Best Italian Rising Star

Ferdinando Romano

By Teresa Cusano (Melina Palumbo)

Ferdinando Romano is an Italian doublebass player, composer and improviser. His reputation has increasingly grown in the jazz scene and he is considered one of the most interesting artists of the new Italian generation, performing all over Europe.

He was awarded as “Best Italian Rising Star” in the Top Jazz 2020, the annual Critics Poll of the magazine Musica Jazz, the Italian version of Downbeat’s Critics Polls. In 2021 he received the SIAE (the Italian Copyright Association) Award, given every year to musicians that distinguished themselves for the originality of their compositions.

“Totem”, his first album as a leader, was released for the Norwegian label Losen Records and has also been voted in the Top Jazz 2020 in the category of the “Best Italian Albums”. The album features the collaboration with the Italian-american trumpet player Ralph Alessi, one of the leading artists of the ECM label and of the New York scene and long time collaborator of Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane and Uri Caine. The album got international acclaim from magazines all over the world, selected as one of the best albums of the year in many countries, and has been described as “the debut recording of a poetic bassist, inspired composer and intriguing arranger” (T. Conrad, Stereophile), “A brilliant album, expression of a clear talent” (Musica Jazz), “a highly expressive jazz, always taking care of narrative in music” (La Repubblica), “an album that is high in quality and benefits from that musical sweet spot between challenging and accessible listening.” (Uk Vibe)