Interview with Mariano Di Nunzio: None kind of real Art should be a business: Videos

Jazz interview with jazz trumpeter Mariano Di Nunzio. An interview by email in writing. 

JazzBluesNews.Space: – First let’s start with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music?

Mariano Di Nunzio: – I’m from Barra, a Naples’ neighborhood, where the music is always present, specially in my family being my father and my brothers professional musicians.

JBN.S: – What got you interested in picking up the trumpet? What teacher or teachers helped you progress to the level of playing you have today? What made you choose the trumpet?

MDN: – My father was a professional trumpet player and since I was baby I was fascinated by hearing and seeing him play.

JBN.S: – How did your sound evolve over time? What did you do to find and develop your sound?

MDN: – Over time I looked for my father’s sound also through listenin’ to the great Jazz Musicians as Miles, Chet, Lew Soloff till Winton Marsalis, to name a few.

JBN.S: – What practice routine or exercise have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical ability especially pertaining to rhythm?

MDN: – Being a teacher I developed, together with the ‘classical’ warming and flexibility exercises, one method of my one that I called “Articulation’s exercises” (from lower to highest notes).

JBN.S: – Which harmonies and harmonic patterns do you prefer now?

MDN: – I don’t have preferences, it all depends on what I need to compose.

JBN.S: – What do you love most about your new album 2018: <Mariano Di Nunzio Walking Quartet – Day By Day>, how it was formed and what you are working on today.

MDN: – Musicians I choose for Walking Quartet was not for their skills, but, knowing their ‘style’ in playing, I was shure about the right contribution they ‘d give to my music.

JBN.S: – Which are the best jazz albums for you 2017 year?

MDN: – From 2010 to today I find beautiful and interesting Dave Douglas Time Travel and Dave Holland Prism, and then I listen a lot to the albums of the past.

JBN.S: – Please any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

MDN: – The last one, this one we had in Rome:

JBN.S: – Many aspiring musicians are always looking for advice when navigating thru the music business. Is there any piece of advice you can offer to aspiring students or even your peers that you believe will help them succeed and stay positive in this business?

MDN: – My advice is not to believe in fame and richness, but believe in each own passion, reason why we make Art.

JBN.S: – Аnd furthermore, can jazz be a business today or someday?

MDN: – None kind of real Art should be a business, but, anyway the artist too must survive (ahahah!).

JBN.S: – Which collaboration have been the most important experiences for you?

MDN: – Among the Italian musicians: BrunoTommaso, Giancarlo Gazzani, Roberto De Simone, Paolo Fresu, among the Strangers James Newton, Peter Erskine, John Taylor, Palle Daniellson, Kenny Wheeler … both in restricted training and in orchestra.

JBN.S: – How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of the standard tunes are half a century old?

MDN: – It’s a tought question: actually not many young people plays standards anymore. I think it’s a problem of cultural education: as Miles said “I went forward ‘cause I always looked backward”. As a teacher always start from Jazz Tradition.

JBN.S: – John Coltrane said that music was his spirit. How do you understand the spirit and the meaning of life?

MDN: – My answer is the cd’s title J: Day by day.

JBN.S: – What are your expectations of the future? What brings you fear or anxiety?

MDN: – I have no fears nor anxieties, I only hope I can make my music for long time.

JBN.S: – If you could change one thing in the musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be?

MDN: – Respect for all musicians and for all kind of artists.

JBN.S: – What’s the next musical frontier for you?

MDN: – My next musical work.

JBN.S: – Are there any similarities between jazz and world music, including folk music?

MDN: – In my cd, the suite Sketches of Napoli is the answer. BTW I think that where is improvisation there is Jazz.

JBN.S: – Who do you find yourself listening to these days?

MDN: – Now Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

JBN.S: – Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go?

MDN: – I would go back to 1987 for the first winning of the Soccer National ‘Scudetto’ by the Napoli of Maradona (the soccer’s Charlie Parker! J)

JBN.S: – I have been asking you so far, now may I have a question from yourself…

MDN: – My I have some some new about this interview, in the future? Thanks a lot.

JBN.S: – Celebrating jazz 24/7 since 2007. Editorial offices in Boston – MA – USA, Paris – France and in Yerevan – Armenia, the website is read all over the world. It has 33,396 followers and it is every day visited by more than 57,000 readers by visitor counter Google Analitics!!!

Interview by Simon Sargsyan