Giovanni Guidi was born in 1985 in Foligno, the son of Mario Guidi, Italy's most prominent jazz agent, whose roster has included Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani. He studied jazz in Bologna for two years but never finished the degree, because at 19 he went on the road with Rava instead, after the trumpeter spotted him at a Siena workshop and folded him into the Rava Under 21 project, later renamed Rava New Generation.

He became a frequent Rava sideman, appearing on the ECM albums Tribe and the live On the Dance Floor with the Parco della Musica Jazz Lab, both artists already profiled on jazzprofiles.com. In 2013, through his relationship with ECM producer Manfred Eicher, he signed to the label as a leader, debuting with City of Broken Dreams, a trio record with American bassist Thomas Morgan and Portuguese drummer João Lobo. Three more ECM leader albums followed: This Is the Day (2015), Ida Lupino (2016, with Gianluca Petrella, Louis Sclavis, and Gerald Cleaver), and Avec le Temps (2019).

Outside ECM, he has recorded with Gianluca Petrella on Soupstar (2013) and with Daniele di Bonaventura on Reminiscenze (2021), both already profiled here. His touch has been described as subtle but technically deft, whether soloing or accompanying.

Guidi's playing sits within a spare, lyrical post-bop tradition closely associated with ECM's own house aesthetic, shaped directly by his formative years touring with Enrico Rava starting at 19.