Tommaso Cappellato

Italian hybrid drummer, producer and curator Tommaso Cappellato is a musical maverick whose skills stretch from free-form electronics to hip hop beats and jazz improvisation. His unorthodox breadth of style is grounded in his own journey of musical discovery from building his chops as a resident drummer in NYC, to hip hop excursions alongside Brooklyn MC’s, to traveling to Senegal to meld with local music masters, to collaborating with experimental electronica and techno artist Rabih Beaini, pianist, composer and live remixer Mark de Clive-Lowe and visionary Egyptian producer Maurice Louca.
 These soulful influences enrich his live performances with Collettivo Immaginario, who have been captivating audiences from LA to Milan with their fresh blend of modern beats and 70’s electronica.  Previously, Tommaso made his mark on the progressive jazz scene through acclaimed releases such as “Aforemention” (Mashibeats/Ropeadope Records) and “Butterflying” (Mother Tongue Records), which brought invitations to audiences all over the world–whether live on stage at Jazz Cafe in London or at Low End Theory in LA; as an educator presenting his masterclass on hybrid drumming; or as a featured artist at NYC’s Winter JazzFest and on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM.

2021 marked a professional turning point for Tommmaso as the year in which he created a new home for his mosaic of sounds in the form of record label Domanda Music. In his imprint’s debut release, “Pioneered”, Tommaso guided listeners through an intergalactic soundscape that critics described as “incredible from start to finish” (TJ Gorton/Beat Caffeine). As Domanda gears up for its next musical offerings in 2022, Tommaso continues to partner with artists from diverse backgrounds to pose powerful questions through art. Recent collaborations have led him to create a visual percussion performance for a global audience at TEDx (Spartiacque/Watershed) and to reinterpret the poetry of Sun Ra in his album, “If You Say You Are From This Planet, Why Do You Treat It Like You Do?” recorded with his award-winning spiritual jazz ensemble Astral Travel, featuring Dwight Trible (2020).