Nikko Ielasi - Rebirth (The Trio Suite) (2020)

NIKKO IELASI was born in Ischia, a small island in the south of Italy, on May 23rd, 1992.

He started playing piano at the age of 7, approaching music as just a hobby. Once he turned 13, he decided to take private lessons for both Jazz and Classical training. At 16, he first landed in Boston (MA) to attend the 5-Week Summer Program at Berklee College of Music. That experience opened the doors to a completely different musical world and quite simply changed his life.

After graduating high school, Nikko was granted an important scholarship, to attend Berklee as an under-grad student. He moved to the U.S. in 2011 and went on to graduate "Magna Cum Laude" in December 2015, with a double major in "Piano Performance" and "Contemporary Writing & Production".

The years at Berklee allowed Nikko to consolidate his unique sound. Coming from a Jazz background, he was then influenced by more contemporary genres. He was able to develop a brand new style, in which the improvisational language of the jazz tradition meets the harmonic and rhythmic landscape of NeoSoul, RnB and Gospel.

While always trying to improve his piano playing (under the extraordinary lead of mentors such as Alain Mallet and Nando Michelin), Nikko also focused on writing, arranging and producing. His original project "NikKollective" quickly became the perfect canvas for all his creative ideas. Nikko has since specialized in writing for horns, strings, orchestras and different ensemble settings.

Through his years in the States, he produced, arranged and wrote for many audio and video productions in the Berklee environment. He trained his musical directing skills by MD'ing school ensembles. At Berklee, he also had the privilege to share the stage or make music with some great artists, such as Aloe Blacc, Bilal, Chris Turner, Jill Scott and many others.

Currently based in Los Angeles, California, Nikko has worked with many local upcoming artists and is music directing a Gospel Church in Altadena, CA. He also tours the United States with acclaimed singer/songwriter Chris Mann and legendary singer Engelbert Humperdinck.

Since 2016, Nikko decided to focus fully on the construction of his own project and sound. The "NikKollective Vol. 1" album was released on October 1st, 2018. The second installment of the project, “NikKollective Vol. 2”, came out on March 1st, 2020 and it’s dedicated to the late drummer and friend Tito Pascoal, who left us in January 2019 because of a terrible Lymphoma.

In the summer of 2019, Nikko became suddenly and irreversibly deaf on the right side. Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss or SSHL. After a few hard months struggling with fear, depression and anxiety, Nikko found the strength to play and compose music again. As a result, a new project was born: “REBIRTH”. It’s a trio project featuring The Pocket Queen (Taylor Gordon) on Drums and Dmitry Gorodetsky on Bass. The album comes out on August 16th, 2020, the 1st Anniversary of Nikko’s Hearing Loss.