The world-famous jazz trumpet and saxhorn player Paolo Fresu celebrated his 50 birthday with 50 concerts throughout Sardinia, a beautiful Italian island in the heart of Mediterranean Sea, invading it with the light sound and soft words of jazz music in the warm summer atmosphere.

From June 12 to July 31 he played every evening for a self-planned and directed tour, changing places, performances and partners day by day. A full immersion of jazz music in the most uncontaminated and wild areas of the island. An actual collection of fascinating places full of mystery, culture, magic and history.

Arts and culture join nature in the total respect of environment. Indeed, all the energy needed for the stage was provided by an ecological electrical generator, supplied through solar panels exposed to the day light before any concert. The intention was to create a relationship between music and landscape, promoting renewable energy and trying to sensitize public awareness of environmental issues.

The sound of Fresu’s trumpet re-echoed around green mountains, mines, archeological areas, accompanied by several musicians, actors, writers, orchestras from all around the world. Just to mention some of these musicians, Ralph Towner from Washington U.S., Richard Galliano from France, Omar Sosa from Cuba, Enrico Rava from Italy, Dave Douglas from New York U.S., Eivind Aarset from Norway, Glenn Ferris from Los Angeles U.S., Dhafer Youssef from Tunisia, Ludovico Einaudi from Italy, Nguyén Lé from France, and Uri Caine from Philadelphia U.S.

!50 music tour offered to all jazz lovers a special gift made by music, nature and culture. Words and music merged in an explosion of warm sounds and surreal atmospheres. And all for free, in fact there was no ticket to pay , only passion and taste for good jazz music were needed. The concerts performances were also available on live streaming.

The “sleepless trumpeter”, as Fresu is being called for his incessant musical activity – more than 300 recorded albums and 2500 concerts up to present -, never stops surprising his fans and his island with his skill as an artist and his simplicity as a man.

Paolo Fresu was born in Berchidda, a small village in north Sardinia. He started playing trumpet at the age of 11 and after different musical experiences in 1980 he began his jazz career. Nowadays he is one of the most appreciated and popular European jazzman. Since the ‘80s he has won several awards as best jazz musician in different countries, such as the prestigious Django d’Or in France. In 2005 he was one of the nominees for the Latin Grammy Awards of Santa Monica, California.

Over the last 30 years he has performed all over the world with a wide set of international artists such as John Zorn, Dave Holland, Gil Evans, John Abercrombie, Trilok Gurtu, John Taylor, Palle Danielsson, Jon Christensen, Gerry Mulligan, David Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, Richard Beirach, Jim Hall, Helen Merril, Ralph Towner, Richard Galliano, Michel Portal, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Jeanne Lee, Gunther Schüller, Paul McCandless, Toots Thielemans, Andy Sheppard, and many more.

There is not much more to say about this great jazzman, his music can speak better than thousands of words.

!50 Paolo Fresu & Uri Caine video

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About the author

Francesca Biggio
I'm an Italian "Islander" from Sardinia.I love languages and I'm very interested in all concerning communication strategies,journalism,politics,history and social issues. I love travelling and coming into contact with different cultures and universes.