I'm a musician, a pianist, a composer, a band leader and a sideman.
Music was part of my life even before birth. It would be impossible to count the number of concerts and records I heard even in utero.
Throughout my childhood, music continued to be a constant companion, both in live concerts and in my father's record collection. There's no denying the influence of my family in my relationship with music, but the story is more complicated than may appear; our lives rarely follow the straightest path.

A Toy Piano

Although deep inside, I think I always knew my future lay in music, some things seem destined to happen by chance. My decision to pursue music is the result of one such strange coincidence, and although I don't remember the exact details, this is the story as I recall it:
A friend was about to throw away a toy piano, and I asked if he would give it to me instead. That piano would later break, never to play again, but it planted the seed that grew into my obsession with the instrument.

A Family Advantage

My father was one of the first managers in Italy to focus on and promote jazz music. It's hard to overstate the importance of this fact in my upbringing, and although though for years I hated music, I grew up surrounded by world-class musicians (many of whom I went on to study and admire).
I overheard their conversations and listened to their advice, and I was surrounded by music even when my thoughts were elsewhere. These are the advantages I inherited, and there is no denying their importance.

The Beginnings

Although I didn't care much for music at the time, I spent days playing with my toy piano - I would play and play and play. These were the first glimmerings of a passion that went on to become an obsession. As soon as I had a second of time to myself, I would sit at the instrument and play for hours, eventually moving to a real piano.
And this was how I passed my childhood and adolescence, until one day at Siena Jazz's summer workshops when I first played with Enrico Rava. Of course, I'd known Enrico for years - he worked with my father and spent a lot of time at our house, but it was at Siena Jazz that he came up with the idea of Under 21, a new project he founded with me and some other very young musicians. The moment he called me for that band was the end of my childhood and the beginning of my career.

"Whenever I meet an exceptional young musician, I immediately look for a way to play together. But this isn't altruism, I actually really enjoy playing with young musicians. Living in the moment, I am always on the lookout for new experiences, in search of the unexpected, and Giovanni Guidi is like Stefano Bollani and Gianluca Petrella: he surprises me constantly." (Enrico Rava)

Over the course of my life, I have made my share of bad decisions. For the sake of brevity (and dignity) I will spare you the details, but what you should know is that, together with my obsession for music, I have always been interested in social issues, in people, and especially in those whose lives have been less forgiving than mine. For despite my privileged upbringing, the course of my life has brought me into contact with difficulties of my own.

Liberorchestra

A few years ago, I became friends with a number of young men from Gambia. It would be no exaggeration to say that this meeting transformed my life. Now, together with my obsession with music, I am involved in a struggle to create a future in which we will not turn our backs on those less fortunate, in which noone will die in the Mediterranean, abandoned to the fury of the sea in their attempt to seek a better future.
The most important musical project of my life is called Liberorchestra, a project born in collaboration with a social service coop in Foligno. Some would describe the musicians as 'disabled.' I prefer to think of all of us in the band as possessing special and specific abilities: we are differently able.

My Life Today

Beginning with my first professional experiences, I was managed by my father's agency. It was an obvious choice. But my father passed away in 2019, and I felt the need for a change. In 2020, I began working with The European Music Agency (TEMA), run by Andrea Scaccia and Enrico Iubatti. In artist bios, we don't tend to speak about our agencies. But in my case, this is not something that I feel can be overlooked. The move has given me a renewed sense of optimism and hope, and I am very excited about the future.

Records

My first several records were released by Cam Jazz, and later I had the honor of working with ECM for several years, but I have decided to return to Cam Jazz for my latest record. This record is of course born out of my experiences performing throughout the world with Enrico Rava and other amazing Italian and international artists, but I hope it will also express my profound and abiding respect and hope for humanity.