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Simone Guiducci
Simone Guiducci is a highly regarded Italian jazz guitarist and composer known for his innovative approach to blending jazz improvisation with the rich traditions of Italian folk music. His musical journey began in the early 1990s, and he quickly established himself as one of the most prominent figures in the Italian jazz scene. Since 1995, he has been leading his Gramelot Ensemble, a project that explores the intersection of jazz and Italian folklore.
Guiducci's work with the Gramelot Ensemble has led to numerous acclaimed recordings and collaborations with notable musicians such as American trumpeter Ralph Alessi, who has been a regular guest since 2002, and other renowned jazz artists like Erik Friedlander, Enrico Rava, Paolo Fresu, Chris Speed, Don Byron, and Gianluigi Trovesi, among others. His Gramelot project is described as a creative dialogue between regional Italian themes and global jazz improvisation, weaving together elements of jazz, classical, and popular music.
After having created some self-produced albums ( together with Paolo Fresu, Mauro Negri, Gianni Coscia, Simone Guiducci was signed by the Italian label Felmay.
Guiducci's albums, produced by this label Felmay, include:
- Cantador (2000) – His debut album for Felmay
- Chorale (2002) – Featuring trumpeter Ralph Alessi and cellist Erik Friedlander as special guests.
- Dancin' Roots (2004) – With Ralph Alessi and clarinet player Don Byron
- Storie di Fiume (2006).
- That's All Folks (2011) – With Ralph Alessi
In October 2024, Simone Guiducci return to the studio with his Gramelot Ensemble and Ralph Alessi to record a new work, scheduled for release in 2025, marking the next chapter in his continued exploration of jazz and Italian folk traditions.
His music has been praised for its fluidity, combining jazz improvisation with traditional melodies in a way that bridges both the ancient and modern worlds. His compositions have been called "intriguing" and "graceful," with a style that speaks to a wide range of musical influences.
Guiducci has received significant recognition both in Italy and abroad, with his album Chorale ranking in the top ten best jazz records of 2002 in Italy's Top Jazz critics' poll. His work has also garnered attention in leading jazz publications like Jazzman (France), All About Jazz (USA), and Jazz Magazine (France).
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Simone Guiducci: il ritorno del Gramelot
by Angelo Leonardi
Il recente Mantova Jazz Festival ha visto il ritorno del Gramelot Ensemble di Simone Guiducci, uno dei gruppi più originali del jazz italiano nell'ultimo trentennio. Dopo una lunga pausa, il chitarrista e leader lombardo ha rimesso assieme i membri storici della formazione per quella che non è una riunione celebrativa ma un ritorno in piena regola. Lo sviluppo di un progetto nato nel 1995 che ha realizzato in sette album ospitando Chris Speed, Enrico Rava, Don Byron, Ralph Alessi, Erik ...
Continue ReadingSimone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble: Storie di Fiume
by Ian Patterson
On first listening to Storie di fiume(River Tales), Simone Guiducci's Gramelot Ensemble's fourth recording, one wonders whether this is folk music colored by jazz, or jazz music influenced by folk. But like the confluence of two rivers there comes a point where it is impossible to distinguish the two separate entities--the absorption is complete and mutual.
On the opening track, “Uomini di fiume," the accordion of Fausto Beccalossi and the clarinet of Achille Succi blend as one, carrying ...
Continue ReadingSimone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble: Storie di Fiume
by Glenn Astarita
Italian acoustic guitarist and composer Simone Guiducci has performed with German bass legend Eberhard Weber and American multi-reedist Chris Speed, among other notables. On Storie di Fiume, the artist's alterable Gramelot Ensemble fuses the sounds of Mediterranean folk music with spiraling improvisational forays.
Guiducci's signature invocation of jazz and Italian melodies is something of a trademark sound. At times peaceable and slightly raucous, the leader commandeers linear progressions with veteran woodwind player Achille Succi, solely performing on clarinets for this ...
Continue ReadingSimone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble: Dancin' Roots
by Glenn Astarita
Italian acoustic guitarist Simone Guiducci often employs well-known American jazz musicians for his conspicuously ambitious projects. With this effort, he benefits from clarinetist Don Byron's expertise, along with rising star trumpeter Ralph Alessi and other top-notch instrumentalists. Guiducci's trademark fusion of Mediterranean themes with complex harmonic sojourns once again offers more than just a few rewarding attributes. His muse features a classy brew consisting of complex unison lines, off-meter Latin grooves, and lyrically rich melodies.
Accordionist Fausto Beccalossi's ...
Continue ReadingSimone Guiducci: Dancin' Roots
by AAJ Staff
By Angelo Leonardi
Born in 1962 in Turin, Italy, guitarist and composer Simone Guiducci has been hailed as a creative voice on the contemporary Italian jazz scene. He's made several internationally acclaimed recordings as a leader including his two latest, Dancin' Roots (Felmay, 2005) and Chorale (Felmay, 2003). With his ongoing project “Gramelot", Guiducci explores the creative dialogue between Italian folklore themes and jazz improvisation.
His “Gramelot Ensemble" has been comprised of distinguished Italian musicians over the years including Enrico ...
Continue ReadingSimone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble: Dancin' Roots
by John Kelman
With consistently compelling releases from labels like EGEA and CAM Jazz, the vibrancy of the Italian jazz scene is becoming more and more recognized by a larger international audience. Increasingly self-evident is that the Italian jazz community encompasses both the broader improvising tradition of American jazz and the intrinsic ethnicity of its own rich musical history. But while much of EGEA's music has a distinctive coastal Mediterranean flavour, and CAM Jazz, by focusing to some extent on the vivid legacy ...
Continue ReadingSimone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble: Dancin' Roots
by Paul Olson
Musicians have been combining various musical genres with jazz for decades and the results are often pretty messy. Jazz doesn't mix as well with its musical brethren as one might hope: often its improvisational side is diluted and all that survives the graft is an empty virtuosity. That's why the achievement of Italian acoustic guitarist Simone Guiducci and his Gramelot Ensemble is so stunning; as evidenced by Dancin' Roots , their fusion of jazz with various European and Middle-Eastern folk ...
Continue ReadingFelmay Records Releases Simone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble's "Chorale"
Source:
All About Jazz
Acoustic guitarist SIMONE GUIDUCCI is back with a new record, Chorale, again accompanied by the brilliant and inseparable Gramelot Ensemble along with a clutch of guest musicians familiar from the international jazz scene. Chorale marks a significant step on in Guiducci's pursuit of folk/jazz hybrid forms, a quest he has been on for several years now and which his previous album, the delightful Cantador showed to be rich in potential. The dialogue gets sharper and tighter on Chorale, opening out ...
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Glenn Astarita on ALL ABOUT JAZZ (Usa) …Overall, this is enlightening stuff! Unassumingly charismatic, Guiducci continues to flaunt his personalized approach to modern jazz in a conclusively prolific way ! …Feverishly recommended… …Guiducci’s signature invocation of jazz and italian melodies is something of a trademark sound… ********************************************************** Bill Shoemaker on JAZZREVIEW (UK) - CHORALE …the limpid “Last Chorale & Dance” and the children’s song-based “Filastrocca per Martina” provide a strong finish to the album reasserting the glow of Northern Italian folk music as the project’s main inspiration and the Gramelot Ensemble’s abilities in collectively improvised passages
Primary Instrument
Guitar, acoustic
Location
Milan
Credentials/Background
Teacher at Jazz Conservatory in Mantova, Italy
Erik Friedlander
cello
Bill Frisell
guitar, electric
Ralph Alessi
trumpet
Achille Succi
clarinet
Matt Renzi
woodwindsNelson Veras
guitarSalvatore Maiore
bass, acoustic
Oscar Del Barba
piano
Fausto Beccalossi
accordionAndrea Ruggeri
drumsPhotos
Music
Similar
Aki Takase
piano
Simone Guiducci
Location: Milan
Instrument: Guitar, acoustic
Born: May 24, 1962
