Pino Minafra

by Francesco Martinelli This instigator of the Italian Instabile Orchestra was born in 1951 in Ruvo, a small town in Apulia where he still lives and teaches. Pino Minafra sang in the church choir before starting on the trumpet in his hometown's brass band. He then worked in a classical group, but in 1980 began his career as a jazz soloist, and eventually a composer and leader of his own group. While gaining national and international exposure with his first ensemble, Praxis, he soon began to create events, contemporary jazz concerts in the South of Italy being even rarer than in the rest of the country. An improvised trio with Dutch musicians Ernst Reijseger and Han Bennink is documented on record (Noci...strani Frutti, Leo); his own quintet/sextet released Colori, (Splasc(h) 1986), while the well-received Sudori was released in Canada (Victo 1995). Considered a master of the trumpet and flügelhorn, Minafra plays energetic and free, and occasionally uses a length of plastic water pipe, which he plays didjeridoo-style. In 1998, Enja issued La Banda, a double CD of a traditional Apulian brass band playing traditional instrumental arrangements of popular operatic arias and original compositions by Michel Godard, Willem Breuker, and Bruno Tommaso. Godard recorded his Castel del Monte project with Minafra and Gianluigi Trovesi in the Svevian fortress not far from Minafra's hometown, where for years he promoted a European Jazz Festival with great commitment. Minafra's "Fantozzi," with his hectic conducting, is a staple of Instabile's repertoire (Litania Sibilante, Enja 2001). Victo issued a CD of a live recording of Minafra's quartet at Banlieues Bleues Festival in Paris (Canto Libero 2001).