Nicola Conte

Based in Bari in Apulia, Nicola Conte has developed since the 1990s a body of work at the crossroads of DJ culture, jazz and Brazilian music. A guitarist, producer, arranger and conductor trained in classical music, Conte was involved with the Fez Collective and initially forged an acid-jazz aesthetic nourished by bossa nova, Latin jazz, jazz fusion, 1960s Italian film scores and world-music influences, notably from India. Jet Sounds (2000) and its international reissue Bossa Per Due (2001) carried this sound beyond Italy, before he moved towards a more directly jazz-oriented approach on Other Directions (2004) and Rituals (2008). He continued this trajectory with The Modern Sound of Nicola Conte (2009), Love & Revolution (2011), Free Souls (2014) and Let Your Light Shine On (2018). Associated with labels such as Schema, ESL and Blue Note, Conte operates between clubs, festivals and studio projects while also working as a remixer and producer for other artists, notably Rosalia De Souza and Stefania Dipierro. His writing is built on acoustic arrangements, supple rhythms and a constant interplay between soul-jazz groove and Latin pulse.