Saxophonist, composer, touring musician, modern music educator, best characterized as a versatile and reliable sideman; “Emi” Emiliano Vernizzi is one of the most seasoned saxophonists on the Italian music scene, whose resume reads as a “who’s who” of jazz and pop legends. He also leads and co-leads several original projects marked by a blend of influences that range from jazz, rock to funk, hip-hop, American roots, electronic and pop.

During his career, Emi is credited on more than 50 recordings and toured across the USA, Asia and Europe dozens of times performing at prestigious venues including: Blue Note (Milan, IT), Sunset / Sunside (Paris, FR), Unterfahrt (Munich DE), A-Trane (Berlin, DE)  The Blue Lamp (Aberdeen, UK), ShapeShifter (NYC), Chris’ Jazz Club (Philadelphia, USA), The Maison (New Orleans, USA),  Jazz Dock (Prague, CZ) and OpusJazzClub (Budapest, HU). He’s also graced the stage of many festivals, including JIM Festival (CHINA), Gateshead International Jazz Festival (UK), Jazz on5 Festival (CZ), UNESCO International Jazz Day (FR), Graz Jazz Nacht (AU), Burg Jazz (DE), Moonrunner (Chicago, USA), Summer Fest (San Francisco, USA), Umbria Jazz (IT), Jamboree (IT) to name a few.

Emiliano has collaborated with the Civica Jazz Band, which presented legendary guest artists Eddie Daniels, David Raksin, Dave Liebman, Max Roach, Bobby Watson, David Murray, Evan Parker, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava) and Bobby Durham, Anthony Wellington, Tommy Campbell, Fabrizio Bosso, Gianni Cazzola, Roberto Gatto.

He is a founding member of the multi-award-winning group Pericopes, formed in 2007 and won first prize of both the Umbria Jazz Contest and Padova Carrarese (presided by Paolo Fresu), and was listed by Italian TopJazz. The project has produced several tours across Europe, the UK, US and China, and left a strong impression to audiences and magazines on both sides of the Atlantic (DownBeat, Jazzthetik, Jazz ‘n’ More, MusicaJazz…). Emi was recently mentioned in the Italian jazz history book, “La Storia del Jazz”, which called Pericopes one of the most important/unique new-generation productions of the last few years.

While living temporarily in New York City in 2010, Emiliano began to collaborate with an American band led by guitarist Izzy Zaidman. They’ve recorded four studio albums, have toured extensively in nearly every US state, and extensively throughout Europe.
He balances touring with presenting masterclasses (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow-UK, RNCM of Manchester, University of Aberdeen-UK); and teaching roles as Professor of Jazz Saxophone at both music conservatories in Parma and Cesena (Italy). His composing and production commissions/credits include soundtracks for short movies (Civica Cinema, Milan), commercial television (Pagani Zonda for Motor&Life magazine and Japanese Rosso), and radio programs (RaiTrade, Rai Radio Uno).
He still stays busy as a freelance sideman, from jazz, to theater performances (American poet Jack Hirschman), to pop and entertainment productions such as his collaboration with the international Italian rockstar, Ligabue, who set a 150,000 person audience attendance record (at Campovolo) on one of Emi’s tours with the band.

In his youth, he was awarded in the Verbania’s National Youth Contest (IT), obtained his M.S. in Jazz Music (cum laude) from Parma, attended  seminars by John Taylor, Gideon Levensohn, Steve Coleman, Graham Collier, Barry Harris, Giorgio Gaslini, Berklee Clinics of Boston and continued private studies in New York with luminaries Walt Weiskopf, Dave Liebman, Joel Frahm and Melissa Aldana.