Gianfranco Continenza is a guitarist, composer, arranger, and educator. He has earned a reputation as a Jazz/Fusion guitar wizard, receiving credits and recognition from artists of the caliber of Billy Cobham, Joe Diorio, Jimmy Bruno, Phil Upchurch, Vic Juris, Don Mock, Bob Mintzer, Bill Evans, Dean Brown, John Beasley, Mark Egan, John Stowell, Carl Verheyen, and many others.
He began playing guitar at the age of eight, inspired by his father Nino, a jazz guitarist. He initially studied classical guitar for five years before focusing his studies on modern and jazz guitar.
In 1991, he moved to California to attend the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. In September 1992, he graduated with highest honors from the G.I.T. (Guitar Institute of Technology), studying with some of the world’s leading guitar and music educators, including Joe Diorio, Don Mock, Scott Henderson, Ron Eschéte, Howard Roberts, Peter Sprague, Gary Willis, Jennifer Batten, Steve Trovato, Jeff Berlin, Tommy Tedesco, Mike Miller, and many others.
He has performed and recorded with numerous world-renowned artists, including Bill Evans, Joe Diorio, Mark Egan, Don Mock, Bob Mintzer, John Beasley, Michael Manring, Tetsuo Sakurai, Jeff Richman, Scott Kinsey, Jamie Findlay, Barrett Tagliarino, Richard Smith, John Stowell, Marco Minnemann, and many others.
In 1998, he founded the Contemporary Music Academy in Pescara, one of Europe’s most advanced music schools, where he teaches Jazz/Fusion guitar.
In 2014, he founded HCL Funk Reaction with Francis Hylton (Incognito) on bass and Rick Latham (B.B. King) on drums. The band has since completed a European tour.
Gianfranco was the first Jazz Guitar instructor at the Pescara Conservatory, where he also taught Music Theory.
He has produced three solo albums:
• “The Past Inside The Present” (ESC Records, 2008), featuring Bill Evans (Miles Davis, John McLaughlin) and Scott Kinsey (Tribal Tech, Joe Zawinul). In 2008, the album reached No. 1 on the Tower Records USA charts for Best Jazz/Fusion Guitar Album and became the second best-selling album released by ESC Records.
• “Dusting The Time” (Videoradio, 2013), featuring Don Mock, Bob Mintzer (Yellowjackets), John Beasley (Steely Dan, John Patitucci), Mark Egan (Elements, Pat Metheny Group), Michael Manring, Tetsuo Sakurai (Casiopea), Walter Martino, Alessandro Centofanti, Dino D’Autorio, and many others. The album received highly positive reviews in the March 2014 issue of the historic American magazine GUITAR PLAYER, which named it one of the best Jazz/Fusion CDs of the year. It also remained in Apple’s iTunes worldwide Top Charts for several months.
• “Vertical Horizons” (Never Sleeping Records, 2019), featuring American bass virtuoso Michael Manring.
For ESC Records, he also contributed as a soloist to two tribute albums dedicated to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, “Mahavishnu Re-Defined Vol. 1 & Vol. 2,” featuring an impressive lineup of All-Star musicians including Mark Egan, Michael Manring, John Patitucci, Billy Cobham, Dennis Chambers, Gary Husband, Vinnie Colaiuta, Mitchel Forman, Steve Vai, and many others.
He also appeared on the second Jeff Beck tribute album, “The Loner Vol. 2,” alongside Scott Henderson, Simon Phillips, Stu Hamm, Mitchel Forman, Kirk Covington, Michael Manring, Jeff Richman, Stef Burns, and many other internationally renowned musicians.
He performed as a bandleader at the Bratislava Jazz Days 2008, one of Europe’s most important international jazz festivals.
Since 2010, he has written instructional articles for the renowned American magazine Just Jazz Guitar, where he was interviewed in the May 2009 issue. He has also contributed a jazz guitar column to the Italian magazines Chitarre and Guitar Club.
In May 2016, he was a guest on the television program “Top Show” on Albania’s leading national broadcaster, Top Channel, where he took part in an interview and performed live. He also held a masterclass at the University of Arts of Albania.
In May 2019, he published his instructional book, “Il Chitarrista Jazz/Fusion e l’Improvvisazione Modale Creativa, Vol. 1,” through Masciulli Edizioni.
An entire chapter is dedicated to Gianfranco in the American book “Originality Is Everything – A Life and a Near-Death Tale of an Independent Record Label,” written by John McGlasson.
He continues to perform at major international events. In July 2023, for example, he performed at the prestigious Eddie Lang Jazz Festival in Monteroduni (Isernia, Italy), opening for guitarist Frank Gambale.
