''Traversata'' is an album by American mandolinist

David Grisman David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) 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 mu ...

, 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 t ...

. 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 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. Moreover, Italian folk music reflects Italy ...

, 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 Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...

Track listing

# Costumi Siciliani (Sicilian Customs) ( Giovanni Gioviale) 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 Pucc ...

'') (

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 l ...

) 2:20 # Idillio Primaverile (Idyll of Springtime) (Gioviale) 2:53 # Manzanillo ( Valentine Abt) 2:23 # L'Onda (The Wave) (Pasquale Taraffo) 4:04 # Tarantella Op. 18 ( Raffaele Calace) 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 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of ...

'') (

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) (

) 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 Vis ...

) 2:55 # Mazurka VI Op. 141 (Calace) 2:55 # Serenata "a Ballo" (traditional) 3:14 # April Kisses (Baci d'Aprile) (

) 5:21

Personnel

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

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 *

– guitar,

* 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 website

Beppe Gambetta official website

David Grisman official website
{{Authority control 2001 albums David Grisman albums Acoustic Disc albums