2026 RJF Guest of Honor
Rossano Sportiello
Rossano Sportiello was born in Italy on June 1st 1974. At the age of 16 he was already performing jazz piano professionally in the Milan area while still studying classical music. He graduated in classical piano in 1996.
Since 1991 Rossano has performed in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Norway, United Kingdom, USA, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Israel, Japan, South Korea and South America.
In 2007 Rossano married American writer Lala Moore and moved to New York City.
Rossano has been performing on a full schedule of concerts for the last 30 years; he’s considered to be one of the major interpreters of the American jazz idiom, with particular attention to the period from the Harlem Stride piano style of the ‘20s and ‘30s to the Be-Bop of the ‘50s.
Rossano has received a number of distinguished awards in the field such as the “Prix du Jazz Classique” (France) in 2005, the Ascona Jazz Award (Switzerland) in 2009, the “Premio Vittorio Ramella” (Italy) in 2011, “Premio Valenza Jazz 2016” (Italy), “Jazz Legend Award 2024” (San Diego, USA).
He’s featured in more than 50 recordings as leader or sidemen, 6 of them are in piano solo format. Rossano’s new piano solo CD “That’s It” (Arbors Records) was released in 2021.
In 2020, Rossano started his successful series of live streamed concerts from his apartment in NYC, “Live at the Flat in Greenwich Village”: more than 140 concerts produced involving over 70 musicians. All the concerts are accessible from Rossano’s website: rossanosportiello.com
Live Streams
Since October 2020, Rossano has been live streaming from his apartment the show “Live at the Flat in Greenwich Village”.
