Max De Aloe - chromatic harmonica

He was born in Busto Arsizio on the 18th march 1968,he started playing classical piano in 1981 and then he began to study the chromatic harmonica which is today his favourite instrument played with different music groups and in particular jazz ensembles.

He was a pupil of the classical harmonica player Willi Burger, one of the most famous harmonica soloist in the world. He attended jazz clinics, for example,  with  Paolo Fresu (Siena Jazz 1997) and with John Taylor and Kenny Wheeler.

He played in concerts and/or in session recordings with some important musicians from all over the world such as Adam Nussbaum, Mike Melillo, Don Friedman, Garrison Fewell, Shirley Bunnie Foy, Thilo Wagner, Greg Burk, Gilbert “Bibi” Rover, Sebastien Chaumont, Jonathan Robinson, John B. Arnold, Adi Souza, Frédérick Vialé, Yuri Goloubev and with many importants italian jazzman such as Franco Cerri, Renato Sellani, Gianni Coscia, Nicola Arigliano, Bruno De Filippi, Gianni Basso, Dado Moroni, Attilio Zanchi, Massimo Moriconi, Nicola Stranieri, Barbara Casini, Ares Tavolazzi, Bebo Ferra, Umberto Petrin, Laura Fedele, Giovanni Falzone, Simone Guiducci, Nando de Luca, Marco Detto, Gegè Munari, Cizia Spata, Antonio Zambrini, Alberto Marsico, Giampaolo Ascolese, Roberto Olzer, Marco Mistrangelo, Michele Ascolese, Raffaello Pareti, Lauro Rossi, Ferdinando Faraò, Francesco Petreni, Sandro Gibellini, Paolo Brioschi, Riccardo Fioravanti, Stefano Bagnoli, Wally Allifranchini, Marco Ricci, Eddy Palermo, Lorenzo Petrocca, Tito Mangialajo Rantzer, Marco Zanoli, Raimondo Campisi, Gianfranco Calvi, Paolo Paliaga, Stefano Dall’Ora, Fausto Beccalossi, Roberto Mattei, Nicola Muresu, etc.

He took part in different session recordings. Among them the more important are:

-Max De Aloe - “La danza di Matisse” (Splasch Records CDH 701.2)
-Marco Detto – “In The Air” (Splasch Records CDH  717.2)
-Renato Sellani Quartet – “Il poeta” (Abeat  ABJZ 001)
-Mike Melillo-M.De Aloe-M. Moriconi–“E la chiamano Estate” (Philology  w 188.2)
-Max De Aloe Quartet (with Gianni Coscia) – “Racconti Controvento” (Abeat  ABJZ003)
-Antonio Turconi – “Lettere dal bagnasciuga” (ABLG 002)
-Barbara Casini Quartet – “Uma voz para Caetano” (Philology w 232.2)
-Adi Souza – “Dansa da vida” ( MAP Records)
-Alessandro Carabelli Group – “Over and out” – (Splasch Records CDH 921.2)
-Max De Aloe Quartet  (with Gianni Coscia) – “L’anima delle cose” (Abeat ABJZ0019)
-Giampiero Spina (ospiti A. Zambrini e  G. Falzone)- “Cinema Paradiso” (Splasch Records)
-Jazz Magazine - "Raccolta vol. 54" - (emmeK edizioni)
-Max De Aloe Quartetto Crocevia – “Crocevia” (Abeat ABJZ 0044)
-Max De Aloe Quartet – “Lirico Incanto” (Abeat ABJZ 0060)

His cd “Racconti Controvento” was voted as one of the best jazz recordings in 2001 in the referendum “top jazz” actualised by the monthly “Musica Jazz” among 65 jazz journalists of all specialised headboards and most known daily papers. Moreover, in the same referendum, the journalist Dario Beretta voted Max De Aloe as the best new talent in 2001, and the journalist Gerlando Gatto (Radiorai) voted Max De Aloe as the best new talent in 2006 and then the journalist Chris Rocca in 2003, and in 2004 the journalist Luciano Federighi voted Max De Aloe Quartet as the best group in Italy.

In 1993 he graduated at the University of Milan presenting a thesis in Sociology on “Pop music as consumer and good aggregation among young people”. For more than ten years he was a freelance music reviewer and wrote articles about the relationship between music and young generations.

He is working on projects on the encounter between music, theatre and poetry as for the 2002 show “Jazz, poetry and other sailors” written and performed with the actress Claudia Donadoni about the life of Chet Baker.
In 2003 he partners with Giuseppe Conte, one of the most influential Italian poets of our times in a cd project “l’anima delle cose”. He recently took part in Arcus Pulcher Aetheri show with Umberto Petrin and the cybernetic  painter Marco Cardini , furthermore he wrote and set up a show called “Un controcanto in tasca”- stories of kind musicians, poets in love and crazy musical instruments inventors.
He works in differents theatre shows like “Por la vida” (write and performed by Raffaella Tagliabue and Elena Dragonetti) and “Morte accidentale di una lady” (write and performed by  Andrea Carlo Cappi).

In 2006 He composed and carried out muisc for the Chilean documentary " Mujeres+Arte" winning the first prize at the competition " Fondo de Fomento Audiovisual-2006" of Chile's Culture Deartment (broadcasted on Channel 13 in Chile).

He splits his activities between playing and teaching. He founded and now runs his own music school (Centro Espressione Musicale) in Gallarate (VA), where he teaches modern piano, theory and chromatic harmonica. He’s also a teacher at the “Accademia delle arti e dei mestieri” of the “Teatro alla Scala” in Milan, where he holds courses financed by the European Social Found.

New projects 2009

MAX DE ALOE QUARTET - Lirico Incanto

BILL CARROTHERS & MAX DE ALOE DUET

Qtrio featuring MAX DE ALOE present “Nanuk of the North”

Other projects

Max De Aloe solo present “Un controcanto in tasca” available in dvd too

ANTONELLA MONTRASIO QUINTET (brasilian music)

QUARTETTO CROCEVIA presents MOVIES

With the writer PAOLO NORI

Collaborations in duo/trio/quartet with

GIANNI COSCIA – DADO MORONI – BARBARA CASINI (brasilian music) – UMBERTO PETRIN – FRANCO CERRI RENATO SELLANI – ADI SOUZA (brasilian music) – GARRISON FEWELL