Italian jazz, free improvisation
Specialized in jazz piano under Franco D’Andrea, Renzo has performed all over the world. He has recorded several albums both as a leader and a session player. His compositions and teaching methods have been published by some of the major music publishing in Italy. He is a leading exponent of Italian Jazz in formations that range from SOLO, DUO, COMBO and the RENZO RUGGIERI ORCHESTRA. With these same groups he has realized significant works (Kramer Project, Napule 1000 Culure, Opera?, Confini Labili) and written theatre music (Novecento, Il Ratto di Proserpina, Doppio Legame, etc.) thus including a cooperation with the Opera Theatre of Rome (La Leggenda del Fiore di Lino). Moreover, he has composed and arranged music for artists such as famous singer Antonella Ruggiero (CD: Souvenir d’Italie) whom he also performed with at the Sanremo festival in 2007. He was the first accordionist to record albums completely based on improvisation with his “second soul”, the SOLO ACCORDION PROJECT, as well as the first jazz accordion teacher in Italy. He also founded the CLUB VOGLIA D’ARTE, an organization gathering music schools whose teaching method has been internationally acclaimed for its innovative contents and approach. In 2009, at the International Accordion Festival of Castelfidardo, he was awarded the VOCE D’ORO, previously assigned to other famous musicians including: Richard Galliano, Gil Goldstein, Gorni Kramer, Frank Marocco, Astor Piazzolla, Art Van Damme, etc. In 2013 SILVER DISK receives the prestigious Gnessin Akademy of Moscow. He is currently artistic director of http://www.pinetoaccordionjazzfestival.com, http://www.accordionartfestival.com.
He has collaborated with Ellade Bandini, Fabrizio Bosso, Antonio Calenda, Sergio Caputo, Gianni Cazzola, Franco Cerri, Gabriele Cirilli, Stefano Cocco Cantini, Fabio Concato, Gianni Coscia, Simone Cristicchi, Paolo Damiani, Mauro De Federicis, Bruno De Filippi, Tullio De Piscopo, Piera Degli Esposti, Paolo di Sabatino, Dolcenera, Fiorello, Roberto Gatto, Tonino Guerra, Monica Guerritore, Mark Harris, David Haughton, Roberto Herlitzka, Flavio Insinna, Linda, Judith Malina, Germano Mazzocchetti, Piero Mazzocchetti, Gabriele Mirabassi, Massimo Manzi, Morgan, Massimo Moriconi, Gino Paoli, Lino Patruno, Nicola Piovani, Peppino Principe, Enrico Rava, Danilo Rea, David Riondino, Michael Supnick, Ares Tavolazzi, Lev Termen, Art Van Damme, Ernesto Vitolo, Marco Zurzolo.
