After working on it for the whole of 1999, the Turin-born but Mantova-based guitarist and composer SIMONE GUIDUCCI’s long awaited thirteenth album Cantador is now ready for release.

Showcased at the Clusone ‘99 Festival, Cantador comprises seven brilliant new compositions written by Guiducci and interpreted by him along with the GRAMELOT ENSEMBLE, the band that has for years been Guiducci’s main outfit.

The GRAMELOT ENSEMBLE’s new line-up, established over 1999 in a series of concerts and performances at important festivals (Pavia, Cremona, Gorizia and Florence) includes, alongside GUIDUCCI, Roberto Dani, Salvatore Majore, Achille Succi and the talented Brescia accordionist Fausto Beccalossi.

Cantador is a mature and highly polished acoustic album, the fruit of the syntony shared by the members of the group, who show extreme dedication in forging a tight and an intricately original sound, without renouncing melody or tunefulness.

The jazz roots of the pieces, undeniably GUIDUCCI’s main source of inspiration, are here able to mix and perfectly fuse with the rich structures of the Italian folk tradition. This is “roots” music which comes from deep down and which both “recounts” and stimulates the listener’s imagination.

Basically self-taught but having frequented workshops held by top musicians like Jim Hall, Dave Holland, Mike Goodrick, and Jon Christensen, SIMONE GUIDUCCI began his career in 1988 working with the clarinettist Mauro Negri, with whom two years later he founded the Trapezomantilo quartet. In 1991 the group won the highly prestigious Jazzcontest award, organised by the newspaper Corriere della Sera, at Milan’s Capolinea earning themselves the chance to cut a record.

Encouraged by Enrico Rava, SIMONE GUIDUCCI made his first recording (New flamenco sketches) as leader of the group in 1994, after which with great enthusiasm he started to put together a new project, the GRAMELOT ENSEMBLE.

1996’s Sciarivarì brought GUIDUCCI considerable acclaim from music critics who placed it in second position in the Topjazz poll for emergent Italian artists.

1997 saw the release of a new album in which GUIDUCCI worked along with Gianni Coscia and Achille Succi, the latter already a fixture in the GRAMELOT ENSEMBLE. Entitled Scherzi, guizzi & nuove danze, the record came second in the magazine Gezzitaliano’s writers’ poll.

During 1998, GUIDUCCI stepped up his live performances (with Kenny Wheeler, Gianluigi Trovesi and Paolo Fresu), as well as recording together with Mauro Negri an acoustic record and playing with Asymetrique quartet.