Composer and double bass player Adriano Orrù was born in Nuoro, Italy in 1958 and now lives and works in Cagliari. He devotes his time to jazz, radical improvisation, chamber music. He also works as a music teacher.
Orrù has collaborated with artists such as Giancarlo Schiaffini, Paolo Fresu, Tony Oxley, Lenka Zupkova, Ettore Fioravanti, Roberto Cipelli, Marco Tamburini, Tino Tracanna, Andy Gravish, Tim Hodkinson, Victor Nubla, Simon Balestrazzi, Silvia Corda, Takatsuna Mukai, Henning Frimann, Renato Ciunfrini, Guro Skumsnes Moe, Håvard Skaset, Angelo Contini, G.P. Campus, Corrado Altieri, Monica Serra, Mauro Cossu, Clara Murtas, Stella Veloce, Sebastiano Meloni, Alessandro Garau, Stefano Figliola, Alessandro Olla, Paolo Angeli, Manuel Attanasio, Elia Casu, Mauro Usai, Paolo Sanna, Roberto Pellegrini, Carla Onni, Mario Faticoni, Riccardo Pittau, and Massimo Carboni.
Together with the pianist Silvia Corda, he co-wrote a performance for six musicians and a spoken voice entitled “Portrait in Three Colors” and dedicated to Charles Mingus. Orrù works with the Silvia Corda Trio on a regular basis, and several of his compositions can be heard on the trio’s Impronte, a CD produced by Splasc(h) in 2001. In 2004, he established the composition and improvisation ensemble Impromptu featuring Giancarlo Schiaffini. In 2005, he published a live CD of the Impromptu quintet and the first recording in his own name: Solos and Duets, a work dedicated to double bass solos and duets with Giancarlo Schiaffini on trombone, Paolo Angeli on Sardinian prepared guitar, and Roberto Pellegrini on percussion. He has also worked with Moex, an ensemble focused on electric-acoustic experimentation. In 2010 Big Round Records has published a CD “Improvised pieces for trio” with Sebastiano Meloni on the piano and Tony Oxley on drums. A new CD titled “Untitled Soundscapes” performed by A Sphere Of Simple Green (Silvia Corda on prepared piano, Simon Balestrazzi on laptop and Adriano on the double bass) was released in 2011 by the label Magick with tears.
Reviews of his work have appeared in Down Beat, Il Manifesto, Musica Jazz, Cadence, Jazzit, Cuadernos de Jazz, All About Jazz, L’Unione Sarda, La Nuova Sardegna, Double Bassist, Jazzword, One Final Note, Flash Art, and on Radio 3 RAI.
He has performed at events such as Isole che parlano, Time in Jazz, Ai confini tra Sardegna e Jazz, Concerts of the Nuoro Jazz Seminary, Jazz d’autore, Cerisano Jazz, Varese in Jazz, Jazz in Sardinia, Veneto Jazz, San Teodoro Jazz, Sardegna Arte Fiera, Musica sulle Bocche, The Barcelona Lem Festival, Senni Jazz, Isole che parlano, and The Signal Festival.