Antonio Ciacca

Antonio Ciacca is a jazz pianist, composer, and educator whose playing joins a European classical foundation to the swing and blues of the American jazz tradition. Born in 1969 in Wuppertal, Germany, to Italian parents and raised in Italy, he trained in classical piano at the Conservatorio G.B. Martini in Bologna before turning to jazz under Steve Grossman, Barry Harris, and Jaki Byard. In 1997 soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy invited him into his quartet, a partnership that lasted seven years, and he went on to perform with Benny Golson, Lee Konitz, and Art Farmer. From 2007 to 2011 he served as Director of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center, working alongside Wynton Marsalis. Based in New York, he records as a leader for the Motema label and leads his own quartet on the city's club stages.