Born in Turin on March 21, 1952, Carlo Actis Dato grew up in the South of Italy. Dato’s grandfather played trumpet in the Piedmont Village folk band of North of Italy. Actis Dato’s early professional musical experience consisted of playing clarinet and saxophone in several dance, rhythm 'n' blues and swing bands.
In the early ‘70s Carlo Actis Dato dedicated himself to playing and recording, performing on more than 70 records, leading or co-leading over half of them. Dato was co-founder of the Art Studio in 1974, one of the first groups to play “new jazz” in Italy. The Art Studio went on to perform in France, Germany and Holland. Actis Dato has since performed in Europe, The U.S., Canada, Japan, Turkey and across the African Continent.
Since 1984, Dato has lead The Actis Dato Quartet, an ensemble that has performed in more than 100 festivals and clubs in Japan, Morocco, Canada, Greece, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Finland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Ethiopia, Lithuania, Antilles and Italy. The Quartet has participated in radio programs for the national networks in Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Germany, France, Croatia and Switzerland. The 2000 Down Beat Critics Poll ranked Dato among the best baritone sax players in the world.
Carlo Actis Dato‘s records have been listed in "The Penguin Guide to Jazz" and in the Larousse Encyclopaedia. Actis Dato has played with many of today’s most outstanding artists including David Murray, K.Vandermark, W.Horvitz, B.Phillips, L.Moholo, C.Taylor, R.Garrett, J.Shahid, E.Rava, G.Gaslini, M.Dresser, L.Bowie, D.Sanborn, G.Sommer, M.Nicols, A.Salis, L.Konté, K.Umezu, M.Satoh, T.Kondo ,S.Fujii, C.Zingaro, M.Bisio, J.McPhee.