Mimmo Cafiero Open Band

Summoning an imaginative world of percussive rhythms, Mimmo Cafiero has influenced the jazz of Sicily for more than a quarter of a

century. A member of the Enzo Randisi Band, Brass Group Big Band, and the Reinhardt Jazz Study Orchestra during the 1980s, he’s continued to

set his own pace as a bandleader. He recorded an impressive live album with his trio in 1995 and led his Open Jazz Orchestra on a tour of

North America in 1999. The following year, he hosted several concerts by the Duke University Jazz Orchestra.

A native of Palermo, Cafiero studied piano and sang in the chorus at the Conservatory Vincenzo Bellini from the age of 11. Teaching

himself to play drums three years later, he began frequenting jam sessions, often attended by foreign jazz musicians including Ian Carr and

Oliver Lake. As a member of vibraphonist Enzo RandinI’s band from 1978 until 1981, he recorded two albums and toured in Spain. Accepting an

invitation to join the 20-piece Brass Group Big Band in 1983, he had an opportunity to work with such guest directors as Mel Lewis, Sam

Rivers, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Archie Shepp. Performing with the Reinhardt Jazz Study Orchestra in 1984 and recording with Rai Fonit Cetra in

1987, Cafiero moved to Rome, in 1988, to teach percussion at the school of music Lab 2. During the three years that he remained in Rome, he

recorded two solo albums: I Go, shortly after his arrival, and Moon and Twenty Five, featuring guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, in 1990.

With the Open Band he plays own original compositions inspired by the sicilian melodies.