Oscar Valdambrini

Italian composer and jazz musician.

Born: 11 May 1924 in Turin, Italy.
Died: 26 December 1996 in Rome, Italy.

Oscar Valdambrini was born in Torino in 1924. He started as a violinist at the local conservatory, where in 1941 he got his diploma. In 1936 he had started to study trumpet as well, and in 1948 he decided to become a professional jazz musician, after a jam session with Rex Stewart. In 1955 he founded the Basso-Valdambrini Quintet (then Sextet), one of the most famous groups in the history of Italian jazz, a band that lasted well into the 1980s.

He played and recorded with many American musicians: Lionel Hampton, Chet Baker, Lars Gullin, Buddy Collette, Helen Merrill, Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson. In the Sixties and the Seventies he became a member of the RAI Orchestra, which used to give radio concerts with guest stars such Frank Rosolino, Conte Candoli, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Scott and many others. He died in Rome in 1997.

A quiet, reserved man, Valdambrini was one of the founding fathers of modern Italian jazz.