Jazz. Charles Mingus Day at Musmed

For the Twelfth edition of the Jazz Appreciation Month Livorno April 2025, organized by the UNESCO Jazz Day Livorno Committee, in collaboration with the Municipality of Livorno, the State Conservatory Pietro Mascagni, the UNESCO Club of Livorno, the Museum of Mediterranean Natural History and Symphony on Tuesday, April 22, the performance of the double bassists Nino Pellegrini and Simone Pesi on the occasion of the 6th edition of the CHARLES MINGUS DAY held “in the belly of the whale ‘Annie'” in the Sea Room of the Mediterranean Natural History Museum, with music by Charles Mingus is published on YouTube and social media.

The Charles Mingus Day is an initiative launched internationally by the Livorno Committee together with Stefano Zenni, one of the major European jazz musicologists. Charles Mingus, an American double bassist, pianist, and composer, is one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in the history of music who collaborated with the greatest jazz musicians of his time including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock.

Nino Pellegrini, from Livorno, has significant experience with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra directed by Bruno Tommaso, with whom he performed with guests like Peter Erskine, Palle Danielsson, and John Taylor, and in Stefano Battaglia’s Ensemble Theatrum. His numerous collaborations range from Luca Flores to Enrico Rava, from Paolo Fresu to Paul McCandless, from Deborah Davis to Tino Tracanna. He recorded the album “Emma e il Martedì” with original tracks, and is featured on five CDs with Michela Lombardi, the latest being “From Distant Shores” (in a trio with Michela Lombardi and Francesco Lo Castro).

Simone Pesi is a recent happy discovery. He began studying electric bass at 14 after playing clarinet in his city’s band. A jazz double bass graduate from the Mascagni Conservatory in Livorno, he studied with Lello Pareti, Domenico Santaniello, Giuseppe Venezia, Luca Bulgarelli, Thomas Fonnesbæk, Maurizio Giammarco. Skilled and musical, he is already loved and respected by all the jazz musicians in the area and is heading towards a brilliant career. He plays in Sgurz, a music group founded in Pistoia in 2018 with which he maintains a frequent live activity. He has performed at Teatro Pacini in Pescia with Moni Ovadia, at the Levigliani Wine Art Festival, Settembre Quarratino, Poma Liberatutti, Teatro Wanda Capodaglio in Castelfranco Piandiscò, Teatro Goldoni in Livorno.

Video of the first edition of the Mingus Day:

UNESCO Jazz Day Livorno Committee