What’s Hot With Jazz Guitar: Gigi Cifarelli

by Doc Dosco

This week we feature a very accomplished Italian jazz guitarist named Gigi Cifarelli. You will hear definite influences of George Benson and Wes Montgomery in his playing (lots of octaves and rapid fire blues lines). Gigi has a dozen or so sound clips on his website from his last 3 CDs and it is well worth taking the time to check him out.

Online Bio:

Gigi Cifarelli came on the Italian jazz scene in the early 80s, after playing music ranging from rock to blues. He has played with the best Italian jazz musicians and both his technique as a player and his wide knowledge of harmony have made him win the public's favour. He took Wes Montgomery – who one of the songs of the album “Kitchen Blues” is dedicated to – Charlie Parker and George Benson as his models. In 1985 he wrote his “Coca & Rhum” album and a few years later won, for five consecutive years, the “Guitar Club” poll (a specialsised Italian magazine).

He worked with many American Jazz players, such as Chick Corea, Sam Rivers, Jack De Johnette, Mark Murphy, Delmar Brown, Billy Hart, Cameron Brown, Jimmy Owens, Ursula Dudjack, Tony Scott, and some Italian jazz players such as Enrico Rava, and Franco Ambrosetti. He also played with several Italian artists, including Mina. In 1995 he played in the annual Guitar Festival of Patrimonio (Corsica), where famous musicians such Robben Ford, Mike Stern, John Scofield, Philipe Catherine and Toots Thielemans took part. In that occasion he reached an international dimension so that the French press defined him a “Super Guitariste!”.

Gigi Cifarelli's compositions are a sort of journey into his different musical experiences but a musical genre always stands out: Blues.

Gigi's website:

http://www.gigicifarelli.net/

Doc Dosco is a jazz guitarist, composer and audio consultant living in Los Angeles, CA. His website is located at http://www.docdosco.com, where you can find more information on the 'What's Hot with Jazz Guitar' columns, audio clips of Doc's playing, and many additional features. Doc now endorses Peerless Guitars and has the website Jazz Guitar Zone to help promote Peerless jazz guitars in the US. He also endorses the new Pignose Valve Tube Amps — great for jazz (and anything else!)