Enzo Favata

A musician of many guises and talents, Italian reeds player Enzo Favata (born in 1956 in Alghero, Sardinia) is most esteemed for his work on saxophones and clarinet, but equally known as champion of traditional Sardinian wind instruments. Growing up surrounded by music, Favata soon dove into jazz studies. Before long, the saxophonist would dedicate his focus to Sardinian folk music – a craft of which he since become an authority beyond Italian borders.   
 
A characteristic blend of improvisation with Mediterranean folk traditions and acoustic chamber dynamics, Favata has been refining his musical signature since the early 80s, in collaboration with his own groups and with the likes of Dino Saluzzi, Enrico Rava, Dave Liebman, Mulatu Astatke and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, but also as composer for film, theatre, radio and television. Since 2001, Favata has been the artistic director [...]
A musician of many guises and talents, Italian reeds player Enzo Favata (born in 1956 in Alghero, Sardinia) is most esteemed for his work on saxophones and clarinet, but equally known as champion of traditional Sardinian wind instruments. Growing up surrounded by music, Favata soon dove into jazz studies. Before long, the saxophonist would dedicate his focus to Sardinian folk music – a craft of which he since become an authority beyond Italian borders.   
 
A characteristic blend of improvisation with Mediterranean folk traditions and acoustic chamber dynamics, Favata has been refining his musical signature since the early 80s, in collaboration with his own groups and with the likes of Dino Saluzzi, Enrico Rava, Dave Liebman, Mulatu Astatke and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, but also as composer for film, theatre, radio and television. Since 2001, Favata has been the artistic director of the annual Musica sulle Bocche festival in Sardinia.
 
The saxophonist recorded his ECM-debut Ritornare, released in Fall 2026, in Munich alongside his Atlantico quintet, which features Daniele di Bonaventura on bandoneon, Marcello Peghin on 10-string guitar, double bassist Salvatore Maltana and U.T. Gandhi on drums and has been active since 1999. The album, produced by Manfred Eicher, finds the group creating a richly coloured acoustic sound world shaped by travel, the literary visions of writers such as Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges, as they explore the musical space where jazz, chamber music dynamics and improvisation meet – never predictable, but with a strong sense of direction informed by traditional southern musical dialects. All About Jazz has said, “in Favata's world, and like all great groups, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – a statement that couldn’t be more appropriate in this context.
 
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Date All Primary Artist Composer
YEAR DATE Artist VENUE LOCATION
2026 October 31 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 Veneto Jazz Venice, Italy
2026 November 05 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 Jazz Festival Moncalieri, Italy
2026 November 06 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 Jazz Festival Udine, Italy
2026 November 07 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 JazzMi Milano, Italy
2026 November 11 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 ZigZag Berlin, Germany
2026 November 13 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 Jazz in Sardegna Cagliari, Italy
2026 November 14 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 MusMat Auditorium Olbia, Italy
2026 November 16 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 Jazz Festival Rome, Italy
2026 November 24 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 Teatro Civico Sassari, Italy
2026 November 28 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 Vilnius Jazz Festival Vilnius, Lithuania
2026 December 03 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 MOZITA Festival Maputo, Mozambique
2026 December 04 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 MOZITA Festival Maputo, Mozambique
2026 December 05 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 MOZITA Festival Maputo, Mozambique
2026 December 06 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 MOZITA Festival Maputo, Mozambique
2026 December 07 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 tba Beira, Mozambique
2026 December 08 Enzo Favata, Quintetto Atlantico

"Ritornare"

 tba Pemba, Mozambique