Luca
     Mannutza

Born in Cagliari in 1968, he approached music at a very young age, thanks to his father who gave him his first piano lessons when he was only 4 years old. He began classical studies at the age of 6 and enrolled at the 'G.P. da Palestrina' Conservatory in Cagliari in 1979, where he graduated with excellent marks at the age of 18.

After years of various experiences, including with progressive rock and fusion groups, he approached jazz in 1990, indulging a natural predisposition for improvisation and creativity. The intensity of his musical activity in this field began to grow two years later, when he began playing with Argentine saxophonist Hector Costita and met New York trumpeter Andy Gravish, with whom he still collaborates.

In 1993 he also began performing alongside top Italian jazz musicians, including Paolo Fresu, Emanuele Cisi, Maurizio Giammarco and Bebo Ferra. Among the important awards he received in the jazz competitions he took part in at the beginning of his career, we can list the Ennio Porrino Award (1981), the special mention of the jury in the Barga Jazz competition (2000), the first prize in the International Massimo Urbani Award (2002), the Audience Award in the International Tramplin Jazz Competition in Avignon, France, as a member of saxophonist Max Ionata's quartet (2002). In addition, in 2002 in Paris, he qualified for the final phase of the Martial Solal International Competition, the most prestigious jazz competition dedicated to the piano.

In addition to performing solo piano, he plays in a duo with saxophonist Max Ionata and in a duo with drummer Lorenzo Tucci (Lunar duo), in a trio with Luca Bulgarelli and Nicola Angelucci; he also co-leads the Sound Advice quintet with Andy Gravish, in which Marcello di Leonardo, Luca Bulgarelli and Max Ionata take part, and leads a sextet, Sound Six, with Max Ionata,Andy Gravish,Paolo Recchia,Andrea Nunzi and Renato Gattone.

Since 2002 he has been part of many important projects of drummer Roberto Gatto, with whom he has performed in numerous concerts internationally and made recordings for several albums. Since 2002 he has collaborated on a regular basis with Fabrizio Bosso, as organist and pianist, and is a member of the High Five, the most representative group of Italian jazz success in the world, sales champions with the album Five for Fun (Blue Note/EMI Italia 2007) and Handful of Soul (Schema 2006) together with Mario Biondi. Also of note is the collaboration with US trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. Luca Mannutza combines his intense live activity with that of arranger for various artists and record projects, such as Mario Biondi, Rosalia de Souza, Filippo Tirincanti, Lorenzo Tucci.

 

Luca Mannutza has played in the most important jazz clubs in Italy (Torrione Jazz Club, Panic Jazz Club, Cantina Bentivoglio, Alexanderplatz, Blue Note Milano, Pinocchio Jazz Club and many others) and around the world (Blue Note Tokyo, Blue Note Osaka, Sunset and Sunside Paris, Bimhuis Amsterdam, Pizza Express London, Smoke New York, Fat Cat New York) and has participated in numerous events and festivals as a guest of prestigious institutions such as the Casa del Jazz (Rome), Umbria Jazz, Villacelimontana jazz, Moncalieri Jazz, Pescara Jazz Festival, Ancona Jazz Summer Festival, Roma Jazz Festival, Forma e Poesia nel Jazz (Cagliari), Bologna Jazz Festival, Padova Jazz Festival, Grey Cat Festival, Odio l'estate Festival, Vicenza Jazz, Crossroads Festival and many others in Italy and around the world (Italian Jazz in New York, Shanghai 2010, Jakarta Jazz Festival, Dubai Jazz Festival, Parc Floral Paris, Italian Jazz in Beijing). He has played with the most important Italian and foreign jazz musicians (Rava, Fresu, Bosso, Boltro, Tamburini, Amato, Scannapieco, Cisi, Giammarco, Bonisolo, Giuliani, DiBattista, Gatto, Sferra, Bonaccorso, B.Casini, Ferra, J.Pelt, J.Frahm, S.Grossman, J.D. Allen, G.Cleaver, D.Burno,B.Hart) and many others.

Many newspapers and major specialist magazines (Jazzit, Musica Jazz, Swing Journal, Jazz Magazine, All About Jazz) have reviewed his recordings and praised his prowess.

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