Artist News
Jazz Guitarist Eleonora Strino Talks To JGT
In this video podcast, guitarist Eleonora Strino talks to JGT’s Bob Bakert about her first tour the United States. Eleonora also spends some time with contributor Joe Barth – text interview below.
One of the busiest guitarists in northern Italy is Eleonora Strino. Growing up in Naples, she took up the guitar at an early age. Her inspiration was Jim Hall’s album with pianist Bill Evans. She went on to study at the music conservatory in Naples and later at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Along with her worldwide concerts, she is a professor of guitar at the Conservatory of Cosenza.
JB: Growing up in Italy, talk about what inspired you to play jazz guitar.
ES: I grew up in the suburbs of Naples. My approach to jazz was totally accidental. I decided to become a jazz guitarist the first time I heard a jazz album. It was like a bolt from the blue. Maybe I chose the guitar because we had one at home, and my sister played it a little bit. I still can’t say if I fell in love with jazz or jazz guitar. Anyway, Jim Hall was my sudden love and is still my greatest inspiration. So, I think I chose the guitar for that reason.
JB: At the Conservatory in Naples, talk about the musical things you did. What is appreciated most about those years of your life?
ES: Napoli is a great city, full of talent, music, and people are extremely outgoing, you can breathe music and theater everywhere. So, I owe a lot to my city. I believe there is Naples in every note I play and in every song I write. Anyway, there were difficult years for me, the years of the Conservatory. I was the only woman in the jazz department and the youngest student. I was very excited to finish high school and enroll in the conservatory. Even though I loved studying, when I started attending classes, I realized it would be a very difficult path. The jazz department had just been established in Italy, and it wasn’t very organized. Although my guitar teacher was really good and an amazing person, I suffered greatly from this lack of structure. I also suffered because some of my classmates told me that there was a reason why women didn’t play jazz guitar, and that bebop was useless. In short, I began to believe that perhaps I really couldn’t become a jazz guitarist because I was a woman and started the guitar too late. I went through years of depression in which I even left the conservatory and practically gave up the guitar. I enrolled at university to study physics, but it didn’t last long because I knew, deep inside, I really wanted to do music. So, I decided to fight back and thought that maybe I was just born in the wrong place for jazz, and I decided to leave. First, I went to Berlin, then Turin, and then Amsterdam. There were many other difficulties, but also many wonderful things, such as meeting musicians from all over the world with more open minds. I stopped thinking I couldn’t play jazz guitar and just started doing it.
JB: I know Jim Hall was a big influence, but to you personally, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums that shaped your personal development as a guitarist, and why?
ES: 1) The Pool Winners – Barney Kessel trio with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne.
I think I know every single note of The Pool Winners, actually, I think I know every single breath Barney Kessel took, I studied his playing so much. This is a great album for learning how to play in a guitar trio. Barney Kessel used many block chords, most of which were in drop-2 position. He uses them to harmonize the theme but also to do some block chords melody during the soloing. Another feature of Kessel is to harmonize some line with the thirds, especially the arpeggios. Then, for the melody part, he is the perfect person to hear Charlie Parker translated on the guitar or in general to learn the bebop language in a clear way. This album is a good starting point for beginners interested in guitar trios. Classic albums like these can help you understand the basics before exploring more modern trios like those of Jim Hall, Bill Frisell, and Julian Lage.
2) Grant Green – The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark
Grant Green, in my opinion, has one of the most beautiful sounds in jazz guitar. His vibrato is truly irreproducible. When taste, swing, blues, and genius is combined, Grant Green is born! This album is fantastic, playing some of the most beautiful American songs like “I Concentrated on You” or “Nancy with the Laughing Face” (I call my cat Nancy for this reason), divinely. It’s also a great example of the interplay between the guitar, piano, and rhythm section (and what a rhythm section!). Incidentally, Sonny Clark was one of the first pianists I transcribed. I know his album ‘Sonny Clark Trio with Philly Joe Jones and Paul Chambers’ by heart. For years, I studied the greatest guitarists, immersing myself in their styles. I transcribed their solos and tried to imitate their sound, pick grip, and guitar positioning. Being born in an era with YouTube made this easier. I experimented playing with three fingers, horizontally like Wes Montgomery, Chuck Wayne’s economy picking, Jimmy Raney’s arpeggios, Tal Farlow’s bizarre technique, and Jim Hall’s legato.
Finally, I tried to imitate Grant Green’s sound, and I never succeeded. To me, he’s “pure soul.” His simplicity and the beauty of every note make him one of the greatest guitarists in history.
3) Wes Montgomery- Smoking at the Half Note
It’s impossible not to mention Wes Montgomery among the influences of a jazz guitarist. This album is the Bible of jazz guitar, and you could never get tired of listening to it. I’ve been listening to it for more than twenty years, and I find something new every time. If you’re looking to learn piano from a pro, look no further than the legends of Wes and Wynton Kelly performing together. It’s a celebration of jazz!
JB: Talk briefly about your group with pianist Dado Moroni and what you appreciate working with him.
ES: Dado Moroni is a rare talent. He is a genuine and brilliant talent. I wouldn’t be anywhere without these amazing musicians who wanted me in their groups and brought me to important stages of my development. This is the real school! Before I performed with Dado, I remember trembling with excitement. How could it be otherwise? Dado was called by Ray Brown to replace Oscar Peterson! When I finally got on stage with him, his enthusiasm was so contagious that I couldn’t help but get swept up in it and have the time of my life.
With Dado, I had to learn to think of myself as a big, black guitarist (as Emily Remler said), because I had to produce a strong, decisive sound. This motivated me to study Wes Montgomery even more!
JB: Tell us about your CD Matilde. It looks like the songs were all composed by you and the other members of the band.
ES: Yes, all the songs are my compositions except one, co-written with Claudio Vignali. (Vento del Vemouth). I dedicated the album to my father, who sadly passed away three years ago. Matilde was inspired by one of his beautiful paintings; he was an incredible painter and the family’s master.
I also created Matilde to give voice to the feminist movement from its beginnings to the present day. Jazz embodies improvisation, uncertainty, and freedom, making it the ideal medium to tell the stories of remarkable women through original compositions. Life presents challenges and discomfort, where the strongest prevail, and weakness is unacceptable.
“Matilde” is a small boat navigating difficult waters, guided by voice, rhythm, and the vibrations of notes. Musical instruments become tools to exorcise despair. We journey to the South of the world and the South of the Soul. Deep things are frightening, dark, and complex, but true, visceral, carnal, and passionate. They’re fire, lava, a volcano. It’s the smell of the sea…
I continued this work on my new solo guitar album. Each composition is inspired by a book by a female writer.
JB: Bassist Giulio Corini and drummer Zeno De Rossi play superbly. What do you appreciate most about these two musicians as your rhythm section?
ES: Zeno and Giulio are refined, elegant, and extraordinary musicians. Together with them, I grow as a musician with every concert. I have completely changed the way I play in the years since we started playing together. Before, I was much more attached to the bebop tradition, but now I don’t even know what I am. Something magical happens on stage, something that only happens in that moment, and is unrepeatable and unexpected. I let myself be guided entirely by them, as if I were diving into an unknown sea that I trust: I know that the waves will somehow bring me back to shore.
JB: Talk about the musical relationship you have with pianist Claudio Vignali?
ES: Claudio Vignali is also an extraordinary musician, extremely eclectic and intelligent. Whatever I have in my head, he can do it. Claudio is a pure soul, one of the few in the world. He has degrees in classical and jazz piano, and over the years, thanks to him, I have listened to a lot of classical music that has greatly inspired my compositions. He has also taught me a lot over the years. Claudio is also my life partner, and sharing music is truly wonderful. We grow together every day as artists and as human beings.
JB: You often play your 1933 Gibson L-7. Tell us about it.
ES: To be honest, I haven’t been playing it much lately, but my L7 remains a little gem. It has an extraordinary acoustic sound; you can hear all the wood that is almost. 100 years old.
I’ve been playing for three years the archtop built for me by one of Italy’s best luthiers, Mirko Borghino. He created my signature model, called ‘Supreme Strino’. Lately, I think the sound of the electric guitar suits me better. I recorded my latest album with a ’74 Fender Telecaster. I fell in love with it at the first note!
Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, and Mark Ribot are my biggest influences lately, and that guitar has exactly the sound I was looking for, but unfortunately, I had to return it to the store because I can’t afford it right now.
JB: You live in northern Italy. Talk briefly about the kind of gigs you do there, the tours you do, and how you make a career in music work for you.
ES: Yes, I live in Turin. I work a lot in Italy, and for about two years now, I have been collaborating with one of the most important Italian managers: Nicola Adriani of the Nam Agency. We have performed at some of the most important Italian jazz festivals so far, including Umbria Jazz, Blue Note, and Spoleto Jazz. But luckily, I also work a lot abroad. In March, I will be back at Ronnie Scott’s after the last time when I sold out the house. Then, finally, I’m going to America in April. I’ll be touring in America for almost a month, starting in San Francisco, then New York, Boston, Washington, and many other places, until I return to California and then to Miami at the end of the tour.
First United States Tour:
April 8 – New York, NY
Birdland
Frank Vignola’s Guitar Night
April 9 – Philadelphia, PA
Rotwitt Theater of the McShain Performing Arts Center
1400 Montgomery Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
April 11 – Baltimore, MD
The First Unitarian Church of Baltimore
1 W Hamilton St, Baltimore, MD 21201
April 13 – Washington, DC
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library: Auditorium
901 G St NW, Washington, DC 20001
April 15 – Boston, MA
Old South Church in Boston
645 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116
April 16 – Providence, RI
Providence Public Library: Donald J. Farish Auditorium
150 Empire St, Providence, RI 02903
New book coming out in April from Eleonora Strino – Motivic Soloing forJazz Guitar (available in April).
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