Roberto Spadoni is a versatile jazz musician active in many fields: guitarist, composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, popularizer, author, and translator of educational treatises.
He has carried out many projects for small and medium ensembles and jazz orchestras as a conductor, arranger, and guitarist, including: a jazz reinterpretation of Peter and the Wolf (with narration by John de Leo, Francesco di Giacomo, and Elio, and the participation of numerous soloists), performed at many Italian jazz festivals with various orchestras; “Tribute to Charles Mingus” (various CDs and concerts with many guest soloists including Miguel Zenon, Fabrizio Bosso, and Achille Succi); “Prelude & Songs, Tribute to George Gershwin” (produced with the Siena Jazz Academy and the Accademia Chigiana and with soloists Achille Succi, Giovanni Falzone, Antonio Caggiano, and David Krakauer); “Tribute to Thelonious Monk,” with the CD Sphere featuring the New Project Orchestra of Trento and Bolzano, with guest Fabrizio Bosso, first released by Jazzit Records and later by Alman Music; “Gerry Mulligan & Chet Baker Tribute” (with various orchestras and Ronnie Cuber, Marco Tamburini, Paolo Fresu, and Javier Girotto as guest soloists); the reinterpretation for jazz orchestra of Modest Petrovič Musorgskij's “Pictures at an Exhibition,” commissioned by the New Conversation – Vicenza Jazz festival and the Consortium of Conservatories of Veneto and retitled “Pictures in Jazz”. The new updated edition was presented in Siena in the summer of 2023 as part of “Chigiana meets Siena Jazz,” in the rich program of the Accademia Chigiana festival; the original production “Tre Passi nel Delirio” as part of the Rumori Mediterranei festival - Roccella Jonica (1992) with an ensemble co-directed with Kenny Wheeler, featuring Danilo Rea, Maurizio Giammarco, Cinzia Spata, Mariapia de Vito, and others; “Tribute to Charlie Parker” with the release of the CD Bird Lives Again! with the New Project Orchestra of Trento and Bolzano (Alman Music, 2023); “Homage to Henry Mancini” with the release of the CD “It Had Better Be Henry Mancini” with Cristiana Polegri & Roberto Spadoni Ensemble, featuring Maurizio Giammarco, Giovanni Falzone, Stefano Fresi, and Elio (Parco della Musica Records, 2022); “Tribute to Lee Morgan” presented at various festivals in Tuscany in the summer of 2023 (Lucca, Pisa, Siena), with the Siena Jazz Orchestra and soloists Miguel Zenon, Jason Palmer, and Alessandro Presti.
He has released many CDs as a leader, conductor, arranger, and guitarist with various record labels, featuring his own compositions and arrangements of repertoire pieces: Parco della Musica Records, Splasc(h) Records, Via Veneto Jazz, Onyx Jazz Club, Wide Sound, ABeat Records, Alfamusic, Jazzit Records, Cose Sonore - Alman Music, Sword Records.
In addition to those already mentioned, he has also collaborated with: David Liebman, Gunther Schuller, Maria Schneider, Dave Weckel, Hiromi Uehara, Eliot Zigmund, Bruno Tommaso, Gianluigi Trovesi, James Newton, and many others. He conducted the M.J.Ùrkestra (Rome) for ten years, producing and releasing four CDs.
Early in his career, he won awards in the main jazz orchestra composition competitions in Italy (Barga Jazz, Scrivere in Jazz - Sassari, Rumori Mediterranei - Roccella Jonica).
He holds the chair of Jazz Composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome.
He collaborates as a teacher of Jazz Composition and Ensemble Music with the prestigious Accademia Siena Jazz, where he has conducted the Siena Jazz Orchestra since 2011, with which he has performed numerous concerts.
He has taught in the Jazz Departments of the Conservatories of Music in Trento, Adria, Naples, Benevento, Frosinone, Ferrara, Cosenza, Perugia, and Bologna.
He has taught at important national seminars including: Chieti in Jazz, Siena Jazz, Isolajazz, Arquatojazz, Cesena Jazz, Otranto Jazz, and Stintino Jazz. He also holds highly popular masterclasses in collaboration with private institutions and jazz festivals.
He has published two important educational treatises for the publisher Volontè & Co. (Milan, Italy), used in many conservatories and music schools in Italy, entitled Jazz Harmony Volume 1 and Jazz Harmony Volume 2. For the same publisher, he has edited the Italian translation of some of the most important international texts on jazz composition and arrangement by Berklee Press and Advance Music for the Jazz Theory series, of which he is the coordinator.
He has also published more than forty essays on musicological analysis of jazz masterpieces and masters in the prestigious magazine Jazzit, editing the Jazz Anatomy column for years.