Sicilian guitarist Matteo Mancuso admits he was competitive as a teen. He wanted to one-up his peers with his guitar talents.
Then his dad, Vincenzo, gave him advice that really resonated with Mancuso.
“The best piece of advice was always to play to express and not to impress,” he explained. “That’s something that really stuck with me, especially when I was a teenager. I wanted to impress my friends, saying, ‘Check this out.’ I was on the competitive side of things.
“Whenever I have to play something, I always remind myself that I need to express emotions rather than demonstrate that I’m good. We guitar players sometimes have this tendency to show our bag of tricks immediately.”
Mancuso will perform at The Rialto Theatre on Sunday, June 15.
The shows are part of his first major U.S. tour, which he described as being very guitar-oriented.
“It’s pretty much instrumental music,” he said. “We will also present songs from the upcoming album that — if everything goes well — will be out by the end of the year.”
Born in 1996, Mancuso called his musical journey “special.” During the 1970s, his father, Vincenzo Mancuso, was considered a gifted session player on the domestic scene, and his son chose classical guitar and transverse flute in high school.
Mancuso played his first show, a local jazz festival, at the age of 12. Now a multi-faceted guitarist who can play classical or electric. He uses his fingers instead of regular picking.
He assembled a new trio in 2020, and then the world shut down. In 2021, he returned to the road as part of the new trio, culminating in two sold-out nights at the Blue Note in Milano.
In 2022, he played at the Bremen International Festival at the Auditorium Parco Della Musica in Rome. After graduating in jazz guitar from the Palermo Conservatory of Music (with honors and honorable mention), he shared the stage with Al Di Meola on classical guitar at the Eddie Lang Jazz Festival. He also hit the stage of the Lugano Jazz Festival in Switzerland, as a guest with prog-rockers PFM. He appeared in a major prime-time slot on Italy’s national Rai TV, at the Uppsala Jazz Festival in Sweden. He rounded off the year at the Spoleto Jazz Festival in Italy.
He released his debut, “The Journey,” with the help of his father, who co-wrote the songs “Polifemo” and “Blues for John.” The album also features bassist Stefano India and drummer Giuseppe Bruno, with additional musicians bassist Riccardo Oliva, drummer Gianluca Pellerito and pianist/organist Giuseppe Vasapolli.
Mancuso began writing songs for the album in 2020 without a firm concept.
“I wanted to do something that wasn’t associated with only one genre, so there are some rock-oriented songs like ‘Drop D’ and some modern jazz tunes like ‘Polifemo,’” he said.
“Drop D” was written in honor of his hard rock and prog influences, such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Dream Theater.
“The Journey” featured the singles “Samba Party” and “Silk Road.” He’s four songs in on the second album.
“If I’m able to do another four songs, I will be incredibly happy,” Mancuso said. “I’m on the writing side of things. I’m usually incredibly slow at writing new stuff. I have some other side projects as well.”
Mancuso said it’s easy to follow his path and maintain his passion.
“Music is like a language to me,” he said. “I want to learn different words, different vocabulary. I want to try to extrapolate things that I like, and never be on the same style.
“I don’t want to label myself as just one style. It’s usually called ‘fusion,’ but I don’t like that term. It’s generally associated with ’80s jazz music. That’s not fusion to me. I have a wide musical diet, and I try to listen to as much music as I can.
“Luckily for me, I’m a curious person, so I always want to listen to something different, and that’s what keeps me interested. I think I’ve improved a lot in the last few years. Some of the things I recorded on the first album were like, ‘Check out this lick, or check out this trick.’ Now, it’s more thoughtful.”
Matteo Mancuso w/Ryan David Green
WHEN: 8 p.m. Sunday, June 15
WHERE: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street, Tucson
COST:Tickets start at $32.50
INFO: rialtotheatre.com
