Immersed in Music: The Journey of Claudio Quartarone

Claudio Quartarone's musical journey began at an early age, nurtured by a father's passionate playing and a mother's deep love for music. Following high school, at the age of nineteen, he discovered jazz, which would become his primary mode of expression.

His talent quickly shone through in the Sicilian jazz scene, leading him to attend the prestigious Umbria Jazz Clinics in Perugia in 2006. There, he had the opportunity to participate in masterclasses led by renowned international professors and musicians, including Ken Cervenka, Ron Savage, Dennis Montgomery III, Donna McElroy, David Clark, Michael Williams, David Howard, Sheryl Bailey, Suzanna Sifter, James Odgren, Larry Monroe, and Bruno Tommaso.

In 2007, through the Siena Jazz Foundation, Quartarone won a scholarship to represent Italy at the IASJ (International Association of Jazz Schools) in Riga, Latvia. There, he further honed his skills under the guidance of Claudio Fasoli, Pietro Condorelli, Paolino Dalla Porta, Enrico Rava, Tommaso Lama, and Giovanni Mayer.

That same year, during Siena Jazz, Quartarone caught the attention of trumpeter Enrico Rava, who invited him to join his band, Enrico Rava Special Edition. Rava would later say of Quartarone, "A truly incredible guitarist, I don't think I've ever heard one like him in Italy. His name is Quartarone, he's from Catania, like Francesco Cafiso. That region is producing monstrous musicians."

In 2008, Quartarone's collaboration with the RAI TRADE label (RAI's record label) began, resulting in the release of three albums: Even Eight, The Third Boss Guitar, and Elevator.

In 2010, he opened for Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa at the Teatro Metropolitan in Catania.

In 2011, the Comar23 label produced and distributed Quartarone's new album, Subliminal.

From 2011 to 2016, Quartarone released a prolific number of digital singles, spanning from jazz to electronic fusion, experimenting with new forms of musical communication and collaborating with video artists. He remained on a constant quest for new languages in the contemporary music world.

In 2015, he composed the music for the DVD inspired by Napoleon Hill's international bestseller "Think and Grow Rich," titled "Think and Learn Big," produced and promoted by the Napoleon Hill Foundation in the United States.

That same year, a track from the album Calling Any Station was selected as the soundtrack for a VOR brand commercial.

Quartarone has garnered extensive praise from the press, consistently hailed as an extraordinary talent. He is also featured on leading Italian jazz websites, newspapers, and magazines: JAZZIT, JazzEspresso, All About Jazz, JazzItalia, Guitar Club Magazine, and Neuguitars.

In January 2018, he published his first book, "Metodo per improvvisare chitarristi" (Guitar Improvisation Method), published by Workin'Label produzioni.

In May 2018, he released a new album on the same label, titled Changes, performed entirely on solo guitar.

In March 2019, his new album, Equilibrium, was released on all digital platforms.

Among his other accomplishments, the Australian company Valiant Samples created a plug-in based on Quartarone's electric sound called Quartarone Guitar Reveries. This instrument has been used by Burkhard Dallwitz and other renowned composers.

Throughout his career, Quartarone has performed with some of the most prominent figures in the national and international jazz scene, including Francesco Cafiso, Enrico Rava, Yussef Dayes, Rocco Palladino, Umberto Fiorentino, Daniele Tittarelli, Fabrizio Sferra, Giovanni Guidi, Mauro Ottolini, Stefano Senni, Dino Rubino, and Dan Kinzelman, to name a few.

In 2022, he embarked on the Anamorfosi project with Umberto Fiorentino for Birdbox Records, where diverse styles and influences converge between two unique artists, harmoniously blending into one.

In May of the following year, at the HI END 2023 event in Munich, the duo's second album, II, was premiered.

The end of 2023 saw Claudio Quartarone collaborating first with one of the leading exponents of Turkish music, Cenk Erdoğan, on the work titled "Gebel" for the Guitart label, and then with the widely regarded greatest keyboardist of all time, Jordan Rudess, on a four-handed piece titled "Still Woven."

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There is a large press review produced on Claudio Quartarone, where his musical works are often described as the result of extraordinary talent. He is also mentioned in the most important Italian jazz culture sites, newspapers and magazines in the sector, such as JAZZIT, JazzEspresso, Musica jazz, Il Giorno, All About Jazz, JazzItalia, Guitar Club Magazine, Neuguitars.

Of particular note is being the first Italian to have an electric guitar plugin dedicated to him!

Claudio Quartarone's electric sound has been sampled by the Australian company Valiant Samples to create a digital instrument that faithfully reproduces all the characteristics of his touch on the electric guitar.
A special sound, plucked with the fingers, is the unique and distinctive touch that characterises Claudio's technique: without a plectrum and with all the wisdom of a classical training.
Dreamy, ethereal, vibrant. It is atmospheres dilated by ample reverberations that have been collected in the Quartarone Guitar Reveries sound library.
The applications of this digital plug-in are almost infinite. By combining several sounds at the same time, you can obtain an ever-changing timbral result.

Conceived primarily for composing cinematic music, it is a very powerful tool at the service of the imagination.
 

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