Six string virtuoso Allen Giardinelli has been playing music for 3 decades and throughout 35 countries. Melding the Gypsy Jazz guitar stylings of Django Reinhardt, Bebop and straight ahead jazz with his lifelong love of the blues to develop a unique style of his own, tinged with rock and Americana influences. Whether he is stompin the blues on his tri-cone resonator with a bottleneck while singing Robert Johnson tunes in a biker bar, or playing jazz standards at a formal gathering Allen Giardinelli will effortlessly cover everything with a unique style & amazing technique that will add an undeniably cool flair to your event.
Allen Giardinelli's expansive love of music combines with his formidable talent to engage and surprise audiences wherever he plays.
Allen has so much music in his head It would be impossible to provide a set list!
His repertoire is spontaneous & based on audience mood and Requests.
Here are a few artists Allen covers -
Jazz - Django Reinhardt, Count Basie, Ela Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Etta James, Stan Getz, Jao Gilberto, Ray Charles, Diana Krall, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Joe Pass.
Blues/Americana - Robert Johnson, Blind Wille, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Ledbelly, Charley Patton & Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, The Beatles, Neal Young, and many many others
Over the years Allen has performed at countless festivals, as well as small venues and gatherings. Too many to list here, but most recently - Cycle Oregon event - Oregon Coast. The Utah Arts Festival - SLC Utah. The Hault Center - Eugene Oregon. The Boulder CO Jazz Festival. The Hotel Monaco - Portland Oregon. Galleria Borghese - Rome Italy
Allen Giardinelli’s international and widely varied musical background shows in the great versatility of his music making. He grew up traveling the world & living in over 35 countries with his musician parents.
His father was a prog rocker turned producer/talent scout for European RCA and his mother a classical violinist.
Al's story reads like a stranger wandering through juxtaposed musical worlds, learning the music and instruments of the far east & Europe by osmosis, but always underneath it all a firm foundation in Americana, Jazz, & Blues. The result is a unique and highly versatile player, at home playing the howling electric blues of Hendrix & Buddy Guy, the crying bottleneck of Blind Willie Johnson, while equally capable of a Jazz Guitar vocabulary reminiscent of Joe Pass & Django Reinhardt with a hint of Charlie Bird.
A lifetime student of the guitar in all its forms, Allen has studied & continues to study, with guitar greats from around the world.