Mario Biondi

Born in Catania, Sicily as Mario Ranno, Mario Biondi has developed since the 2000s a repertoire that sits between soul, jazz, rhythm and blues and light funk, carried by a deep baritone voice that places his music within the aesthetic of a contemporary crooner. After starting out as a backing and session singer, Mario Biondi came to attention with the track “This Is What You Are,” which circulated in the mid-2000s, and with the album Handful of Soul (2006), recorded with the Duke Orchestra and the High Five Quintet. The subsequent course of his career confirms this dialogue between American soul tradition, jazz orchestration and a more pop-oriented production, with albums such as I Love You More - Live (2007), If (2009), Due (2011), Sun (2013), Beyond (2015), Brasil (2018), Dare (2021) and Crooning Undercover (2023). Over the years he has also worked with numerous jazz and soul musicians and vocalists, while maintaining an identity centered on elegant arrangements, often relaxed tempos and a very measured vocal phrasing. Between ballads, mellow grooves and stronger Latin influences on some projects, Mario Biondi occupies a distinctive place on the Italian scene oriented toward soul and jazz sounds.