JAZZPROFILES lives in the music 1,572 Jazz Artists fully Profiled! Pino Minafra
Last updated October 1, 2026
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Pino Minafra, Italian trumpeter and flugelhorn player, performing/conducting live in France, used as a stand-in — no free-licensed (Wikimedia Commons or similar) photo of Minafra could be located after a genuine search. Standard copyright, all rights reserved — held by the photographer / press outlet. This is not a Creative Commons–licensed image; it is used here as an honestly-disclosed editorial stand-in for a real photo. — Downloaded directly from a Ruvo di Puglia local news article about Minafra (https://www.ruvoviva.it/notizie/pino-minafra-sigilla-il-beat-onto-jazz-festival-il-canto-immortale-della-banda-pugliese), image hosted at ruvo.gocity.it/library/media/pino_minafra_france.jpg. Saved locally as portrait.jpg in this folder.
Pino Minafra was born July 21, 1951 in Ruvo di Puglia, in the southern region of Apulia. He sang in the church choir before starting trumpet in his hometown's brass band, then worked in a classical group. In 1980 he committed to jazz as a soloist, eventually becoming a composer and bandleader.
He is a founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra and has recorded with Gianluigi Trovesi, already profiled on jazzprofiles.com, along with Mario Schiano, Dutch drummer Han Bennink, Ernst Reijseger, Willem Breuker, and Michel Godard. An improvised trio with Reijseger and Bennink produced Noci..Strani Frutti (1991, Leo Records). His own ensembles released Colori (1986, Splasc(h)) and the well-received Sudori (1995, released in Canada on Victo).
With his first ensemble, Praxis, and later projects, Minafra built jazz concerts in southern Italy where contemporary jazz was even rarer than elsewhere in the country. He still lives and teaches in Ruvo.
Minafra's playing sits within free jazz and avant-garde improvisation, shaped by his work with Dutch free-improv figures Han Bennink and Ernst Reijseger and his role as a founding member of the collectively-driven Italian Instabile Orchestra.
- Sudori (1995) - a well-received leader album, released in Canada. Spotify - Sudori Listen
- Noci..Strani Frutti (1991, Leo Records) - improvised trio with Ernst Reijseger and Han Bennink.
- MinAfrìc (2015) - with Faraualla. Spotify - MinAfrìc Listen
Pino Minafra: Full Discography
Identity confirmed via Discogs artist ID 563295 ("Pino Minafra"). "Livio Minafra" (563292) is a separate artist (likely a family member) at a different Discogs ID, not a collision.
LEADER / CO-LEADER: full detail
| Album | Year | Label | Personnel | Notes | Listen | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tropic of the Mounted Sea Chicken | 1987 | Splasc(H) Records | With Misha Mengelberg, Michele Lomuto, Han Bennink, and a symphonic orchestra. | not found | not found | |
| Pino Minafra Et.. Quella Sporca 1/2 Dozzina | 1990 | Splasc(H) Records | With Carlo Actis Dato, Antonello Salis, Bruno Tommaso, Lelio Giannetto (double bass), Vincenzo Mazzone and Vittorino Curci. | Spotify | not found | |
| Noci..Strani Frutti | 1991 | Leo Records | With Ernst Reijseger, Han Bennink. | Live at Europa Jazz Festival. | not found | not found |
| Sudori | 1995 | (self-released) | Released in Canada. | Spotify | not found | |
| Canto Libero | 2001 | Les Disques Victo | Spotify | not found | ||
| Terronia | 2005 | Enja Records | With Gianni Lenoci (piano, track 6) and Marcello Magliocchi (drums, percussion, cymbal), among others. | Spotify | not found | |
| MinAfrìc | 2015 | Sud Music / Puglia Sounds | With Faraualla. | Spotify | not found |
Guest credit
- Benefit Concert (1989) - with Mario Schiano, Peter Kowald, Gianluigi Trovesi, Paul Lovens, Radu Malfatti.
Umberto Petrin (piano) - fellow Italian Instabile Orchestra member, Discogs-confirmed on Italian Instabile Festival (1998) and Il Suono Instabile Della Libertà (2010).
Tiziano Tononi (drums, percussion) - credited together on Nexus's debut Open Mouth Blues (1983); Discogs-confirmed.
Sandro Satta (alto saxophone) - sideman on three Discogs-confirmed sessions spanning two decades: the Pino Minafra Quintet's Colori (1986), Canto Libero (2001) and Terronia (2005, Enja). Profiled separately on this site.
Roberto Ottaviano (soprano saxophone) - Discogs-confirmed alongside him on Terronia (2005) and the MinAfrìc projects (MinAfrìc, 2015; For Mandela, 2017).
Gianluigi Trovesi - fellow Italian Instabile Orchestra founder and recorded collaborator.
Daniele Cavallanti (tenor saxophone) - fellow Italian Instabile Orchestra founding member, credited alongside Minafra on multiple orchestra releases from 1992 to 2025.
Enrico Fazio (double bass) - fellow credit on L'Invenzione Del Verso Sfuso (Splasc(h), 1989, a live Noci project with Carlo Actis Dato and Vittorino Curci), Stefano Maltese's Hanging In The Sky (1987), and the Vapirov Project's Waltz Str. and Giuseppe Guarrella's Live Festival Ibleo Del Jazz (both 1994), all Discogs-confirmed.
Eugenio Colombo (alto and soprano saxophones, flute) - reed player on Nux Erat (1993) and Hanging In The Sky (1987) with Minafra, and on Live Festival Ibleo Del Jazz (1994); Minafra plays trumpet on Colombo's Notizie Del Sole Vero (1988), Sorgente Sonora (1988) and United Front (2004), and both are in the Italian Instabile Orchestra. Discogs-confirmed.
Fabrizio Puglisi (piano) - fellow member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra on Totally Gone (2010) and Plays Ellington (2025). Discogs-verified.
Gaetano Partipilo (saxophone, alto saxophone) - saxophonist on Minafra's Terronia (2005, Enja) and MinAfrìc (2015, Sud Music, with the vocal group Faraualla); Discogs-confirmed.
Sebi Tramontana (trombone) - trombonist on the large-ensemble MinAfrìc (2015, Sud Music) and For Mandela (2017, Sud Music, with Louis Moholo and Keith Tippett); also a fellow Italian Instabile Orchestra member on Masks (1992) and The Owner Of The River Bank (2003). Discogs-confirmed.
Giancarlo Barigozzi (recording engineer) - credited as recording engineer on Colori (Splasc(h) Records H 108, 1986), per Discogs.
Giancarlo Schiaffini (trombone, tuba, euphonium) - credited together on Sorgente Sonora (1988), Masks (1992) and the Italian Instabile Orchestra's records from 1992 on. Discogs-confirmed.
Gianni Gebbia (soprano saxophone, pan flute) - leader of the Gianni Gebbia Group's Arabesques (Splasc(h), 1988), on which Minafra is credited as guest artist on trumpet and didgeridoo (tracks A3 and B2); the two are also credited on Sergey Kuryokhin's Italy (2001) and on Giuseppe Guarrella's Live Festival Ibleo Del Jazz (1994). Discogs-confirmed.
Gianni Lenoci (piano) - piano on track 6 of Terronia (Enja, 2005), the Meridiana Multijazz Orchestra piece, and on Eugenio Colombo's United Front (2004) and Vincenzo Lanzo's Rondonella Project (1996), all with Minafra on trumpet, per Discogs.
Marcello Magliocchi (drums, percussion) - drums, percussion and cymbal on Terronia (2005, Enja Records), Discogs-confirmed at the extraartists level; profiled separately on this site.
Giorgio Albanese (accordion) - accordionist in the MinAfrìc Orchestra on MinAfrìc (2015), with solos on "Masciare," "La Girandola" and "Fabula Fabis II"; Discogs-confirmed.
Giovanni Maier (double bass, cello) - credited alongside Pino Minafra on 8 releases, among them Litania Sibilante (2000, Italian Instabile Orchestra), Terronia (2005), Creative Orchestra (Bolzano) 2007 (2008, Anthony Braxton + Italian Instabile Orchestra).
Guido Mazzon (trumpet, flugelhorn) - fellow trumpeter in the Italian Instabile Orchestra on its records from Live In Noci And Rive De Gier (1992) onward, and on Gaslini's Masks (1992); Discogs-confirmed.
Lelio Giannetto (double bass) - credited beside Minafra on Pino Minafra Et... Quella Sporca 1/2 Dozzina (Splasc(h), 1990) and, in the Gianni Gebbia Group, on Arabesques (1988), where Minafra is guest artist. Discogs-verified.
Martin Mayes (French horn) - fellow founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra since 1990, and its only non-Italian member; credited together on Masks (1992) and the orchestra's records through Plays Ellington (2025).
Vincenzo Mazzone (drums, percussion) - thirty-plus-year collaborator across the Pino Minafra Quintet, Pino Minafra Sud Ensemble and MinAfrìc Orchestra; Discogs-confirmed together on Pino Minafra Et... Quella Sporca 1/2 Dozzina (1990), Colori (1986), Sudori (1995) and Canto Libero (2001), among others. Profiled separately on this site.
