Riccardo Del Fra

Riccardo Del Fra, born in Rome in 1956, is a multi-talented musician: a double bass player, arranger, and composer. Riccardo del Fra played alongside Chet Baker for nine years both in Europe and Japan on tours, for the radio and for the television; a collaboration which led to the recording of twelve albums, videos and the movie Chet’s Romance directed by Bertrand Fèvre. At the beginning of the 1980s Riccardo Del Fra settled in Paris where he joined a very active rhythm section with the pianist Alain Jean-Marie and the drummer Al Levitt, while at the same time continuing to play with Chet Baker and the pianist Michel Graillier. In the 1990s the trombone player and composer Bob Brookmeyer, whose composition classes Del Fra had taken in Cologne, invited him to join his quartet. They toured together and recorded the CD Paris Suite (which won the Prix de l’Académie du Jazz in 1994). In September 2004 Riccardo Del Fra was named head of the department of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. In 2003, Riccardo del Fra was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Minister of Culture and Communication.