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Internationally recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to contemporary clarinet music, praised by Musical Opinion (UK’s oldest classical music magazine) for his “constantly beautiful tone”, he starts his career at a very young age and has since “established himself as the friendly face of contemporary clarinet”, according to the Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine.
His work has been described as “romantic, soulful and technically superb” and, with a repertoire that embraces more than two centuries of Western music, Luca is considered one of the most versatile musicians of his generation. Luciano has presented new works (either his compositions or music especially written/arranged for him) and rarely played music at some of the most established venues of the UK, Europe and America. He is mainly active as a solo artist presenting original projects via concerts/recitals and his experience includes TV and radio performances, master-classes and lecture-recitals, five solo albums, orchestra and chamber music.
Described as “the new voice of the clarinet” on the front page of De Klarinet Magazine, internationally recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to contemporary clarinet music, Luca starts his career at the young age of twelve debuting at one of the most established halls of his home town Naples and appears on television nationwide live aged twenty-one. Praised by the International Clarinet Association for “the full range of his abilities”, he receives a master’s degree from the Conservatoire of Salerno (Italy), is awarded the Fellow status at the Higher Education Academy (UK) and, according to the Clarinet & Saxophone Society of Great Britain, he has since “established himself as the friendly face of contemporary clarinet”. Luca has been introduced by the BBC Radio as “one of Europe’s 
leading exponent of jazz clarinet” and his repertoire also embraces Catelnuovo-Tedesco, Brahms, Messiaen, Schumann, Cage along with rarely performed music by living composers and recordings of music by Stravinsky, Luciano Berio and Poulenc.
A D’Addario/Rico Artist and a former clarinet professor at the Leeds College of Music (UK), Luciano is one of the few specialists of classical, jazz and contemporary music at HE level and has held the only existing position of jazz-clarinet lecturer in the UK for several years. His areas of research include extended techniques and new compositions for solo clarinet also presented during his master-classes and lecture-recitals (in the UK, Europe and South America) and regularly premiered at St Martin in the Fields in London, Cambridge University and overseas. Over the past decade, Luca has found himself increasingly in demand as a soloist and has pursued a career as a solo artist touring extensively the UK and overseas and focusing primarily on his own music performing at venues as diverse as: the South Bank Centre, Barber Institute of Fine Arts (Birmingham University), Edinburgh Festival, European Clarinet Festival in Belgium, St James Piccadilly, the King’s Hall, Glasgow University, Centro Cultural Sao Paulo, Politeama Theatre Naples, 
American Cathedral in Paris.
Aside from his renowned solo clarinet work, Luca has appeared on TV programs nationwide (RTE Ireland, SKY Brazil, RAI Television Italy), collaborated with orchestras also as a soloist (Italy, Republic of Ireland, Brazil) and with chamber music ensembles (also recording live for BBC Radio 3 at the Royal Festival Hall).
As a recording artist, Luciano’s solo albums have received much critical acclaim in three continent gaining him appearances on the front page of music magazines. He has been interviewed by the press, on TV and on radio with broadcasts nationwide including the BBC Radio and whole radio programs in the US on contemporary music dedicated to his work. In particular, his last releases, featuring music part of his research, have been praised by some of the major publications on clarinet such as The Clarinet Journal (USA/worldwide), Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine (UK), Rohrblatt (Germany), De Klarinet (The Netherlands/Belgium).
Luca Luciano was playing with the Roger Odell Jazz Nights Trio who were:
Roger Odell – Drums
Roger was one of the founder members and drummer with the jazz-funk group Shakatak and the forerunner band Tracks. Roger has toured internationally and recorded numerous CDs, which he continues to do on a regular basis to this day.
Peter Lemer – Keyboards
Peter Lemer is perhaps most famously associated with Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia with whom he recorded many albums over a 30 year period but he has also worked with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Annette Peacock, Harry Beckett, Gilgamesh, Baker Gurvitz Army, Seventh Wave, Harry Beckett’s Joy Unlimited, Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, Mike Oldfield Group, In Cahoots, and Miller/Baker/Lemer. He recorded his own trio CD in Israel and he currently works in his own groups plus the Peter Lemer-Billy Thompson Quartet and Duo, Que Pasa and Pepi Lemer’s “back2front” with whom he co-produced their new CD.
Peter Lemer – Keyboards
Peter studied at the Royal Academy of Music. He remained a fixture of In Cahoots – he can be heard on Parallel (1996), Out Of The Blue (2001), – as well as playing one-off gigs with old friends Steve Cook (bass) and Roger Odell (drums), recording an album with them in Israel
Larraine Odell – Vocals
Larraine began her professional singing career with the group CMU with whom she recorded two albums, Larraine performed at numerous venues throughout the UK and Europe, including the Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall. Boxford Fleece & Ronnie Scott’s
Master of Ceremonies for the evening was the erudite Gareth Williams-James
Larraine Odell opened the first set with some great jazz standards including:
My Romance is a popular song, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, written for Billy Rose’s musical, Jumbo (1935). In the 1962 movie version of Jumbo, Doris Day performed the song.
Softly As in a Morning Sunrise (1928)
Sigmund Romberg wrote the music and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the words for this composition for the musical New Moon, which premiered in New York at the Imperial Theatre. Yhis was an up-tempo number arranged by Roger Odell.
I Could Write a Book is a show tune from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey (1940), where it was introduced by Gene Kelly and Leila Ernst.
Isn’t It a Pity?. is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, written for the 1933 musical Pardon My English. It was introduced by George Givot and Josephine Huston.
I Thought About You is a 1939 popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was one of three collaborations Van Heusen and Mercer wrote for the then recently established Mercer-Morris publishing company. This had a superb opening solo by Steve Cook on the double bass.
Luca Luciano the joined the Jazz Nights Trio to play extended versions of tunes including:
All Blues written by Miles Davis. It was recorded on April, 22, 1959, during the second
session of his Kind of Blue album, still one of the best-selling jazz albums of all times.
Four is a 1954 jazz standard composed by the American jazz saxophonist Eddie “Cleanhead” 
Vinson and mistakenly attributed to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was first recorded in 1954 by Miles Davis and released in 1956 on his album Blue Haze.
On Green Dolphin Street” (originally entitled “Green Dolphin Street”) is a 1947 song composed by Bronislaw Kaper with lyrics by Ned Washington. The song, composed for the film Green Dolphin Street (which was based on a 1944 novel of the same name by Elizabeth Goudge), went on to become a jazz standard after being recorded by Miles Davis in 1958
Following the Jazznights raffle of 3 jazz cd’s we had the traditional Jazznights sitting in spot which is open to all musicians who have an opportunity to play with the band. Tonight we had the pleasure of Colin Holden on trumpet playing Benny Golson’s Blues March and Geoff Harriman playing All Of Me on his harmonica.
Luca Luciano the re-joined the Trio to play:
Extended version of Blues by Charlie Parker.
St. Thomas is among the most recognizable instrumentals in the repertoire of American Jazz Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Although Rollins is commonly credited as its composer, the tune is based on the traditional English song “The Lincolnshire Poacher”. By way of the folk process, “The Lincolnshire Poacher” evolved into a nursery song in the Virgin Islands, which Rollins’ mother sang to him when he was a child.
Donna Lee is a bebop jazz standard originally attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis also claimed authorship. Written in A-flat, it is based on the chord changes of the jazz standard “(Back Home Again in) Indiana”
Saxophonist John Coltrane composed Naima for his first wife, Juanita Austin, whose nickname was Naima or Nita. They were married in 1955.
500 Hundred Miles High written by Chick Corea from his Light As A Feather album from 1973.
How High The Moon and Ornithology medley gave an outstanding finale to this master class of the jazz clarinet. It is eight years since Luca last visited Jazz Nights and we are sure it will not be as long next time
Stan Sulzmann will be at Jazz-Nights on Sunday 6th November 2016
A veteran of the UK jazz scene, Stan Sulzmann has a rich and varied career that has included playing with musicians as diverse as Gil Evans, Michael Brecker, Kenny Wheeler, Larry Grenadier, Gwilym Simcock and many others as well as having a prolific output as a bandleader. “It simply doesn’t get any better than this” John Kelman.
THE BEST IN BRITISH MODERN JAZZ is at Jazznights, The Bell Hotel. Clare, Suffolk. CO10 8NN
Admission £10. Doors open 7.00 pm. Music 7.30 – 10.00 pm.
Reserve seating on 01787 237653 or email info@jazz-nights.com
Pay on the night.
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