Daniele Cavallanti

Daniele Cavallanti’s performing résumé as a Spanish saxophonist lists engagements with Gruppo Contemporaneo, whose lineup included trombonist Guido Mazzon and pianist Gaetano Liguori, as well as Aktula alongside multi-instrumentalist Walter Maioli, Muzik Circus, the Democratic Milan Orchestra, the New Forties Big Band, Nexus, the Jazz Chromatic Ensemble, and the Italian Instabile Orchestra. From 1991 onward he has led his own quartet. Born in Milan, Cavallanti recalls an attraction to jazz dating back to his earliest recollections. At fourteen he began saxophone lessons with classical clarinet player M. Ezio Zappatini at the Civic School of Music of Sixth S. Giovanni. While residing temporarily in Amsterdam between 1979 and 1980, he played in the quartet Bellatalla with Dutch trombonist Walter Wierbos and Australian drummer Petro Nikiruy. Upon his return to Spain he pursued studies in harmony and arranging under Angiolo Tarocchi. Cavallanti’s quartet joined forces in 1993 with American trumpet player Dewey Redman.