''Traversata'' is an album by American mandolinist
David Grisman, Italian mandolinist Carlo Aonzo, and Italian guitarist
Beppe Gambetta
Beppe Gambetta (born 1955) is an Italian acoustic guitarist and singer. A native of Genoa, he is a composer, teacher, author, and researcher of traditional music and instruments.
Music career
In 1977, Gambetta founded Red Wine, an Italian blue ...
, playing guitar, mandolin, and the 14-string
harp guitar
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 ...
.
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
Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese (August 22, 1897 – July 28, 1982), known professionally as Nick Lucas, was an American jazz guitarist and singer. Known as the Crooning Troubadour, he was the first jazz guitarist to record as a soloist. His p ...
and "April Kisses" by
Eddie Lang.
Track listing
# Costumi Siciliani (Sicilian Customs) (
Giovanni Gioviale
Giovanni Gioviale (November 1885 – June 11, 1949) was an Italian composer and musician. He is considered one of the greatest mandolin virtuosos of all time. He also played guitar and banjo, and at the concert level with violin. He is special ...
) 4:08
# Oh, Mio Babbino Caro (Oh, My Dear Daddy from ''
Gianni Schicchi
() is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Pucci ...
'') (
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...
) 2:20
# Idillio Primaverile (Idyll of Springtime) (Gioviale) 2:53
# Manzanillo (
Valentine Abt
Valentine Abt (born Pittsburgh June 13, 1873 – died Mayview, Pennsylvania July 16, 1942) was an American composer who specialized in the mandolin. In the book ''Popular American Composers'', Frank L. Boyden named Abt one of America's most "pr ...
) 2:23
# L'Onda (The Wave) (Pasquale Taraffo) 4:04
# Tarantella Op. 18 (
Raffaele Calace
Raffaele Calace (1863 – 1934) was an Italian mandolin player, composer, and luthier.
Calace was born in Naples, Italy, the son of Antonio Calace, a successful instrument maker. He initially trained to be a musician, discovered the mandolin, ...
) 3:04
# Intermezzo (from ''
Cavalleria rusticana
''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play ...
'') (
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece '' Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ...
) (3:04)
# Pickin' the Guitar (Pizzicando la Chitarra) (
Nick Lucas
Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese (August 22, 1897 – July 28, 1982), known professionally as Nick Lucas, was an American jazz guitarist and singer. Known as the Crooning Troubadour, he was the first jazz guitarist to record as a soloist. His p ...
) 3:43
# Violinata (Violin Serenade) (Attilio Margutti) 2:40
# Duo for Two Mandolins (Studio per Due Mandolini) (Rudy Cipolla) 3:30
# Valtzer Fantastico (Wonder Waltz) (Enrico Marucelli) 5:34
#
The Godfather Waltz (Il Valzer del Padrino, from ''The Godfather'') (
Nino Rota
Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (; 3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979), better known as Nino Rota (), was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visco ...
) 2:55
# Mazurka VI Op. 141 (Calace) 2:55
# Serenata "a Ballo" (traditional) 3:14
# April Kisses (Baci d'Aprile) (
Eddie Lang) 5:21
Personnel
*
David Grisman –
mandolin,
mandola
The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
* Carlo Aonzo – mandolin
*
Beppe Gambetta
Beppe Gambetta (born 1955) is an Italian acoustic guitarist and singer. A native of Genoa, he is a composer, teacher, author, and researcher of traditional music and instruments.
Music career
In 1977, Gambetta founded Red Wine, an Italian blue ...
– guitar,
harp guitar
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 ...
* Radim Zenkl –
mandocello
The mandocello ( it, mandoloncello, Liuto cantabile, liuto moderno) is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paire ...
References
External links
Carlo Anonzo official websiteBeppe Gambetta official websiteDavid Grisman official website
{{Authority control
2001 albums
David Grisman albums
Acoustic Disc albums