Born and raised in Trieste, Italy,
percussionist/vocalist Maurizio has been living and working in London
since 1991. An active presence in the British Funk scene during
the early nineties, he was the percussionist of Jamiroquai
during their "Emergency" and "Space
Cowboy" period, and of the James Taylor Quartet
from 1994 to 1998. During the same decade, in different stages,
he was involved in most of the London based Salsa and Cuban related
projects. His collaborations in that field include, amongst others,
Jesus Alemani, Snowboy, Alex Wilson.
In 1998, as Afroshock (in duo with
drummer/vocalist Davide Giovannini), he independently
released the album "Accommodating
Gods", a creative exploration into the music of Cuban Santeria.
Over the years the Afroshock album has become a cult among percussionists
and lovers of Cuban music, and it is still talked about as one of
the most important works for percussion music to come out of the
UK in the nineties.
Between 2000 and 2004 he has split his
time between London and Italy, where he was a core member of Ezzthetic,
a collective of experimental musicians, visual artists and actors,
with whom he recently released a cd, the "ezzthetic_ep",
out on the F-ire Label.
Back again as a full-time Londoner, Maurizio Ravalico
is now pursuing some of the avenues opened during his years with
Ezzthetic, and he is developing a focused interest, and a personal
language, in free-form musical improvisation. Later this year he
is planning to release "Five Loose Plans",
an album recorded with Isambard Kroustaliov, aka
Sam Britton, from laptop duo Icarus,
and has recently started a collaboration with Oren
Marshall, the world-class tuba player who recently released
the solo album "Introduction to the Story of Speedy Sponda".
Maurizio and Oren’s duo performs regularly around London’s improvised
music venues.
Other bands Maurizio is presently a regular member of are Barak
Shmool’s sextet Meta
Meta (as percussionist and lead singer) and Dele
Sosimi's Afrobeat ensemble.
