013).
In January 2018 Soundscapes is out, a duo CD with the singer Claudia Pantalone; the research of the sound has a main role here, trying to get its essential substance from only bass and voice. The cd is composed by pop songs, standard jazz and original compositions.
He plays with some great musicians like Cuong Vu, Ramberto Ciammarughi, Gigi Cifarelli, Claudio FIlippini, Israel Varela, Raffaele Casarano, Giorgio Distante, Paolo Giordano, Achille Succi, Marcello di Leonardo, Andy Middleton, Max Ionata, John B. Arnold and many others.
He is the artistic director of the Atri Music Camp International Festival, which organizes concerts with great musicians from all the world every year, and workshops for students of all ages.
He is endorser of Jacaranda basses and IQS strings, Proamp bass amplifiers, Nemphasis pedals and Hipshot hardware, and he often plays for them as “solo artist” during the most important music fairs in the world, such as Namm Show (Los Angeles), Musikmesse (Frankfurt) and London Bass Guitars Show (London).
He was voted among the best 10 bassists for the Italian magazine Jazzit in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
In July 2020 Michelangelo Brandimarte - Son(g)s is out, a cd recorded with Ramberto Ciammarughi, Andy Middleton, John B. Arnold and Jorge Ro.