Giovanni Ceccarelli / Ferruccio Spinetti
Giovanni Ceccarelli – piano, keyboards, clavietta
Ferruccio Spinetti – double bass, electronic effects
on request with guest artists
Cristina Renzetti – vocals
David Linx – vocals
Jody Sternberg – vocals
Giovanni Ceccarelli and Ferruccio Spinetti founded this duo in 2008, when they gave a series of successful concerts in Italy, also with the participation of saxophonist Marcello Allulli. When the two musicians went on to founding group InventaRio, the duo stopped performing until its comeback in 2019.
Ferruccio Spinetti was the co-founder of duo Musica Nuda, and he is a steady of group Avion Travel. Ferruccio and Giovanni recorded together seven albums, including the Latin Grammy awarded InventaRio incontra Ivan Lins. Having started playing jazz together more than thirty years ago, the two musicians share a deep musical empathy and a common strong sense for melody.
Here’s how to turn a lovely, intimate duet into a brilliant tribute to Le grand Michel.
The duo’s new project Le grand Michel is a tribute to great French composer Michel Legrand. Giovanni and Ferruccio released this album in 2025, inviting as guest artists Camille Bertault, André Ceccarelli, Chiara Civello, the late Jean Guidoni, David Lewis, David Linx, Enrico Pieranunzi, Cristina Renzetti and Jody Sternberg. Le grand Michel, an album produced by Bonsaï Music, is having a great success (more than 3 million listeners on Spotify) and is receiving very positive reviews by the press. This album and project was presented in numerous concerts in France – Le Bal Blomet and Sunside in Paris, festival Hommage à Quincy Jones à Mantes-la-Jolie, Les 3 Pierrots à Saint-Cloud, CEM à Dole – and in Italy – festivals Crossroads, Taranto Jazz and Strade Sonore.
It was a privilege for me to be invited to join the group of prestigious musicians who created this beautiful album…
In 2020 the duo released a tribute album to great composer Ennio Morricone. A recording project produced by French label Bonsaï Music, More Morricone presents original arrangements of well and less known film music by the Italian master. Vocalist Chrystel Wautier is featured on a few tracks. The album was acclaimed by the music press and media internationally. Ceccarelli and Spinetti have been performing More Morricone in several festivals, cultural institutions, concert saisons and jazz clubs in Italy, France, Spain and in the Czech Republic, also with vocalist Cristina Renzetti as guest artist.
Their selection turns out to be judicious, which alternates between the obvious (“The Sicilian Clan”, “A Fistful Of Dynamite”) and the least expected (“Two Mules For Sister Sara”, “Metello”). Thanks to these choices and to their sober approach allowing little room for improvisation, they succeed in touching the very Italian heart of Morricone…
Ferruccio and Giovanni are also very active educators, giving masterclasses in conservatories and music institutions, such as the Siena Jazz University, the music conservatories in Mantova, La Spezia and Benevento in Italy, the CRD Quincy Jones in Mantes-la-Jolie, France. They share with the students their creative work on the music by Michel Legrand, Ennio Morricone and the Italian jazz composers.
Rendering the music of Ennio Morricone in jazz and as a duet might seem a challenge, even if Ferruccio Spinetti and Giovanni Ceccarelli are jazzmen and Italian. Nevertheless this challenge is met with plenty of verve and great class.
