Who we are

Who we are

GIOTTOMUSIC RECORDS Perugia - Italy

The label of Giottomusic Records arises from an idea of Francesco Ciarfuglia and Laura Barone.
The research developed by the label is founded on jazz and on Italian and European musical culture, in the conviction that our musicians have really much to say in that field. The label privileges specially a careful jazz-rereading of old and classical repertoires belonging to great Italian, but also European authors.
It doesn't mean anyway that the tradition is totally jazz-shaped and levelled; on the contrary, the artists involved in this mutual tension try to renew their own improvising language, beginning from a deep respect for the starting material. As a result, we find some bright rereading of authors like Frescobaldi by Gianni Coscia, or like Puccini by Riccardo Arrighini. Stefano Bollani improvises on a movement of a Mozartian concert for piano and orchestra. Paolo Silvestri rearranges Strawinski's Tango for his Wind Ensemble. Some creative musicians like Ramberto Ciammarughi starts from the poetry of European avant-garde (as for example Ligeti), in order to set new rules (he calls it "Dangerous liaisons") between musicians who appreciate collective improvisation as he does.
Some young experimenters like the pianist Claudio Filippini look for poetry combining acoustic and electronic sounds, improvising pages of authors like Ravel.
The administration office and studio of Giottomusic Records are situated in the ancient building of S.Anna, in Perugia, immediately out of the boundary walls of the town; it is included in a wider structure dedicated to music: the Musical Civic Centre of S.Anna, constituted by the Music School "La Maggiore", the record studio Giottomusic, and by two other musical and cultural associations.
The Musical Civic Centre of S.Anna is mainly concerned with musical didactics, with the production of concerts, recording and editing activities.

The Centre offers:

Music school, didactics and musical activities;
Master class and specialization courses;
Equipped rehearsal rooms (also to rent);
Recording studio (also to rent);
Organisation of events, concerts and shows;
Sound technician courses;
Digital music courses;
Artistic management;
Open space for concerts and shows;
Record productions.

THE LOCATION
Thanks to their peculiar location, the rooms of the monumental building of S.Anna seems specially vocated to house the various activities offered by a civic centre dedicated to music. Along the Eastern side, the wide rooms, located on the ground floor around the cloister, are facing Viale Roma; their location allowed for the creation of soundproof rooms specially fitted for individual study. In the South side, the very wide rooms with high ceilings are specially fitted for collective activities, such as chorus or orchestra, recording studio or lessons or group activities. The cloister itself represents a very quiet place; during spring and summer, it can house show and exhibitions for the music school students, offering also a new open space for concerts.
In summer, the rooms and the cloister are used for the lessons of the American Musical University of Berklee School, organised by Umbria Jazz Festival in collaboration with the music school "La Maggiore". The course ends traditionally with a concert involving the students which attended the lessons.

THE STAFF

Giottomusic's staff is composed by a team which follows each moment of the production: recording, editing, mixing, mastering, graphic project, documentation, coordination, promotion.
Francesco Ciarfuglia is the artistic manager of the label; he follows the process of recording, editing, mixing and mastering, and he controls the sound quality, helped by a second sound technician and musician, Cristiano Tortoioli.
Laura Barone works on the project management, coordinating and controlling the quality during the production process, and the product's printing; she also cares about documentation and material collection.
Mauro Versiglioni is the designer, the graphics and photographer of Giottomusic label.
Sara Cipolloni follows the promotional processes of the products and the press office for the label.

COLLABORATION WITH UMBRIA JAZZ FESTIVAL

Since 2003, Giottomusic label collaborates with Umbria Jazz Association in different fields: didactics, concerts, records. The latter allowed for the agreement with Umbria Jazz Records, whose productions are followed carefully by Giottomusic from recording to product's marketing.
The catalogue Umbria Jazz Records/Giottomusic opens with an ambitious project dedicated to Charlie Parker, concerning the reinterpretation of works recorded by Charlie Parker for Verve label in the Forties-Fifties with wind orchestra, rhythmical section, oboe, French horn, English horn and harp. In this project, the young saxophonist Francesco Cafiso, accompanied by the wind orchestra "I Solisti di Perugia", the oboist Simone Frondini, the piano of Riccardo Arrighini, the bassist Aldo Zunino and the drums of Stefano Bagnoli, is faced with one of the most difficult, but very fascinating repertoires of jazz history.
Thanks to the careful contribution of the music critic Dan Morgenstern, we received from the archives of the Rutgers University of Baltimore the original partitions composed by Mitch Miller and Jimmy Carroll for Norman Granz's famous productions of Charlie Parker with winds.
The second volume of this collection confirms the collaboration of "I Solisti di Perugia" in the production of Umbria Jazz Records and Giottomusic.
It is an original four-hands project realised by Mirko Guerrini and Stefano Bollani, music for piano and string orchestra. The CD, entitled "Italian Lessons", is a collection of original musical works composed by Guerrini and Bollani, arranged and directed by Guerrini and performed on piano by Bollani, accompanied by the double-bass of Daniele Mencarelli and by the wind orchestra "I Solisti di Perugia".
The third album is a project of the pianist Riccardo Arrighini for jazz trio, oboe, voice and wind orchestra. With this group, Riccardo Arrighini reinterpreted in an original and charming way some famous aria of Giacomo Puccini. The CD is entitled "Puccini Jazz" "And the Stars Were Brighting"; it will be presented with a concert in Perugia during Umbria Jazz 2008, on 18 July at Teatro Morlacchi.

Giottomusic Records
Viale Roma, 15
06121 Perugia
tel. 075 5736460
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