Alberto Popolla

Appears on:

• ALBERTO POPOLLA
  Really the Blues
• BASSISM TRIO
  Dreams Must Explain Themselves

Alberto Popolla is an Italian clarinettist, saxophonist, bassist, arranger and composer who has performed extensively across Europe, North Africa and the United States, including appearances in New York, Chicago, London, Berlin, Brussels, Athens, Algiers and Lisbon, as well as at numerous Italian festivals.

In the 1980s he was a key figure in the Italian and international neo-psychedelic scene as electric bassist with the band Magic Potion, whose two albums—produced by music critic Federico Guglielmi—have recently been reissued as a box set.

Over the years, Popolla has developed a highly personal approach to the clarinet, exploring its vast timbral possibilities through a practice that moves fluidly between composition and improvisation, experimental contexts, jazz, and Balkan and klezmer traditions.

In 2025 he released his first solo clarinet album under his own name, Relly The Blues, a work that highlights the instrument’s expressive depth through an intimate dialogue with the blues tradition.
He has led and contributed to numerous Italian and European ensembles, collaborating with musicians from around the world. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Clarinet from the Conservatory of Frosinone and a degree in Literature from La Sapienza University in Rome, with a focus on modern and contemporary history. He is also a regular contributor to the Italian magazines Prog Italia and Quaderni D’altri Tempi.

In recent years, he has focused on arranging and composing within the blues tradition with the band Roots Magic—repeatedly voted among the Top 10 Italian groups in the Musica Jazz critics’ poll—as well as exploring the sound world of the Canterbury scene and progressive music. Alongside his artistic activity, he teaches improvisation and jazz history at various music institutions.