Leo Genovese

Leo Genovese
Background information
Born	1979 (age 43–44) Venado Tuerto, Argentina
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instrument(s)	Piano, keyboards, other instruments
Years active	Mid-2000s–present

Leonardo Genovese (born 1979) is an Argentine jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer. He has played with The Mars Volta.

Life and career

Genovese was born in Venado Tuerto, Argentina, in 1979. He began playing the piano at the age of 5 or 6, but became more interested in playing around ten years later.

Genovese began studying music and accounting at the University of Rosario, but soon abandoned accountancy, and in 2001 he began studying at the Berklee College of Music. He graduated in 2003. His first album, Haiku II, was released the following year and was followed by Unlocked in 2008, but Genovese later talked them down, stating that they were "just a way to document where I was at the time". From 2005 he recorded and toured internationally with bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding.

A reviewer for The New York Times commented on Genovese's 2013 album, Seeds, that, "by refusing to privilege one historical style over another, he strengthens his claim as a polyglot". Down Beat observed that Genovese's compositions for the album "share an exploratory nature, whether the new terrain in question is a marriage of electronic and acoustic sounds, an unlikely use of chromatic scaling or the successful juxtaposition of otherwise disparate ideas."

Genovese won a Grammy Award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his solo on "Endangered Species" from Wayne Shorter's album Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

As leader/co-leader

Year recorded	Title	Label	Personnel/Notes
2003	Haikus II	Fresh Sound New Talent	With Nathan Blehar (tenor sax), Phil Grenadier (trumpet), Demian Cabaud (bass), Francisco Mela (drums)
2007*	Planet Safety	Soul Note	Trio, with Dave Zinno (bass), Bob Gullotti (drums)
2008*	Unlocked	Ropeadope	Trio, with Justin Purtill (bass), Joe Hunt (drums); Genovese also plays wood flute
2010	Seeds	Palmetto	With Dan Blake (saxes), John Lockwood (bass), Bob Gullotti (drums); Sergio Miranda (percussion); Esperanza Spalding (vocals), George Garzone (sax), Ricardo Vogt (guitar), Francisco Mela (drums) added on some tracks
2017*	Trippeiros	Self-Released	Trio, with Demian Cabaud (bass), Francisco Mela (drums)

As sideman

Year recorded	Leader	Title	Label
2007	Esperanza Spalding	Esperanza	Heads Up
2009	Esperanza Spalding	Chamber Music Society	Heads Up
2011	Esperanza Spalding	Radio Music Society	Heads Up
2011*	Francisco Mela and Cuban Safari	Tree of Life	Half Note
2012*	Michael Feinberg	The Elvin Jones Project	Sunnyside
2013*	Pancho Molina and Elias Meister	Open for Business	EMPM
2014*	Sara Serpa and André Matos	Primavera	Inner Circle Music
2014*	Miguel Fernandez	Afrikan Blues	Sax On
2015*	George Garzone	Crescent	Jody Jazz & Jazz Hang Records
2017*	Oscar Feldman	Gol	Zoho
2017*	George Spanos	Reflections	Self Produced
2017	Wayne Shorter	Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival	Candid
2020	Omar Rodríguez-López	The Clouds Hill Tapes	Clouds Hill
2021	Esperanza Spalding	Songwrights Apothecary Lab	Concord
2022	The Mars Volta	The Mars Volta	Clouds Hill
2022	Jason Palmer	Con Alma	SteepleChase