Born in Foligno, Italy, in 1985, Giovanni Guidi first showed an interest in music at the tender age of three, when he received a toy drum kit as a gift. He began studying piano at twelve. During his studies at summer masterclasses in Siena, he began to attract the attention of Enrico Rava (he is a member of his New Quintet), who subsequently asked him to join the Rava Under 21 group, and later the Rava New Generation. It was with this latter incarnation that Guidi appeared on a bonus CD distributed nationally for the magazine *L'Espresso*. In addition to his ongoing collaboration with Rava (PM Jazz Lab and Quintet), he performs in Gianluca Petrella's Cosmic Music Orchestra, the Fabrizio Sferra Trio, and leads his own groups. Guidi has performed at numerous major festivals, including Umbria Jazz, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, Ubi Jazz, Vicenza New Conversation, Umbria Jazz Balkanic Windows, Zurich Nu Jazz, Fandango Jazz Festival, Stavanger Mai Jazz, Vigo Jazz Festival, and the North Sea Jazz Festival. At Umbria Jazz 2006, he appeared as an artist-in-residence, performing for ten consecutive nights before a very enthusiastic audience. With his quartet, composed of three other young jazz musicians—American Dan Kinzelman on woodwinds, Stefano Senni on bass, and Portuguese drummer Joao Lobo—Guidi demonstrates his gifts as a pianist and composer. The quartet performs a series of Guidi's original compositions, strongly influenced by folk music but with very rare harmonic structures, and characterized by a deep sense of melody. In addition to these originals, the quartet performs new versions of songs by various musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Hampton Hawes, Radiohead, and Björk. The Giovanni Guidi Trio released a CD for the Japanese record label VENUS. The CD *Tomorrow Never Knows* received five stars in a recent review by *Swing Journal* magazine. In February 2007, the CD *Indian Summer* was released by CAM JAZZ. Giovanni Guidi was named "Best New Talent" by a jury of 58 journalists and critics in a poll titled "TOP JAZZ 2007," held annually by the Italian magazine *Musica Jazz*. In 2008, his album titled *The House Behind This One* was released. In July 2009, his new album *The Unknown Rebel Band* was released. His third CD for CAM Jazz marked his debut directing a larger ensemble. The result is a record of surprising intensity, which successfully balances moments of pronounced lyricism with influences of free jazz, a continuous source of inspiration for the young pianist from Foligno. Guidi was named best Italian pianist in 2011 by *Insound* magazine, and the year-end poll of *Musica Jazz* placed him in 2nd place as best pianist, just one point behind the winner. It is becoming clear that at only 27 years old, Guidi is establishing himself as one of the most important voices of the new generation in Italy and abroad. 2012 was an important year for the Italian pianist. His fourth disc as a leader, *WE DON'T LIVE ANYMORE*, was released in February by CAM JAZZ. Guidi is accompanied by some of the best musicians from New York (Michael Blake, Thomas Morgan, Gerald Cleaver) and frequent Italian collaborator Gianluca Petrella. The quintet performed two successful concert tours in Europe after the release. In the spring, he appeared as a sideman on Roberto Cecchetto's *SOFT WIND*, with Giovanni Maier and Michele Rabbia, released on MY FAVORITE RECORDS and, in mid-September, on the highly anticipated ECM release *TRIBE* by Enrico Rava, with Gianluca Petrella, Gabriele Evangelista, and Fabrizio Sferra: the latest incarnation of Rava's quintet, in which Guidi's original voice is an important distinguishing feature. He continued to work as a sideman in various formations, including trombonist Gianluca Petrella's "Cosmic Band" and Petrella's new project "Il Bidone," dedicated to the music of Nino Rota. The explosive Guidi/Petrella duo was received with enthusiasm at the Euro Jazz Festival in Mexico City. With Enrico Rava, he appears both as a duo and in the quintet—now titled Tribe—and in the Enrico Rava PM Jazz Lab (in various projects, including the recent "We Want Michael" project dedicated to Michael Jackson). His groups as a leader include his original quartet with Dan Kinzelman, Stefano Senni, and Joao Lobo; the Unknown Rebel Band (with a new repertoire of African music); and the new quintet with Shane Endsley (trumpeter of Kneebody), longtime companion Dan Kinzelman, Thomas Morgan, and Gerald Cleaver. Guidi's first record as a leader for ECM, *City of Broken Dreams* with Thomas Morgan and Joao Lobo, was released in March 2013.