After eleven CDs, DVDs, teaching books and collaborations with many other top-flight musicians, Beppe Gambetta is increasingly known as one of the true live master innovators of the acoustic guitar. While Gambetta still lives in his native Genova, his reputation in the U.S. and Canada is reinforced by his participation in prestigious festivals like the Walnut Valley Festival, Merlefest, the Four Corners Festival, as well as events like the radio shows “All Things Considered” and “E-Town”. In his career he has performed with some great heroes of the folk scene like David Grisman, Gene Parsons, Doc Watson, Norman Blake and with the band Men Of Steel: an international guitar summit (Dan Crary, Tony McManus and Don Ross) of different guitar schools. In a world dominated by the trends and logic of the market Gambetta's playing and singing stand out for their intimate emotions, communication, research in tone, sobriety and humor.
Beppe plays an inspired music that modestly avoids relying solely on his high level of technical excellence, but also reveals the innermost feelings of a brilliant, playful mind that is always exploring and innovating while staying firmly rooted in tradition. 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 in spite of the interposed ocean a musical "koiné" (fusion) where American root music and Ligurian tradition, emigration songs and folk ballads, steel string guitars and vintage harp guitars not only co-exist but interact, weaving a deep dialog unaware of any rigid classification.
Album reviews: