Maria Pia De Vito

Maria Pia De Vito is an Italian jazz singer, composer, and arranger. Born 1960 in Naples, she studied opera, contemporary singing, music theory and harmony and started her musical career in 1976 as a singer and guitarist (and, later, as a pianist) in groups ethno-oriented, specialising in music from the Mediterranean and the Balkans.

Since the 1980s she has been active on the jazz scene as a singer, performing and collaborating with, among others, Huw Warren, Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Towner, Joe Zawinul, Michael Brecker, Steve Turre, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Between 1994 and 1997 she worked together with pianist Rita Marcotulli on the project Nauplia, in which she combined the music of her home town, Naples, with improvisational elements of jazz.

She has often worked with the British composer Colin Towns and with pianist John Taylor. She was a leading player in projects such as The Ugly Duckling with music by Giorgio Gaslini.