After
having been a lawyer for thirty years, Coscia began focusing full time on music.
He always has been dedicated to jazz
and has won numerous awards. He has played with some of the best Italian
musicians and with many others in the United States. For some time he has been
searching, as European musician, to develop the remote values of cultural and
popular tradition through “jazzistico” language.
In
1985 using a rythm and a string quartet he recorded Gianni
Coscia, L’altra fisarmonica. For Coscia this was the first example of
rivisiting a popular theme. (The cover note was done by Umberto Eco). In 1989
the LP La Briscola placed second in a contest organized by the magazine Musica
Jazz. In 1990 with the Big Band of Giogio Gaslini he appared in the festival
of Roccella Jonica. In 1991 with the RAI Symphonic Orchestra he took part in the
opera “Ascent and Ruin of the city of Mahogony” by Kurt Weil. In the same
year while playing Astor Piazzolla’s concerto for bandoneon and orchestra with
the chamber orchestra of Pavia he presented one of his own compositions with the
same orchestra. Also in 1991, to represent Italy, RAI invited him to go to the
International Jazz Festival of Pori (Finland) and to the jazz Festival of
Clusone (France). In addition, he partecipated in the festival Nuits de Nacre in
Tulle (France), and took part in the RAI television transmission which honored Gorni
Kramer.
In
1992 and 1994 Coscia did a tour in Japan with Milva where he performed solo.
During this time he was part of The International Festival of Berchidda. In 1993
he collaborated with the master Luciano Berio in the writing of the music of a
stage show against antisemitism.
He
was invited to the Institute of Culture of Budapest as well as the same
Institutes in Lisbon, Portugal and Addis Abeba in Ethiopia. In October of this
same year he recorded Il Bandino with a rythm section and four wind instruments.
This recording was considered to be one of the recording events of that year.
In
1994 Coscia recorded Radici with Gianluigi Trovesi. (This recording has been
reissued ten times). This same year he did a tour in Uruguay and in Lebanon. In
the last few years Coscia and Trovesi have performad in the Umbria Jazz
Festival, and they have done concerts in Denmark, France Holland, Austria,
Germany, Tunisia, Spain, Syria, Jordan and England. Alone Coscia partecipated in
The Tenth Toholampi Accordion Week In Finland.
In
1997 during the Umbria Jazz festival Coscia took part in the project Banda
Sonora by Battista Lena. In the same year he recorded a CD, wherein he plays in
trio with the trombonist Enrico Rava. And with the percussionist Naco. At the
end of August 1997 he and the pianist Fred Ferrari did the soundtrack for the
film “Altri Uomini” (Other Men) directed by Claudio Bonivento, with Claudio
Amendola and Veronica Pivetti. In September the city of Stradella awarded Coscia
the Kramer prize, and on May 17, by
an act of the mayor, Coscia was nominated to be a member of the Council of the
Accademia Musical Chigiana which is in Siena.
In
1998 Coscia performed his concerts with Trovesi when they appared in important
European Festivals. In June he recorded for L’Egea La
Bottega di Gianni Coscia, which has flute, oboe, bassoon and horn and which
features the soloists Trovesi (clarinet), Pietropaoli (bass) and Dulbecco (vibraphone).
Coscia partecipated in the Roman Festival of Villa Celimontana and also at the
the Umbria Jazz Festival with the octette La Bottega. In Pctober again with
Trovesi he partecipated in the performance which celebrated Pina Bausch’s
twenty-five years of theater work, which took place in Wuppertal. In November of
this same year he went to China with the project Banda Sonora of Battista Lena.
In February 1999 Trovesi and Coscia recorded a CD in Zurich for the prestigious
ECM. (The CD will be released at the beginning of may). In June he performed in
the new recording of Battista Lena. This CD features pick instruments and the
soloists Fresu, Mirabassi, Pietropaoli and Di Leonardo.
In
addition to the concert season, the main events of 2002 are as follows:
May, the
concert at the University Bocconi in Milan,
June, the launch of the new CD “Archiliuto” in Bergamo, a tour in Canada and
the participation at the Jazz Festival in Montreal.
The main event In 2003 is the performance at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
Nel 2004, esce il disco "Galleria del Corso" in duo con Renato Sellani per la casa discografica Giotto di Perugia. Nel mese di maggio dello stesso anno la città di Alessandria gli conferisce il prestigioso premio del Gagliaudo d'Oro: tra gli altri premiati si ricordano Gianni Rivera, Umberto Eco, Cristina Parodi, Roberto Cotroneo e Carlo Mario Guerci.
Il 30 dicembre 2004 partecipa all'Umbria Jazz Winter ad Orvieto in duo con Renato Sellani con vivo successo.
Il 2005 si apre con la pubblicazione di un nuovo disco in duo con Gianluigi Trovesi ed edito da ECM.