Italian percussionist Andrea Centazzo (1948) organized the spectacular sextet of Environment for Sextet (november 1978) with John Zorn on reeds, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet, Tom Cora on cello, Eugene Chadbourne on guitars and Polly Bradfield on violin.
He played percussions, wooden flutes, synthesizer and vocals on his first solo
Ictus (april 1974),
accompanied by
Armando Battiston on keyboards.
Davanti E Oltre La Soglia (may 1974) documents live studio
sessions with
Maurizio Giammarco on sopranino sax and Alvin Curran on
synthesizer.
He also recorded as Elektriktus the prog-rock songs of Electronic Mind Wave (1976), collecting material from 1973-76.
Lost In June (april 1977) documents a live performance by Steve Lacy (soprano sax), Kent Carter (double bass) and Andrea Centazzo (drums set and percussion).
Real Time (december 1977) and Real Time Two (december 1977) document live improvisations by Andrea Centazzo (percussion), Evan Parker (tenor and soprano saxes) and Alvin Curran (piano, trumpet and synthesizer).
His solo-percussion triple-LP Indian Tapes (august 1980) was inspired by
Native-American percussion and birdsongs of the American Southwest.
He formed the Mitteleuropa Orchestra to perform larger-scale works. First
documented on the live Mitteleuropa (december 1980), the orchestra
specialized in concertos for small orchestra such as
Doctor Faustus (1983),
Cjant (june 1983) and
Concerto Per Piccola Orchestra (june 1983),
Omaggio a Pier Paolo Pasolini (composed in 1985, recorded in august 1988).
Tao (november 1984) documents duets between Centazzo and Steve Lacy (soprano sax, pocket synthesizer and bird calls) and a 1976 live performance.
Later in the decade he focused on multimedia events.
Infinity Squared (july 2006) documented a live duet with guitarist
Henry Kaiser.
Snowplow (march 2010) documents a collaboration between Andrea Centazzo and guitarist Elliott Sharp.
Escape From 2012 (february 2010) documents a collaboration with Zappa's veteran pianist Don Preston, here on synthesizer, piano, double bass, and electronics.
The Battle (april 2012) is an orchestral work for the
Invasion Orchestra (trumpetists Dave Ballou, Brian Groder and
Guido Mazzon, pianist Umberto Petrin, reedists Carlo Actis Dato, Achille
Succi and Roberto Ottaviano, bassists Giorgio Vendola and Lisle Ellis,
and Riccardo Massari and Gino Robair on electronics).
Andrea Centazzo's Latecomers (april 2012) documents a live concert with pianist Anthony Coleman, trombonists Steve Swell and Giancarlo Schiaffini, and Mallet Kat on sampling.
Duets 7 1977 documents a live concert by Evan Parker on tenor & soprano saxes and Andrea Centazzo on percussion.
Bridges (may 2016) documents a live trio with Akira Sakata (woodwinds) and bassist Kiyoto Fujiwara.
Encantamientos (january 2012) features a trio with Anne LeBaron (acoustic and electric harp) and Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano sax).
Centazzo, Tania Chen (piano) and Henry Kaiser (guitar) recorded the three 25-minute pieces of Ghidorah (Fractal, 2017).
Centazzo worked for 47 years on
Sacred Gong Dive (2019), an album for
gongs and cymbals, including
the 31-minute Echoes From A Japanese Garden.
The double-disc Above & Beyond Protocol (Metalanguage, 2019) features Andrea Centazzo on percussion, malletkat & sampler and Henry Kaiser on electric & acoustic guitars, and collects 150 minutes of unreleased recordings from 1978 to 2019.
The Journey (may 2015) documents a collaboration with
reedist Perry Robinson (clarinet, micro-ocarina, bird calls).
Duophonic Landscape (may 2019) documents a live improvisation with
pianist Elisabeth Harnik.
Los Angeles Tape - Suite In 6 Movements (july 2006) documents a live
improvisation by Andrea Centazzo (here also on keyboards and synth), Marco Cappelli (acoustic guitar) and Kato Hideki (double bass).
Twin Peaks (december 2019) documents a live concert with pianist
Elisabeth Harnik.
The four-disc boxset Out Off Nights (july 2022) contains twelve lengthy performances for percussion, electronics and an 18-musician ensemble (including trombonist Steve Swell, guitarist and saxophonist Elliott Sharp, keyboardist Elisabeth Harnik).
The Art Of Sounds (december 2024) featured
fellow percussionist Pierre Favre,
Sergio Armaroli (vibraphone) and Francesca Gemmo (piano).
Centazzo played percussion and electronics on Octogonal Music
(october 2023), a live performance
with Udo Schindler (bass clarinet, alto sax, cornet, and contrabass sax) and Elisabeth Harnik (church organ).
Mystic River Of The Universe (november 2024) documents a live improvisation with Masayo Koketsu (alto sax) and Kiyoto Fujiwara (bass).
Okubo Night
(november 2024)
contains five long duets
with Samm Bennett.
A trio with Steve Swell (trombone) and Elliott Sharp (guitar) recorded Shift #1 (october 2022).
