TRIBUNAL MIST JAZZ BAND
Partenope in jazz

artistic director Paolo Pannella

conductor Antonio Solimene

The repertoire of the ensemble, kind of jazzy, will touch most of the expressions and changes that have characterized Afro-American music from the beginning of the last century, offering some of the most beautiful pages of jazz orchestra literature (Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie). Preference will be given to the elaboration of contemporary arrangers from the American area (Sammy Nestico, Don Sebesky, Bob Mintzer).

In addition, there will be performances of songs belonging to Latin and Funk styles, as well as interpretations of standards of the Neapolitan and Italian tradition by the conductor Antonio Solimene.

The Tribunal Mist Jazz Band was founded in Naples in 1991 and is composed of twenty-one members among musician-professionals and professional-musicians, all united by a pure passion for music, especially jazz. The founder, artistic director, musician and "soul" of the band is the lawyer Paolo Pannella and the conductor is Maestro Antonio Solimene .

The Tribunal Mist Jazz Band has performed in numerous venues in Naples, Rome and important theaters such as the Augusteo and the Bellini in Naples. There were noteworthy performances in the Lecture Halls of the prestigious University "La Sapienza" of Rome and the "Federico II" of Naples, in the courtyard of the Palace of Justice-Castelcapuano of Naples, the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome and the jazz club of La Palma in Rome. Numerous concerts have been held in Naples: at the harbor, in the courtyard of the Royal Palace and Piazza San Domenico Maggiore. Since 1996, The Tribunal Mist Jazz Band, has been present in the annual jazz program of the mythical temple of Parisian jazz "Le petit journal". In 2002, there was a concert at the Savoy club for the presentation of the hymn composed by the lawyer Pannella for the sailboat Mascalzone latino that would participate in the America´s Cup. In March of the same year, the orchestra arrived in New York for a tour that touched, some important jazz clubs, as well as the theater of the United Nations. In the years from 2003-2008, and this year as well, the Tribunal Mist Jazz Band was called by the organizers of Umbria Jazz to perform in Perugia for the Jazz Festival alongside artists like Jarret, Corea, Galliano etc. In 2008 the band performed at the Casa del Jazz in Rome and at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto. There were remarkable " jam sessions" with French and American bands, as well as collaborations with national and international artists such as Stephane Grappelli, Lew Soloff, Gorge Masso, Maxime Saury, Paolo Fresu, Lucio Dalla, Stefano Bollani, Mariapia De Vito, Pietro Condorelli, Marcello Rosa, Dino Piana and Massimo Moriconi, Peppino di Capri, Marco Zurzolo, Angela Luce and Massimo Ranieri.

In the year 2000 the band recorded its first CD "Napoli Standard" classic and modern Neapolitan songs, arranged by Maestro Solimene with a spirit of rewriting and not simply "painting", surprising for its references to Cuban and Latin America music, and revival of the classics: Tammurriata nera, Accarezzame, O’ Sarracino.

In 2005 the second album "Note Autorizzate" was released with all inedited pieces except the mix Vecchio Frac\Libertango whose constituent parts are by Domenico Modugno and Astor Piazzolla and Arrivederci by Umberto Bindi. The songs were written by authors of great depth, very pleased to have "authorized" the creative interpretations of their themes by the Tribunal Mist Jazz Band, hence the polysemic title of the inedited album.

To celebrate the first twenty years of the group, the Tribunal Mist Jazz Band recorded its third CD entitled "Piedigrotta ... e dintorni". The idea arose from the need to relive the spectacular Neapolitan musical tradition, (la Piedigrotta), rediscovering the popular matrix, revisited in jazz genre.

The repertoire could have been very vast but, the choice focused on a few pieces including Palummella, Santa Lucia Luntana, Scapricciatiello and others. These compositions best express the popular sentiment of "quella festa" which became the cradle of Neapolitan song, entrusted to the spread of "copielle" and the warm singing approval of the people, before the merciless merchandising of radio and discography.

Passion and study are the ingredients of the Tribunal Mist Jazz Band’s happiness.

The lawyer Paolo Pannella, "founder of the Tribunal Mist Jazz Band", is a civil lawyer expert on corporate and bankruptcy matters, and in the orchestra, as well as being the artistic director, plays the vibraphone.

He studied piano and vibraphone, and perfected his studies in jazz at the "Siena Jazz" seminars.

The forty-seven year old Pannella, lawyer on weekdays, pianist and composer at weekends, gave rise to this great orchestra, composed of 20 members, professionals and musicians, all jazz lovers, who have met every week for rehearsals since 1991.

"Law has something in common with music... whim" – thus states the lawyer – in fact, to find smart solutions to special and complex cases, means not only thorough knowledge, but also whim: in this, musical sensitivity ... can help tremendously.

Antonio Solimene, pianist, composer, arranger and conductor, is a professor of piano, harmony, ear training and laboratory of music sets at the Saint Louis College of Music in Rome.

Along with his teaching activities, he acts as a conductor. With some orchestras he has performed in numerous concerts both in Italy (Perugia, Umbria Jazz from 2003 to 2013) and abroad (Paris, Le Petit Journal; New York, Theater of the UN; Sofia, Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra). He made the recording ("Eneiro") as composer and pianist, and three CDs ("Napoli Standard", "Note autorizzate" and "Piedigrotta e… dintorni") as conductor and arranger for the TMJB .

He has been conductor of the Tribunal mist jazz band for about eighteen years and conductor of the big band at the Saint Louis College of Music in Rome for several years.