Thursday, September 27, 2007

Renaud Garcia Fons - bass master

Incredible "crossover" bass mastery. HOW can I not have heard of this guy before today???



He was a student of Francois Rabbath. His bass has a high "C" string, which is one reason he's able to play those lyrical melodies. But what great bow chops and killer intonation, not to mention a fresh musical concept and lovely tunes!

Excuse me, I have to go out to the woodshed now.

3 comments:

Chip Boaz said...

I'm not sure if crossover is really the right term for him. Seems to me like he's jumping into Latin Jazz, drawing upon Brazilian and Spanish traditions.

Whatever the case, I'm right there with you - this guy has got some immense musicality! Beautiful composition, incredible technique, and creative improvisation. I've got to hear more!

Thanks for the heads up about Garcia Fons, I really appreciate it!

Bill Harrison said...

Chip,

You might be right about "crossover" as a term. I had read that Fons had serious "classical" creds as well as having played a lot of mainstream jazz. His arco chops alone qualify him as "crossover" in some respects; I can think of precious few straight-ahead jazz bassists who have that kind of skill.

Michael Grofsorean said...

I am Renaud's manager in North America. You might like to know that he is performing in California from October 5 to 13, as follows.

Oct 5 & 6: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 7:30 and 9:30pm.

Oct 7: The Jazz Bakery, Los Angeles, 8:00 and 9:30pm.

Oct 10 - 13: The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, Studio Theater, University of California at Davis.