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    "artist" : {
        "name" : "Antonio Ciacca Quartet",
        "page" : "antonio_ciacca",
        "description" : "Jazz played with earthiness, fire and intellect",
        "location" : "NY, USA",
        "bio" : "Born in Germany, raised in Italy and educated in the United States, Antonio Ciacca is able to move as fluidly among those varied cultural environments as he does between his life as a performer, composer, father of five, and top-tier arts presenter. Notably, Ciacca has served as artistic director for the Italian cultural agency, C-Jam, and in 2007, landed a plum job as the Director of Programming for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the impetus for his move that year from Bologna, Italy to New York City.\n\nCiacca began his career as a sideman for such acclaimed jazz artists as Art Farmer, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Jonny Griffin, Mark Murphy, Dave Liebman, and Steve Grossman, who he cites as his mentor, and with whom he studied for three years beginning in 1990. In 1993, he moved to Detroit to study at Wayne State University with Kenny Barron, after which he studied privately with Mingus' pianist Jackie Byard in New York. While living in Detroit, he was first exposed to gospel music, which so impressed him with its passion and energy that he soon integrated it into his own developing style as a composer and performer; he eventually went on to produce a CD for the Detroit Gospel Singers.\n\nOne of the most important events in Ciacca's career was an invitation to join the legendary saxophonist Steve Lacy's quartet in 1997; he continued to perform with Lacy for seven years. Another key encounter that would have long lasting musical and professional repercussions for Ciacca took place in 1997. \"Wynton Marsalis was performing in Italy with Elvin Jones, who is my son's godfather. I'd first seen him at the Bologna Jazz Festival in 1989, and he really first opened my eyes to jazz then. But when I first saw him, I had no idea we'd ever work together.\" Ciacca first performed with Wynton in Wess Anderson sextet at New York's Village Vanguard in 2004.\n\nIn 1998 he also began to perform with saxophonist Benny Golson, with whom he continues to collaborate. In 1995, Ciacca recorded his first CD as a leader, Driemoty, which was released on the label C-Jam. In 1999 he recorded in New York City Hollis Avenue for the German label YVP. In 2002, he recorded Autumn in New York for the Italian label Splash.\n\nAfter returning to Italy, Ciacca performed throughout Europe, including an intense series of performances in London in 2003, which included appearances at Ronnie Scott's, the Royal Festival Hall Foyer, the National Theatre and the London Jazz Festival, with \"The Monk Liberation Front\" project, a six hour-long performance that involved thirteen musicians alternately playing Monk's unedited music; The Guardian called out Ciacca's performance as \"terrific.\" After opening for Wynton Marsalis' concerts in Italy, in 2004 Ciacca returned to New York to again perform at the Village Vanguard with his own quartet, featuring renowned saxophonist Wes Anderson, subsequently touring with them throughout the US, UK, and Italy until 2005.\n\nIn Italy in 2004, Ciacca recorded a trio project, Ugly Beauty with the late Dennis Irwin and Detroit mate Ali Jackson for the legendary Italian label Soul Note which he supported with a European tour.\n\nIn 2007, Ciacca's extensive music industry experience and comprehensive artistic vision led to his being tapped to take on the position of Director of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he works closely with JALC Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.\n\nThat same year, he met Jana Herzen, founder of Motema Music, at a performance at the Historic Langston Hughes House in Harlem, an intimate brownstone parlor performance space that is sponsored in part by the label. Herzen offered use of the Fazioli piano at the Hughes House to Ciacca for his rehearsal needs, and over the next few weeks she took so well to Ciacca's playing and compositions that the current recording deal was initiated.\n\nIn 2009 Ciacca turned 40. His year long celebrations included: appearance at New York Blue Note, one week engagement at Dizzy's, performances at the Rochester and Detroit International Jazz Festivals, European Tour with George Garzone and Joe Locke special guests, release of his first Music Book, \"the Music of Antonio Ciacca \"Vol. 1\", an invitation to teach \"Business of Jazz\" at Julliard. The participation at the Detroit International Jazz Festival has been for him the climax of a fantastic journey started in Detroit in 1993 when Antonio first touched the USA soil.\n\n2010 marks the release of the second album with Motema Lagos Blues, in two months this album became a rare gift to the jazz world, documenting for the first time the pure joy of be-bop, gospel, and blues influenced pianist/composer Antonio Ciacca's powerful long-term musical relationship with sax legend Steve Grossman. Grossman who rose to fame in the 1970s through incendiary and groundbreaking sessions with Miles Davis, joins Ciacca's deft ensemble (Stacy Dillard, Kengo Nakamura & Ulisses Owens) to swing with impeccable style on this historic disc.\n\nNowadays the New York based pianist and composer Ciacca enjoys his work as Director of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center, his family of wife and 5 kids and his beloved jazz piano playing the city jazz clubs.",
        "photo" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/img/antonio_ciacca.jpg",
        "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/antonio_ciacca/",
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            "sku" : "aciacca-driemoty",
            "name" : "Driemoty",
            "artist" : {
                "name" : "Antonio Ciacca Quartet",
                "page" : "antonio_ciacca"
            },
            "release_date" : "2010-06-19",
            "genres" : ["Jazz","Instrumental Jazz"],
            "vocals" : "instrumental",
            "moods" : ["playful","quirky","reflective","warm","groovy"],
            "uses" : ["cafe or restaurant","lounge or bar","podcast background","vlog","study or focus","emotional storytelling"],
            "energy" : 3,
            "instrumentation" : ["piano","bass","drums","italo-slovak trio"],
            "sounds_like" : ["Thelonious Monk","Wynton Kelly","Bobby Timmons"],
            "summary" : "Earthy, fiery, and intellectual instrumental jazz with Mediterranean flair, ideal for relaxed yet engaging background in cafes, podcasts, or reflective video projects.",
            "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Antonio%20Ciacca%20Quartet/Driemoty/cover_400.jpg",
            "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/aciacca-driemoty/",
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    "license" : {
        "music_license" : "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 1.0)",
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        "listening" : "Stream the free previews, or buy an album for $8 to download it in MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, OGG or WAV. 100% of the price goes to the musician.",
        "non_commercial" : "Non-commercial projects may use the music under CC BY-NC-SA 1.0: credit the artist and Magnatune, and share alike.",
        "projects" : "Magnatune members may use any Magnatune music in their projects, commercial or not (videos, films, podcasts, games, apps, websites, adverts), including work for clients, under the Magnatune Project Licence. Projects released while a member stay licensed for good; new projects need an active membership. Credit is required. TV or radio broadcast, cinema, and background music in shops, restaurants or on-hold lines are not included: license those from the musician. Membership: $10/month, $99/year or $299 lifetime; agents can buy one themselves with MPP at /api/member-pass ($10 month, $99 year, $299 lifetime, one-off).",
        "projects_status" : "available",
        "projects_signup" : "https://magnatune.com/member/signup",
        "royalty_free" : "Membership is royalty-free licensing: no per-video, per-download or per-view fees, for every project created and released while a member.",
        "youtube" : "YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, podcasts: members may use the clean songs in monetized videos. Members register their YouTube channel (the set_youtube_channel MCP tool, or their account page) so YouTube's Content ID doesn't claim their videos. The free versions carry a spoken Magnatune voice and are non-commercial (CC BY-NC-SA), so they're not for monetized channels or client work.",
        "details" : "https://magnatune.com/info/licensing",
        "how_to_credit" : "Name the artist and \"Magnatune\", with a link to the album's web_url."
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