About

Photo of Antonio Borghini

Double bass player Antonio Borghini is active since the late 90’s in the European music scene exploring the process of improvisation. His main focus is the collective, and how to develop together strategies that combine compositions, words and movements in an inclusive way. This way of working leads him to build long-term collaborations based on collective work, intuition and on the urge for invention.

Biography

Double bass player and composer.
Born in Milan in 1977, he grows up in Rome where, at the age of ten, begins his musical studies privately and later on at “G.B. Martini” conservatory in Bologna. Based there, he joins in the late 90’s the musicians collective “Bassesfere”, and starts collaborating with many bands (Cristina Zavalloni “Open quartet”, “Orange room”, “Headless cat”, “Mrafi”, “Chant trio” a.o.)
In 2003 begins his long term collaboration with cellist Tristan Honsinger playing in the group “Small Talk”. In the years 2004-2006 he plays concerts around Europe with many projects such as “Domino quartet” with Sean Bergin, Gianluca Petrella and Hamid Drake; David Murray trio and quartet; the “Anthony Braxton quartet” and the Butch Morris Orchestra. His sextet “Memorial Barbecue” is invited to the international jazz festival in S.Anna Arresi. From 2007 till 2010 he’s the bass player in Mike Patton’s project “Mondo Cane”. In 2008 he publishes the first record of his music with the group “Malebranche”. The quartet “Eco d’alberi” is the first italian ensemble playing at the Vision festival in New York.
Through these years he played, toured and recorded with many other musicians such as Han Bennink, Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson, John Tchicai, Leo Smith, Cristiano Calcagnile, Edoardo Marraffa, Pasquale Mirra, Vincenzo Vasi, Mirko Sabatini, Fabrizio Puglisi, Francesco Bigoni, Stefano Bollani, Aldo Romano.

In 2009 he moves to Berlin and quickly becomes part of the so-called “echtzeitmusik” scene. Out of countless musical meetings he co-founded “Hook, Line and Sinker”, a music theater ensemble with Tristan Honsinger, Axel Dörner and Tobias Delius; “Der Lange Schatten” with Michael Thieke and Håvard Wiik; “Die Hochstapler”, with Pierre Borel, Louis Laurain and Hannes Lingens; “Schnell”, a bebop-trance trio with Christian Lillinger and Pierre Borel.
He is also regularly playing in Tristan Honsinger’s company “Hopscotch”; Alexander Von Schlippenbach quartet; “Quartetto trionfale” with Günter Sommer, Manfred Schoof and Gianluigi Trovesi; the double bass quartet “Sequoia” featuring Klaus Kürvers, Meinrad Kneer and Miles Perkin; “Umfundisi”, quartet dedicated to Sean Bergin’s music with Matthias Schubert,Tobias Delius and Christian Lillinger.
Furthermore he plays in various combinations with many others such as Achim Kaufmann, Olaf Rupp, Henrik Walsdorff, Hilary Jeffery, Tony Buck, Rudi Mahall, Almut Kühne, Aki Takase, Sven-Åke Johanson and Chino Suichi.

See Selected Discography

  • CAL Trio: Casa Tre, 2002 (Bassesferec.)
  • Chant: Chant, 2004 (Caligola records)
  • Cristina Zavalloni: When You Go Yes is Yes, 2004 (Felmay)
  • Domino Quartet: Radio3 Sessions, 2005 (Auand)
  • CAL Trio: Do Ut Do, 2005 (Caligola records)
  • Henry Taylor: Crooning the Anger, 2005 (El Gallo Rojo)
  • Cristina Zavalloni: Idea, 2006 (Egea)
  • Dimitri Grechi Espinoza: Artistic Alternative, 2006 (Raitrade)
  • Mrafi: La Terra di Giubba, 2006 (Raitrade)
  • Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris: Conduction/Induction, 2006 (Raitrade)
  • Anthony Braxton quartet: Standards (Brussels), 2006 (Amirani records)
  • Io & Lui: Acustica, 2007 (Bassesferec.)
  • Melly’s Tree: Seamlessly, 2007 (Setola di Maiale)
  • Orange room: Orange Room, 2007 (El Gallo Rojo)
  • Antonio Borghini & Malebranche: Six Dances Under, 2008 (El Gallo Rojo)
  • John Tchicai Open Orchestra: The spiritual Man, 2008
  • Headless cat: Blind Tail, 2009 (El Gallo Rojo)
  • Domenico Caliri Violongeria: Il Buio Acceso, 2009 (Caligola records)
  • Cristina Zavalloni: Solidago, 2009 (Egea)
  • Chant: “…ma io ch’ in questa lingua”, 2009 (Auand)
  • Orange Room: Elegy for the Punk Movement, 2010 (El Gallo Rojo)
  • Mrafi: Desertificati, 2010
  • Mike Patton: Mondo Cane, (Ipecac) 2010
  • Eco d’ alberi: Eco d’ Alberi, (Porter rec.) 2010
  • Collettivo Bassesfere: Senza’Alibi (Bassesferec.) 2013
  • Die Hochstapler: The Braxtornette Project (Umlautrecords), 2013
  • Sequoia: Rotations (Evil Rabbit records), 2013
  • Wadada Leo Smith & Eco d’alberi: June 6th  (Novara Jazz) 2013
  • Der lange Schatten: Der lange Schatten (Lostopportunities), 2014
  • Aki Takase – Alex von Schlippenbach: So long Eric (Intakt records),2014
  • Die Hochstapler: Play(s) the Music of A. P. Buckley (Umlautrecords), 2015
  • Florian’s Bergmann’s Cobalt Cluster: Cobalt Cluster, (Umlautrecords) 2015
  • Christopher Dell: Das Arbeitende Konzert (Edition niehler werft), 2015
  • Alexander von Schlippenbach: Jazz Now! Live at Theater Gütersloh (Intuition), 2016
  • Günther Baby Sommer: Le piccole cose ( Intuition), 2017
  • Hook, line & sinker -Honsinger, Dörner, Delius, Borghini (De Platenbakkerij), 2017
  • Der Lange Schatten: Concurrences (Troubles in the East Records) 2018
  • Schnell: Live at Sowieso (Clean Feed) 2018
  • Walsdorff-Kaufmann-Borghini-Lillinger: Coming up for air (Troubles in the East Records) 2018
  • Die Hochstapler: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog (Umlaut records) 2018
  • Jeb Bishop: Centrifugal trio (Astral spirits) 2020
  • Tristan Honsinger’s Hopscotch: Cloud reading society (Topsi series for Umlaut records) 2021
  • Antonio Borghini-Alexis Baskind: When will never meet (Topsi series for Umlaut records) 2021