MIKE ROSSI

• Common Ground: Mike Rossi

Song for Corrine (M. Narunsky)
Hello From Down Here (M. Rossi)
K.G. Cape Town (M. Rossi)
Yearning (M. Rossi)
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUULI ! (M. Rossi)
Deception (M. Narunsky)
The Forty Club (M. Rossi)
Horoscope (M. Narunsky)
Un Morceau Dedier Au Tension Entre les Sexes (M. Narunsky)
Just a Matter of Time (M. Narunsky)
Our Angel, Engel (M. Rossi)
Roses (M. Narunsky)
Into an Open Sky (M. Narunsky) The music on Common Ground reflects a musical meeting and friendship that began in 2004 of saxophonist/composer Mike Rossi and pianist/composer Micu Narunsky. Both artists share a common musical ground and vocabulary going back more than 25 years. Since the 1980s, both artists have been associated with the great Dave Liebman as a musical inspiration, friend and guru, and this disc is dedicated him.

Mike Rossi regularly performs at jazz festivals and conducts workshops and master classes in South Africa, Europe and the United States. His performing and recording credits include appearances with Clark Terry, Joe Williams, Tony Bennett, Lou Rawls, Rob McConnell, Bill Prince, George Russell, Bill Watrous, Aretha Franklin, Rosemary Clooney, Jurgen Brauninger, Boston Big Band, Artie Shaw Orchestra, African Jazz Pioneers, Darius Brubeck, Alec Dankworth, Jack van Poll, Hein van de Gyn, Winston Mankunku, Barney Rachabane, Johnny Fourie and Carlo Mombelli. His diverse recording credits include "Two in One" Mike Rossi/Ulrich Suesse (MRUS); with Darius Brubeck: "Before It’s Too Late" (Sheer Sound); "Space and Consequence" with Virtual Jazz Reality; "Glimpses of Music in Africa, One For David" with Chamber Jazz; "Beauty and the Blues"; "The Best of ’97: The Standard Bank Jazz Festival", Grahamstown, South Africa; "After Dark" and "Everything Happens To Me" with the Boston Big Band; and "Events Dancing: Recent Compositions" by Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot. The disc of original jazz compositions, "Beauty and the Blues" (MMC2045J), features jazz greats Rufus Reid, Tom McKinley and Billy Hart. Rossi has also performed and recorded as a soloist with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra in Europe and the United States. MMC New Century Volume XII (MMC2072) and Music of David Post & Peter Farmer (MMC 2125) feature Rossi with the CRSO as soloist, conducted by Vladimir Valek. Mike Rossi is the first recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Education from Florida Atlantic University. Rossi is also the first recipient of a Professorship in Jazz at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. From August 1999 through June 2000, he served as acting Director of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of Natal, Durban (UND) in South Africa as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Jazz. Rossi has contributed numerous articles to the Jazz Education Journal, Saxophone Journal, South African Music Teacher, authored "Contrast and Continuity in Jazz Improvisation; a Diatonic and Multi-Colored Approach" and "Uncommon Etudes from Common Scales" both Advance Music publications. Three-horn Arrangements of Rossi’s originals will also be published by Advance Music in 2007. He also serves as Secretary of SAJE, South African Chapter of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE). Mike Rossi is a Rampone & Cazzani Saxophone Artist.

Israeli born pianist Micu Narunsky is presently pursuing the Master of Music degree at UCT. He has also studied in Tel-Aviv, New York and Canada, where his teachers included Richard Bierach, Dave Holland and Don Thompson. He has performed in international jazz festivals and clubs in Israel, Belgium, France and Ireland with such artists as David Liebman, Ronan Guilfoyle, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Shiela Jordan, Tony Rabeson, John Betch and Phillipe Mace` among others. Micu has made several recordings of his own compositions. The highly acclaimed disc Graphic Realities was made with saxophonist David Liebman and released in France on the Owl/EMI label. Micu also recorded with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Phil Haynes. He has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Micu has been active as a teacher and director of jazz studies in Israel and France as well as being involved in the International Association of Schools of Jazz, (ISJ).



MSR Classics