Gabriele Mirabassi, an Italian clarinetist, was born in Perugia. He studied jazz improvisation and modern classical music at the Morlacchi Conservatory. He graduated in 1986. He initially focused his efforts on modern compositions, under the guidance of Gunther Schuller and John Cage. In 1992, he recorded the jazz-oriented Coloriage album with Richard Galliano. This helped him to make a name on the European jazz scene. Mirabassi decided to concentrate on jazz and performed at many high-profile events across Europe and beyond. He also began recording regularly for Egea during the mid-’90s. 1995’s Fiabe saw him performing as a duo with Stefano Battaglia. The 1996 quartet session Come Una Volta earned him an Italian award for the best new talent. Cambaluc, 1997 was a bigger-scale event that featured him and his brother Giovanni, on piano, as well as guitarist Battista Lena, Riccardo Tesi (organist), and the Namaste Clarinet Quartet. For the 1999 duets album Velho Retrato Mirabassi teamed up with guitarist Sergio Assad and formed a regular trio along with accordionist Luciano Biondi, and tuba player Michel Godard. This trio dominated 2000’s Lo Stortino, which was a huge success. In the same year Mirabassi recorded Luna Park with an horn-heavy sextet. 2001’s 1 and 0 added Patrick Vaillant as a mandolin player to the trio. Mirabassi recorded that year with Rabih Aboul-Khalil. Allmusic
