The father of trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti, multi-instrumentalist Flavio Ambrosetti, was a top saxophonist on the European scene in the '50s and '60s, and is one of the great legends of the Swiss jazz scene, specifically the Italian part of this tri-cultural nation. The elder Ambrosetti began his studies in his hometown of Lugano, working both privately and at a local music studio, and beginning with piano. (He passed this regime along to his son, who began his music studies exactly the same way some three decades later.) Flavio Ambrosetti soon added vibraphone and the saxophone family to his instrumental skills. In the late '30s, Ambrosetti heard tenor saxophone giant Coleman Hawkins performing in Switzerland, a concert that was a huge influence on his musical development.