Tenor and soprano sax and clarinetto.
Born in Agrigento 07.09.1974, after gaining a diploma in the clarinet from the conservatory of Salerno, he attended several specialization courses for the clarinet and contemporary music by Maestro Ciro Scarponi. He has won various international prizes. In 1995 he moved to Rome where he immediately came into contact with some of the best Italian jazz players.
Trained under the watchful guidance of Tony Scott, with whom he has a deep friendship and mutual respect, he quickly learnt the secrets of classical saxophonism and its powerful sonority; becoming his favourite student.
He began working as a jazz musician in excellent traditional jazz formations directed by Lino Patruno and Carlo Loffredo.
In 1997 he met Romano Mussolini with whom he worked for nearly ten years holding a lot of concerts in Italy and abroad. Together with Cicci Santucci he recorded Romano Mussolini’s last album entitled “Piano & Forte” (Erreffe 2003).
He has been a member of the Corvine-Iodice Roma Jazz Ensemble, an orchestra that can boast a number of outstanding collaborations including that with Yusef Lateef who can play many instruments.
In 2001 he recorded the project “Jazbeat” produced by VIA VENETO JAZZ and LAB PROMOTION with the collaboration of Stefano Di Battista and Flavio Boltro to name just two musicians. The first single “Sing sing sing” was chosen for the Tim Alice ADSL advert that starred Cristian Vieri. With Jazbeat he participated in Umbria Jazz Estate 2003, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival Roma, and was a guest on RAI International, ALLMUSIC, Radio 101, Radio Dimension Sound etc.
On February 2nd 2005 with Jazbeat at the New Morning (Paris), he presented the album “Jazbeat” distributed by the French label Nocturne. The cd is currently distributed in France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Canada, Spain and Italy.
Massimo D’Avola was the winner of the prestigious Massimo Urbani Award in 2002, where he also won the Audience Award. In 2004 he distinguished himself in a selection of international talents at the Europ Jazz Contest in Brussels by winning the prize for Best European Musician.
He has played in numerous festivals and international events as a sideman and with his own quartet.
He has been on several tours in Russia, Austria, Spain, France, and the USA. In Italy he has participated in Jazz & Image, Umbria Jazz, Festival of San Marino, Etna Jazz, Ronciglione Jazz, Festival of Sora, Cittadella Jazz and many others.
Massimo is one of Steve Grossman’s favorite saxophonists. In fact they often play together in an exceptional quintet with two tenor saxophones.
He is considered one of the greatest Italian saxophonists. His energetic and vigorous style has been inspired by some of the great sax maestros: Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Johnny Griffin and Eddie Lockjaw Davis. Without forgetting the great impression left on him by the innumerable concerts with Romano Mussolini, Steve Grossman and Tony Scott whom he sees as his mentor.
Massimo’s favorite expressive form is the quartet. He recorded his first CD - the album BEE BOOB (Pull Music) with Andrea Pozza, Luciano Milanese and Osvaldo Mazzei in 2000. This was followed in 2005 by Black Machine (Gregory's Jazz 5), which featured Giorgio Rosciglione on the double bass, Gegè Munari on drums and Pietro Lussu on the piano and Micca's Dream (Micca Records) in 2007. Here, besides his consolidated quartet, we also find some young talents like Leonardo Borghi on the piano, Giuseppe Talone on the double bass and Marco Valeri on the drums, special guests: vocals by Beverly Lewis and Emanuele Basentini on the guitar for a refined selection of original and standard pieces.
In 2006 he formed the EUROP JAZZ QUARTET that featured Max Greger jr on the piano, Klaus Melem on the double bass and Manfred Josel on drums and with which, in March 2007, he toured Austria, Germany and Denmark. He has a regular ongoing collaboration with the RAI as a musician of the orchestra that participates in various television programmes.
April 2010 saw the release of WAY OUT SOUTH TRIO (Tuscia in Jazz Live) with Marco Vincenzo Florio and Marco Valeri on the double bass and drums respectively, a record that is gaining a lot of attention from international critics.
In January 2011 he came second with only 7 votes less than the winner of the JAZZIT AWARD CONTEST organised by the music magazine JAZZIT in the tenor sax category.
He has a regular ongoing collaboration with the RAI as a musician of the orchestra that participates in various television programs.
Massimo has also worked with many great jazz musicians, some of the most important include: Gianni Basso, Bob Mover, Gianni Sanjust, Valery Ponomarev, David “Bubba” Brooks, Bill Saxton, Tom Kirkpatrick, Bobby Durham, Evan Christopher, Charles Davis, Dado Moroni, Henghel Gualdi, Jeremy Pelt, Franco Ambrosetti.