The National Italian newspaper “Il Tirreno”, hailed jazz vocalist Emiliano Loconsolo’s “Sophisticated, elegant, delicate voice, almost fragile like Chet Baker, fascinating in his melodies and in his velvet swing.” Trained in both jazz and classical voice he has cultivated a vocal technique that seamlessly blends tenor and countertenor registers into a hybrid sound that is increasingly finding its place within new music. His versatility shines through in his performances of the American Songbook, instrumental compositions by Billy Strayhorn and Charles Mingus, contemporary art songs and his own arrangements of rarely heard Italian folks songs.
Since his professional debut in 2000, Loconsolo has performed as a leader and guest artist across his native country of Italy, the United States, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Jordan, performing at venues such as the Theatre for the New City in New York, the Verizon Jazz Stage in Providence, the 606 Club and the Forge Arts Venue in London, the National Music Conservatory in Amman, Sounds Jazz Club in Bruxelles, the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco, Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, and the Jazz Visions Festival in Turin.
“Here is a young man who has the potential to rise to the very top of his field”
– Hank Jones, NEW YORK
He has collaborated live and in the studio with Michael Baker, Dan Tepfer, Luciano Milanese, Fulvio Chiara, Riccardo Arrighini, Marco Panascia, Fabio Morgera, Bruno Castellucci, John Baboian, Garrison Fewell, Andrea Tofanelli, Nico Gori, and Dave O’Higgins. In 2005, he collaborated with avant-garde jazz icon Irene Aebi on rarely heard and never before performed vocal compositions by her husband, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, and was a member of the American premiere of Futurities, a groundbreaking song cycle created by Mr. Lacy and renowned American poet Robert Creeley. Mr. Loconsolo is the co-founder and artistic director of Cantinajazz, a popular long-running program in Tuscany which explores the artistic relationship between jazz and wine through narration and performance.
Loconsolo holds a BA in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, also receiving NEC’s Merit Award in 2004. He also attended Berklee College of Music and received their International Best Talent Scholarship. He has studied with vocal luminaries such Kevin Mahogany, Mark Murphy, Roberta Gambarini, Enrico Intra, Franco Cerri and Sheila Jordan and learned Jazz composition and arranging with Dave Holland, Cecil McBee and Ran Blake.