how many times I saw the moon
matteo paggi solo project
Embedded Files
“We travel like all people, but we return to nowhere.”
— Mahmoud Darwish
During a migratory journey everything changes: language, landscape, time, the perception of oneself.
Yet there is something that always returns.
The moon.
The same moon shining above distant places, above borders crossed at night, above those who walk, wait, or flee. Looking at it can feel like glimpsing a reflection of home — not because home still exists, but because the gaze recognizes it.
How many times I saw the moon is born from this image: something immobile accompanying a continuous movement.
The trombone and electronics set translates this condition into sound. There are dark, unstable timbres, at times unsettling, echoing the uncertainty of the journey. Dynamic and rhythmic moments evoke walking, crossing, endurance. And then long silences — intimate, suspended spaces — like when traveling for a long time and being left alone with one’s own thoughts.
The music does not tell a linear story, but an experience: that of moving without knowing exactly where one might stop, accompanied only by what, everywhere, remains the same.
.
Matteo Paggi, trombonist alongside Enrico Rava in the Fearless Five and winner of Top Jazz 2025, brings together in this project all of his experiences: improvisation, contemporary music, classical music, the exploration of sound, space, and acoustics in various international projects, and his knowledge of electronic music, combining them into a work that fully expresses his artistic variety and his always unconventional visions, projected toward the future.
“Since my first encounter with Trombonist Matteo Paggi, I was impressed with his Sound and Musicianship. He has Passion and Love in his Music that is Inspired and Inspiring”.
Joe Lovano
“In Matteo Paggi, one glimpses the rare spark of creative genius, a soul born for music. His playing is a tapestry of enchantment, where each note feels both discovered and destined. With effortless grace, he traverses styles as a bird crosses skies, unbound, unburdened, guided by an inner light. There is mystery in his phrasing, fire in his silence, and poetry in his touch. He is not merely a promise for the future: he is already a voice the future will remember"
Gidon Kremer
“Not only is Matteo Paggi an exciting new voice on the trombone, he is also a musician whose stylistic scope and breadth of curiosity enable him to shine in multiple settings, captivating listeners with musical ideas consistently unexpected and richly imaginative."
David Lewis
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse