BIO.

Born in 1962 in Turin, Italy, Simone Guiducci, guitarist and composer, has been hailed as one of the most talented musicians on the Italian jazz scene since the early ‘90’s going on to make several internationally acclaimed recordings as leader. With his project "GRAMELOT" in particular, and its focus on a creative dialogue between folklore themes and jazz improvisation, Guiducci has forged strong ties with the recording and concert worlds, working with Enrico Rava, Paolo Fresu, Gianluigi Trovesi and other leading international artists including Chris Speed, Ralph Alessi, Erik Friedlander, Don Byron and Eberhard Weber.
With these and other musicians, and in particular with his main line-up “Gramelot Ensemble”, Simone Guiducci has performed at major festivals in Italy, at Clusone Jazz and EuroMeet Venetojazz amongs others, as well as appearing abroad at Nantes Jazz Festival 2001(France) Jazz Haus Italien (Berlin,Germany) 2001, IstraetnoJazz (Croatia) 2002 , Musiques du Mond (Chevreuse, Ile de France) 2001, RadioBremen-Season 2004 (Germany), International Jazz Days 2004 (Zagabria,Croatia).

As one well known critic puts it, GRAMELOT’s folk-jazz is “fluid and free, rippling between jazz, classical and popular music, between regional and global, between the ancient and modern world. It is a language of jazz improvisation interwoven with popular melodies, spoken with an ease and grace. It is many “languages”, spoken as musical expressions or idioms, which come together in a world where the imagination shapes them into new and old forms that are always intriguing”.

Guiducci has received acclaim both from Italian critics, who voted him second in Top Jazz’s classification of emerging talents in Italy, and from abroad, with reviews in leading specialist magazines including JAZZMAN (France), ALL ABOUT JAZZ (Usa), CADENCE (Usa), JAZZMAGAZINE (France) ,JAZZPODIUM (Germany) ,JAZZREVIEW (UK).

Guiducci ‘s more relevant works are the 4cds with his Gramelot Ensemble : CANTADOR (2000) is the debut album ; CHORALE (2002) with guest appearances by the trumpeter Ralph Alessi . clarinetist Chris Speed and the cellist Erik Friedlander in addition to the GRAMELOT Quintet opens a new chapter in Guiducci's recording history , further exploring his flair for a music with roots which very much come from folklore. DANCIN’ ROOTS (2004) recorded by Simone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble with some relevant guest as clarinet player Don Byron , trumpeter Ralph Alessi and pianist Andy Milne ; the last work is STORIE DI FIUME (2006).

CHORALE came in at number six in the 2002 best italian jazz record Top Ten, voted by the panel of critics judging in the TOPJAZZ classification of the specialist monthly magazine Musica Jazz. The recording was also "Pick of the Week " on the prestigious US portal ALL ABOUT JAZZ.com (February 2003) and hit no. 2 (July 2003) in the JazzCharts of the KSZU radio station (Stanford University). All About Jazz’s editor Michael Ricci inserted Chorale between his personal TopTen for 2003 on All About Jazz selection.