Steve Piccolo has been played on NTS shows including Adam Oko, with Young And Ambitious first played on 18 March 2018.

Born 1954 New Hampshire USA. School and college in New York (Bard College, New York University). Now lives in Milan, Italy. Began professional career in early 1970s playing standup bass in jazz groups. Toward the end of the Seventies he founded, together with John and Evan Lurie, Arto Lindsay and Tony Fier, the group The Lounge Lizards. For five years or so the group performed all over the world, including international festivals and important venues. Their first LP (now CD, Virgin), published in 1981, continues to sell quite a few copies each year. In parallel with his activity as a jazz instrumentalist, Steve worked in the world of pop music, writing songs and lyrics. He published two LPs under his name (Domestic Exile, Adaptation) in the early 1980s, and began working with songwriters and producers on an international level. “Self Control” written by Bigazzi-Riefoli-Piccolo (1984) with lyrics by Steve sold many millions of copies, reaching number one on charts all over the world.

Second half of 1980s in New York, writing songs and music for theater and films. In the 1990s he moved to Milan and published two CDs with the collaboration of Italian and American musicians: “Hilarity Workshop” (Underground Records, Bologna, 1997) and “Bitter Pill”(Cox 18 Music, Milan, 1999-2000). His songs were included in compilations published by Sony and EMI, and a number of compilations in the United States (see the CD page on this site for DISCOGRAPHY).

Starting in 1995 he returned to frequent live concert activity, playing festivals and theaters in Italy and around Europe with different line-ups, including Italian musicians (jazzmen Giancarlo Locatelli and Filippo Monico), members of new ‘rock’ groups (Massimo Volume, Afterhours, Rosso Maltese) and friends from New York (Elliott Sharp, Zeena Parkins).

Since 1999-2000 his research focused on the major project The Expedition, a narrative-musical work specifically developed for each city or situation. For the whole story see the Expedition History on this website. Five years of work on this project led to the Expedition CD released in 2004. The Expedition project is now officially complete.

Over the last few years Steve’s activities have become too numerous, frequent and varied for a quick summary in these biographical notes. For a detailed listing of projects, events, dates over the last few years see the EVENTS DIARIES at the LIVE section of this website.

Live music: currently performing regularly with

CrowdofOne (trio Piccolo, Sato and Massimo Falascone) Piccolo-Sato Sound Affects and other duo projects Jakattak with Simone Massaron, Xabier Iriondo, Gak Sato, Tony Light.

Work with artists and designers: recent projects with

Luca Pancrazzi Adrian Paci A Constructed World Ivo Bonacorsi Isola Art Center (Bert Theis) and many others.

New record releases (2006):

vocals on new CD Spirits Above, Splasch Records, by Tiziano Tononi and Daniele Cavallanti with William Parker and friends. compositions on new CD Informed Consent by Gak Sato (Temposphere) voice and bass on new CD by Simone Massaron entitled Breaking News, feat. Elliott Sharp

Teaching experience: Now in fourth year of Sound Design course at Accademica Carrara (Bergamo). Previous experience in workshop-seminars at Milan Polytechnic and Venice IUAV. Taught sound module of course in New Techniques of Artistic Expression at University of Bergamo (2005). Teaches Sound Design course at NABA in Milan starting in 2005.

Recent concerts, installations, projects: Swiss Cultural Center, Milan; Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena; Berlin Jazz Festival; Sardinia Arte Fiera; Technical Breakdown, Copenhagen; Live performance at Battiti, Radio RAI 3; one-hour composition for WPS1 – MoMA NY at Venice Biennale; artist-in-residence at Turchin Center for the Arts, Boone NC (April 2006); installation with DE-ABC at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, England.