About

 

 

 Giuseppe Paradiso is a drummer, recording artist and composer active both as a bandleader of MERIDIAN 71, a world-jazz music project based in Boston, as well as a freelance recording and live musician across different music genres.

As a leader, Giuseppe has released three albums: Otherness Collection in 2012, Metropolitan Sketches in 2020, and Parallel Dimensions in 2022 on the UBUNTU MUSIC record label and worldwide distribution by The Orchard (SONY). All three albums feature his original compositions and his Meridian 71 music project.

His latest release Parallel Dimensions was supported by a LIVE ARTS BOSTON grant from The Boston Foundation, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Boston, Robert Davoli & Eileen McDonagh.

Born in Santeramo in Colle (Bari, Italy) in 1983, Giuseppe started his musical studies on drums at the age of five years old. In 2007, he graduated with full marks and honors from the Italian conservatory of music N. Piccinni in Percussion Instruments, where he also studied mallets, classical piano for eight years and the Contemporary & Experimental Composition program (five years); successively, in 2011 he graduated with magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) in Performance, drum set. 

Having the opportunity to study with some of the finest musicians and educators in the world, such as Grammy-award Terri Lyne Carrington, Antonio Sanchez, Jamey Haddad, “Ra-Kalam” Bob Moses, Mark Walker, Ian Froman, Ralph Peterson, Evelyn Glennie, Ed Saindon, Victor Mendoza and Dave Samuels (to name a few), Giuseppe continued to develop his versatility as a musician and composer.
At Berklee, he has also worked as a drummer for the Strings Department, Guitar Department, Voice Department, Piano Department, Ensemble Department and Special Programs in 2010 and 2011. He attended lectures by Herbie Hancock at Harvard University, the Siena Jazz and Umbria Jazz workshops in Italy, where he studied with Massimo Manzi and Ettore Fioravanti.

His international collaborations across a wide variety of music genres include seven-time Latin Grammy-award Javier Limón; Grammy-award Arto Tuncboyaciyan (Peter Gabriel, Chet Baker, Joe Zawinul); pioneer guitarist David Fiuczynski (Jack Dejohnette, Jo Jo Mayer); Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari; jazz trumpeter Phil Grenadier (John Scofield, Kenny Barron, Steve Swallow); Marco Pignataro (Director of the Global Jazz Institute at Berklee College); four-time Grammy-award Oscar Stagnaro; jazz bassist John Lockwood (Gary Burton, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard); award-winning Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh (Yo Yo Ma) and Chinese virtuoso Yazhi Guo; British songwriter William Topley; gospel artist Gabriel Eziashi; Italian artists Cettina Donato, Vince Abbracciante, Mario Rosini, Vito Di Modugno, Daniele Sepe.

Over the past two decades, Giuseppe has performed at major international venues, festivals and institutions such as Panama Jazz Festival (Panama City); Newport Jazz Festival (Newport, RI); as a soloist at Les Journee de la Percussion at Conservatoire Superior de Paris (France) and the Equinox Music Festival at Berklee College, where he premiered his composition, commissioned for the same festival. Other performances include Festival Duni (Matera, Italy), Teatro Piccinni and Stadium San Nicola (Bari, Italy); Percussion Days at the Conservatory G.B. Pergolesi (Fermo, Italy); Museum of Fine Arts, Northeastern University, Harvard University and Agganis Arena at Boston University; Public Theater (New York City, NY); Turkish Embassy of Washington D.C.;  Regatta Bar Jazz Club (Cambridge, MA), Gregory’s Jazz Club (Rome, Italy), to name a few.

 

Photo by Samantha Bruce.

 

Appearances on radio and television include Spanish TVE LA2 Entre Dos Aguas, a documentary produced by seven-time Latin Grammy-award Javier Limón; Full Circle, UK radio show (London); Paradigms podcast (USA); feature on a “Boston Strong” video campaign on NECN (USA); The New Edge radio show at MIT University (Cambridge, MA Public Radio), amongst many other international radio air-playing and appearances on local Italian and New England TV shows.


Discography as a drummer and percussionist involves several productions between the United States and Europe, covering a wide diversity of genres and styles, ranging from jazz and world music to pop.  One of his latest recordings with Neotolia - Neotolian Song (Interrobang Records), features a roster of internationally renowned musicians, such as Dave Weckl, Grammy-award  Arto Tuncboyaciyan, David Fiuczynski, Joey Blake and Bassam Saba, amongst others. Other works include “Octave” by Jazz Revelation Records (2011, Berklee) and Crescendo with the Cettina Donato Jazz Orchestra (Jazzy Records). 

 

AWARDS / GRANTS:

  • 2021 | OPPORTUNITY FUND/ ARTIST CAREER DEVELOPMENT - grant from The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the City Of Boston.

  • 2020 | LIVE ARTS BOSTON - grant from The Boston Foundation for the composition and production of the Parallel Dimensions album by Giuseppe Paradiso & Meridian 71 (2020-2021).

  • 2011 | JAMES DAVID HARBER AWARD - from the Performance Division and Percussion Department at Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA).

  • 2010, 2011 | BERKLEE INTERNATIONAL GRANT - from Berklee College of Music.

  • 2009, 2010 and 2011 | Berklee College of Music’s outstanding scholarship and Dean’s list.

  • 2008 | GAI MOVIN’UP
    Sostegno alla mobilita`internazionale dei giovani artisti italiani - Area Spettacolo / Ministero per i beni e le attivita`culturali. (Support to the international mobility of young Italian artists, Performing Arts / Italian Government - Department of Cultural heritage and activities.)

  • 2007 | UMBRIA JAZZ (Perugia, Italy) - Scholarship for a full-time program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.

 

IN MOMENTUM SERIES

In 2013, he co-founded the In Momentum Concert Series at Outpost 186 in Cambridge, MA, a series based on free improvised and creative music with bi-weekly events. In Momentum produced collaborations among a large number of local and international musicians, growing a strong community and a unique environment to enhance freedom in music creation.
Please, for more information visit the Youtube channel HERE.