Born in Trieste (Italy) in 1959 Roberto Magris began his jazz career in the late 70s. In the 80s, he led a jazz trio named Gruppo Jazz Marca, whose recordings were reissued in 2006, as collector's items, by the English label Arision. During the times of the Iron Curtain, Magris was privileged to be one of the very few West European musicians to collaborate on a regular basis with the East European musicians on the jazz scene. He performed in the former Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, DDR/Eastern Germany, Hungary and Romania. In 1987, he formed the Roberto Magris Quartet that continues to play, record and schedules tours all around the world. This unit has recorded several CDs, among them the classic album Maliblues (Map).
In 2006, Magris started his collaboration with musical icon, Art Davis (the legendary bassist for John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and Max Roach as well as other notables) and also started his fruitful partnership with Paul Collins, the music impresario and founder of JMood Records, the Kansas City based jazz label. This same year Magris made his USA debut in Hollywood, California performing at such famous jazz venues as The Jazz Bakery and Catalina's Jazz Club. In 2008, Magris returned to Los Angeles as bandleader for concerts and to record the CD entitled Mating Call (JMood) with an all-star USA quintet which included Paul Carr and Michael O'Neill on saxes, Elisa Pruett on bass and the legendary musical stylist, Idris Muhammad on drums. In the same year he also participated, as a guest soloist, composer and arranger, in the CD Big Band Ritmo-Sinfonica Citta di Verona plays the music of Roberto Magris / Restless Spirits (Velut Luna).
In 2009, Magris renewed his outstanding collaboration with legendary saxophonist Herb Geller (who worked with Benny Carter, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Benny Goodman, Scott LaFaro, Bill Evans as well as other notables) performing together at several jazz festivals and clubs in Europe. In the same year, Magris returned to Kansas City as bandleader for concerts and to record a Lee Morgan tribute CD entitled Morgan Rewind: A Tribute to Lee Morgan, Vol. 1 (JMood) with another all-star USA quintet which included Brandon Lee on trumpet, Logan Richardson on alto sax, Elisa Pruett on bass and the world renowned jazz drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath (the brother of Percy and Jimmy Heath, from the legendary Heath family). In Kansas City he also recorded the CD entitled One Night In With Hope & More (JMood), on trio with Elisa Pruett, on bass and Albert "Tootie" Heath, on drums, as a special tribute to his favourite be-bop piano masters such as Bud Powell, Elmo Hope, Herbie Nichols, Barry Harris and Tadd Dameron.
In 2010, Magris performed in Los Angeles again together with singer Madaleine Davis (who was the leading voice for Boney M Group) and returned to Kansas City again as bandleader for concerts and to record 3 more albums: the CD sequel Morgan Rewind: A Tribute to Lee Morgan, Vol. 2 (JMood) with a brand new septet including Hermon Mehari on trumpet, Jim Mair on sax, Peter Schlamb on vibes, Elisa Pruett on bass, Brian Steever on drums and Pablo Sanhueza on percussions, to finish up on the trio project One Night In With Hope and More, Vol. 2 and a special jazz-funk tribute to Cannonball Adderley entitled Cannonball Funk'N Friends (JMood) with an American quintet featuring Alonzo "Scooter" Powell (the renowned native Kansas City drummer who is a LA studio musician, music teacher and has worked with the Grammy Award winners Norman Brown, Sting and James Ingram, just to mention a few).
Magris has accompanied jazz legends such as Kai Winding, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Sal Nistico and has also performed with Franco Ambrosetti, Philip Catherine, Bill Molenhof, Janusz Muniak, Frantisek Uhlir, Michael Erian, Florian Brambock, Darko Jurkovic, Rudi Engel, Ines Reiger, Christian Muenchinger, Marko Lackner, Ricardo Cavalli, Achim Goettert, Jose Peixoto, Bosko Petrovic, Sandor Szabo, the Traditional Jazz Studio of Prague and many others.
A selected discography of Roberto Magris albums.
