Franco Cerri was born January 29, 1926 in Milan and picked up guitar at 17. In 1945 he joined Gorni Kramer's group and the orchestra behind the television show Buone Vacanze, launching a career that ran nearly eight decades. He is widely considered Italy's most important classic jazz guitarist.

His playing partners spanned a wide swath of jazz history: Django Reinhardt, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and Lee Konitz. Starting in the 1950s he added double bass to his guitar work, playing bass behind Chet Baker and Buddy Collette on some of those same dates. He named Django Reinhardt, Barney Kessel, and René Thomas as his own biggest influences.

In 1980 he formed a duo with pianist Enrico Intra, and together they founded Milan's Civica Scuola di Jazz. His son, bassist and guitarist Stefano Cerri, played on at least nine of Franco's own albums between 1975 and 1997, a Discogs-verified connection, before going on to co-found the jazz-fusion trio Linea C and build his own career as a session bassist; he died in 2000. In 1995 he enlisted harmonica player Bruno De Filippi for his own Django Reinhardt tribute, En Souvenir De Milan. On January 1, 2006, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi knighted him. He passed away October 18, 2021, at 95.

Late in his career he formed a quartet with pianist Dado Moroni, double bassist Riccardo Fioravanti and drummer Stefano Bagnoli, documented on Barber Shop (2014, Abeat Records) and a follow-up, Barber Shop 2. Novant'anni suonati! (2016), released for Cerri's ninetieth year.

Cerri's playing sits within swing and bebop guitar traditions shaped directly by Django Reinhardt, Barney Kessel, and René Thomas, with a catalog that also stretched into bossa nova and Italian popular song throughout a career spanning nearly eight decades.