Paolo began playing the trumpet when he was eleven years old with his local band. After many musical experiences, he discovered Jazz in 1980. He began playing professionally in 1982. While attending Seminaries at Siena Jazz, Mdeg Bruno Tommaso guided him. Fresu received his trumpet degree from Cagliari Conservatory in 1984. He also won the “RadioUno jazz”, Musica jazz, and “RadioCorriere TV” awards for best Italian jazz talent in that same year. He won the Top Jazz prize of ‘Musica Jazz’ in 1990 as best Italian musician, best group (“Paolo Fresu Quinnet”) and best recording (“Live in Montpellier” prize). He won the 1996 European Musician of the Year award with one of his compositions at the ‘Academie du jazz” of Paris. He was also nominated in 2000 for Best International Musician. These were only the beginning of a series Fresu has won up to today. Paolo is a Professor and has been responsible for various national and international institutions. He has performed on every continent with some of the most prominent names in Afro-American music over the past 30 years, including Franco D’Andrea and Giovanni Tommaso. Nearly three hundred records have been recorded by him. Some of his records are in his name. Others include those with Evan Parker, Farafina and Ornella Vanoni. Fresu is currently the artistic director of Berchidda Festival Time in Jazz and Jazz Seminaries in Nuoro. Fresu has been a frequent guest in orchestras like the French National Jazz Orchestra and NDR of Hamburg German Radio. He has coordinated numerous multimedia projects and collaborated with actors, dancers/painters, poets, and has written music to films, documentaries and videos. Fresu currently participates in many projects that take him around the globe for over 200 concerts per year. He lives in Paris, Bologna, and Sardegna. He directs the Cultural Association ‘Time in Jazz’ in Berchidda where he organizes the prestigious festival every year since 1998. Adapted from Vittorio Albani’s biography
