| Traversata | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by David Grisman, Beppe Gambetta, Carlo Aonzo | ||||
| Released | 2001 | |||
| Studio | Dawg Studios | |||
| Genre | Italian folk | |||
| Length | 51:14 | |||
| Label | Acoustic Disc | |||
| Producer | David Grisman | |||
| David Grisman chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Traversata is an album by American mandolinist David Grisman, Italian mandolinist Carlo Aonzo, and Italian guitarist Beppe Gambetta, playing guitar, mandolin, and the 14-string harp guitar.
David Grisman is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic musicians.
Beppe Gambetta is an Italian acoustic guitarist and singer. A native of Genoa, he is a composer, teacher, author, and researcher of traditional music and instruments.
The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to its harp-like unstopped open strings. A harp guitar must have at least one unfretted string lying off the main fretboard, typically played as an open string.
Contents
The album comprises Italian-American instrumentals from the early part of the 20th century when Italians migrated in large numbers to the U.S. They called their trip overseas a traversata. In addition to traditional Italian folk music, the album includes versions of "Pickin' the Guitar" by Nick Lucas and "April Kisses" by Eddie Lang. [1]
Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. National unification came quite late to the Italian peninsula, so its many hundreds of separate cultures remained un-homogenized until quite recently compared to many other European countries. Moreover, Italian folk music reflects Italy's geographic position at the south of Europe and in the center of the Mediterranean Sea: Arabic, African, Celtic, Persian, and Slavic influences are readily apparent in the musical styles of the Italian regions. Italy's rough geography and the historic dominance of small city states has allowed quite diverse musical styles to coexist in close proximity.
Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucinese, known professionally as Nick Lucas, was the first jazz guitarist to record as a soloist. His popularity during his lifetime came from his reputation as a singer. His signature song was "Tiptoe Through the Tulips".
Eddie Lang is known as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as part of a band or orchestra, and as accompaniment for vocalists. He recorded duets with guitarists Lonnie Johnson and Carl Kress, with jazz violinist Joe Venuti, and played rhythm guitar in the big bands of Paul Whiteman and Bing Crosby.
