Beppe Gambetta
From his unique background as an Italian musician in love with American roots music. as well as the music of his native country, Beppe Gambetta has traveled the world and even crossed the "Iron Curtain" to dazzle and charm music enthusiasts everywhere. After eleven CDs, DVDs, teaching books and collaborations with many other top-flight musicians, Gambetta is increasingly known as one of the true live master innovators of the acoustic guitar. In a world dominated by the trends of the market, Beppe's inspired music stands out - modestly avoiding relying solely on his high level of technical excellence to connect with his audience on an intimate, emotional level - all the while revealing the innermost feelings of a brilliant, playful mind that is always exploring and innovating while staying firmly rooted in tradition.
While Beppe still lives in his native Genova, he travels to North America at least three times each year. His reputation in the U.S. and Canada is reinforced by his participation in prestigious festivals like the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, Merlefest in North Carolina, the Four Corners Festival in Colorado and Canadian Folk Festivals in Winnipeg and Edmonton, as well as events like the radio shows "All Things Considered" and "E-Town". Beppe has performed in prestigious rooms like the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In his career he has performed with some great heroes of the folk scene like David Grisman, Gene Parsons, Doc Watson, Norman Blake an with the band, Men Of Steel: an international guitar summit (Dan Crary, Tony McManus and Don Ross) of different guitar schools with complex musical interactions.
With America in his heart and his roots in the sun and the olive trees of the Mediterranean Sea, he naturally and seamlessly bridges the shores of the two continents creating a musical "koine" (fusion) where American root music and Ligurian tradition, emigration songs and folk ballads, steel string guitars and vintage harp guitars create a unique dialogue defying any rigid classification.
Here's what the critics are saying about Beppe Gambetta...
...spinning a thick weave that sometimes calls to mind what a duet by Doc Watson and Leo Kottke might sound like."
-- Mike Joyce, The Washington Post
"Beppe Gambetta is an artist. He inhabits a vantage point and possesses a world view that sets him apart from the crowded phalanx of merely great pickers. But just as importanly, he has the skills with a flatpick to articulate and bring to us the thoughts and feelings of his soul."
-- Kevin Stevenson, Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
"This was such exciting, varied, satisfying and just downright musical music that I wanted more, particularly of Gambetta in florid Italianate style..."
-- Brian Miller, BBC Radio Scotland
"Get him on a stage and his fingers speak a language all their own. After all, he's not known as the "Italian King of the flatpick guitar" for nothing."
-- Steve Wildsmith, The Daily Times
Diane Perry
Classically trained at Julliard, Diane Perry's violin playing combines the tone of the concert-hall virtuoso with the growl of the blues and the weighty swing feel of the big bands. An alumnus of Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, as well as symphony orchestras across the eastern seaboard, Ms. Perry has performed with Travelin' Light, John Stubblefield, The DMP Big Band, Quartette Indigo, Jeff Tyzik, Tom Harrell, David Amram and many other jazz notables.
She grew up listening to jazz standards as much as she did classical music and over time developed her craft as a jazz vocalist as well, influenced by the greats like Sinatra and Fitzgerald. Performing the American Popular Songbook she fell in love with as a teen, and in the vein of Diane Krall's moody and intimate interpretations, she delights audiences with new perspectives on old standards.
Here's what industry insiders are saying about Diane Perry...
"Diane Perry is a true musician's musician and singer's singer and the jazz artists who have stood the test of time all fit this same definition. She doesn't copy anyone and doesn't need to. She tells her own story in a compelling style that makes you want to go back and hear more. She plays violin and sings with a soulfulness and brilliance that captivates audiences as much as her performances thrill the musicians who play with her and come especially to hear her. She is the real deal!"
-- David Amram, legendary jazz musician, composer, author and conductor
"This only happened once in my thirty years of producing concerts: halfway through her first song, I was already on the phone with our booking agent saying, "we've got to have her." The performer was Diane Perry. Her exquisite vocals were at once emotionally penetrating and technically exhilarating. I was overwhelmed when I heard the same passion and elegant proficiency from her instrument as I had from her voice."'
-- Marc Shaffer, Board member and former president of The Folk Project
