Enja
9314-2
label website

Enja
9364-2
label website

Amongst upright bass aficionados, French five-string virtuoso Renaud Garcia-Fons is a legend, both for his breathtaking technique and intonation as well as his composer's chops that liberally borrow from diverse Mediterranean styles to fashion uncategorizable hybrids. In best Ian Fleming fashion, Garcia-Fons should be called The Man with the Golden Bass -- in a bow to the James Bond caper The Man with the Golden Gun -- for being equally charming yet deadly. Simply put, not knowing of Renaud in bass land is akin to being ignorant about Arcadi Volodos in the piano kingdom, José Cura in matters of lyrical tenorship, Nedim Nalbantoglu in questions of Jazz violin or Gerardo Nuñez in Flamenco guitar circles. Alas, since Renaud's label of choice is the German house of Enja -- and prior releases were published on the French Al-Sur -- chances are that even the staunchest lovers of the instrument who rely on the carried inventory of local music shoppes could remain unfamiliar with our Frenchman to this day. That would be a terrible oversight. Our little 6moons uncongressional oversight committee is herewith doing its tiny part to address this shameful scenario.


Even though I already owned Oriental Bass [Enja 9334-2] and Suite Andalouse [Al Sur 137 with Flamenco guitarist Pedro Soler] and had since acquired Navigatore [Enja 9418-2] during this spring's trip to German and reviewed it for 6moons, I had never come across today's releases, the solo bass exploits of Légendes from 1993, and the accordion/bass duets of Fuera from 1999, never mind Alboreá [Enja 9057-2] which I know to exist but haven't found yet. My Dutch friends Marja & Henk had gotten turned on to Renaud Garcia-Fons by my review of Navigatore. They subsequently raided their local music haunts in Rotterdam and Paris to promptly gift me with a copy each of these "new" finds at this year's HE2004 HiFi show in New York City. Gracias amigos - passing the musical herb around is important business friends have to take very serious to expand each other's horizons and blow minds which indeed happened here.


Fuera is a 13-track journey through the musical seasons, with the lyrical episodes recalling the phenomenal Anouar Brahem release Le pas du chat noir in spirit if not literal parallel while the athletic exploits with hammered spiccatos borrow from Flamenco guitar techniques transposed to bass, with Matinier's accordion showing influences of Romanian Roberto Brasov precedents, French musette, Gipsy styles à la Bratsch, never mind both artists' penchant for completely transcending any clear distinctions of musical origins. Even without the occasional overdubbing, the intermeshing of what after all are merely two instruments already sounds a lot denser than usual duetizing expectations. With the addition of multi-tracked 'ghost' basses on certain tracks, things get pretty darn symphonic at times.


The greatest thrill for bass lovers will likely be Renaud's trademark con arco meditations that extend cleanly into completely counter-intuitive flageolet registers and thus sound far more like an über-cello or even viola than a cumbersome monster bass. But perhaps you favor intricate speed riffing that races up and down the scales to pop certain notes like electric slap bass antecedents? Not to worry, Garcia-Fons always obliges in that category, ripping accelerated pizzicatos from his string to interject them here and there with wild vibratos like Stochelo Rosenberg is famous for on his Selmer Gipsy guitar.


If Fuera is Olympian in proportions and realized ambitions, the polyrhythmic Légendes traverses into altogether extraterrestrial territory, with complicated overdubs featuring harmonized bowing, flageolet distortion and wildly punctuated plucking all occurring simultaneously like a virtual bass quartet. Back fugues got nothing on Garcia-Fons in terms of complexity and counterpoints. And who needs percussion when one bassist can provide all the necessary rhythmic accents and sound effects himself, including wicked African mouth harp distortion that buzzes like swarms of mosquitoes? While the title Légendes proper could be considered precocious at best and downright self-aggrandizing at worst, it's in fact perfectly accurate when we understand by it a work for solo bass that's the stuff of legends, mystery and completely mindboggling musicianship.


It should be called bass quartets with percussion, for one player - but Légendes includes that meaning once you know that that's what we're really talking about. Yes, it's a 13-year old recording. Yes, this review is so behind the times as to not be funny. But guess what? Once you cue up the first track "Funambule", you won't care about being late to the party and left with the dishes. By the time you get to the Jazz/Funk "La Guitare à King Kong" number, a Bobby McFerrin-remiscent affair for talking bass as it were, you'd throw your own rave. If you dig the contrabass, it'd be downright criminal not to own this recording. Strong words? Agreed - but you'd be the first to write up your own friends should they fail to take you serious once you've listened to Légendes. for the first time. So don't make me issue you a ticket, okay? Instead, I'd rather hand out a long-overdue award ...