Concert : Renaud Garcia-Fons

With Blue Maqam, the undisputed master of the double bass Renaud Garcia-Fons places the voice at the heart of his musical universe for the first time. Alongside his daughter Solea, he weaves a dialogue between jazz, Mediterranean and Oriental traditions. Eight languages, refined timbres and music without borders make up a concert of deep humanity.

With a forty-year career and more than twenty recordings to his credit as a leader, Renaud Garcia-Fons has long established himself as one of the most influential French double bassists. A precursor in the nineties of the dialogue between jazz and world music, alongside Dhafer Youssef, Cheb Mami and Angélique Ionatos, he has always injected melodies into his free compositions tinged with a breath from elsewhere. The expressiveness of his playing goes beyond the usual register of his instrument, which is custom-designed and equipped with a fifth string in the high notes. An unsuspected orchestral world emerges under his agile and mischievous fingers. Rare are the projects where he opens his universe to singing.
With Blue Maqam, he makes an exception by inviting his daughter Solea, who imprints her sunny personality and suave voice on her father's compositions. Around them, the crystalline blades of Stéphan Caracci's vibraphone and Jean-Luc Di Fraya's shimmering percussions weave a perfect backdrop for this original repertoire, sung in eight languages and written like haikus, enriched here with a rare text by Jacques Prévert and there with a flight of the Sufi poet Rûmî.
Between Eastern and Western traditions, Mediterranean melodies, jazz improvisation and refinement of timbres, the maestro of the bow and his accomplices draw a musical space without borders, where virtuosity fades behind emotion. An intensely lively music.

Show less