Arcoluz Renaud Garcia-Fons feat. Kiko Ruiz & Negrito Trasante

• 1 Arcoluz 02:56
• 2 Berimbass 06:02
• 3 Anda Loco 13:50
• 4 40 Días 07:07
• 5 Gitanet 08:41
• 6 Entremundo 10:57
• 7 Entre Continentes 12:34
• Total Runtime 01:02:07

Info for Arcoluz

Renaud Garcia-Fons brings a rare passion and understanding to the bass. His approach is pure genius, seen in the way he styles his pizzicato and in the manner he opens the arco to encompass melodic and improvisatory richness.

Garcia-Fons began playing the bass when he was 16, gravitating to the instrument from the guitar and piano. At first he approached it without a real idea of its functions and possibilities. That changed when he heard Francois Rabbath and his music. Rabbath had conceived a central role for the bass which led Garcia-Fons to look at the instrument in a new light. What he saw were immense possibilities. He added a fifth string at the high end of the bass. This brought him closer to the music he wanted to play. And that music is revealed in all of its splendour and dimension on Arcoluz, a CD/DVD set from a concert he performed with Kiko Ruiz (flamenco guitar) and Negrito Trasante (drums and percussion) at the Schloss Elmau in Germany.

The trio sets the tone with the short but tantalizing title track, before moving into the flamenco domain of "Berimbass." Ruiz lets the enticing melody glow and fall in a delicate shower, but Garcia-Fons opens the pulse through pizzicato before bowing in and injecting a deep yet flighty resonance. Trasante is up front with Ruiz but lays back when the bass is in motion. His points of reference are intuitive.

"Entremundo" is one of the high marks of the concert. The trio is deeply focused as they feed off each other's impulses and open new vistas of discovery. Once again, the melody is catchy and, as Garcia-Fons sets it on a journey of manifestation; he makes the high end string the mainspring of his adventure. And then in a neat switch he moves into an Indian classical music beat which is not surprising given that he has studied the veena, an instrument used in Carnatic music. From then on the pulse changes, Ruiz reinvents the melody and the conversation between the trio is marked by heady interlocutions and warm ensemble passages. As for Trasante, his percussion and his drums are loquacious and add to the flow without being intrusive.

The trio has developed an innate understanding over the time they have been together. As told in the interviews on the DVD, it was a process that grew over three years. What at first was a musical collaboration, turned into friendship. The rapport is seen in their ease of communication and in the way they raise the music to a new high. (Jerry D'Souza)

Renaud Garcia-Fons, 5-String double bass
Kiko Ruiz, flamenco guitar
Negrito Trasante, drums, percussion

Digitally remastered

Renaud Garcia-Fons
From the moment he held the instrument in his hands for the first time at age sixteen, the future of the double bass was destined for change. In a lightning bolt of insight, Renaud Garcia-Fons saw the possibility to explore all the musics that interested him – classical, jazz, Persian, Indian, Mediterranean, South American, forms from the world over. Driven by new ideas and born with the talent to translate them into compositions, he had to reinvent the way it was played. The result is an utterly new sound – an amalgam of double bass, cello, violin, guitar, lute, oud, and more – that exceeds any conventional idea of making music with the double bass.

“I am not particularly a fan of performance spectacles, but here we were facing a huge phenomenon. One even wondered who could surpass the bassist on the entire jazz planet! Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen? He is no longer of this world. Of course, today it's raining virtuoso bassists from everywhere. But soloists of this level? Innovators so impressive? As far as I know, Renaud Garcia-Fons strikes me as the most impressive in today's era. Do you have any other suggestions? I will accept the ballots.” - ALAIN BRUNET, LA PRESSE (MONTRÉAL)

“Without effects, how many distinctly different musical sounds can a good bass player get out of an upright bass? Likely not half as many as Renaud Garcia-Fons. As if through magical transformation, cello, viola, flamenco guitar, and hand drum spring forth from Renaud's French-made 5-string ...” - BILL LANPHIER, BASS PLAYER MAGAZINE

"The most common response from listeners hearing Renaud Garcia-Fons's CDs for the first time is: 'Who's the violinist?' The almost inevitable reaction to the news that there's no violinist – it's a double bass player bowing these unbelievably fluent, high-register solos – is: 'You must be joking.'" - ROB ADAMS, THE HERALD (GLASGOW, SCOTLAND)

“Not all virtuosos are created equal: some suffer under the weight of their talent, sacrificing melodies for stunning technique. But, as he proved with his stellar performance last night, Renaud Garcia-Fons possesses not only dazzling chops, but an unmatched musicality.” - JAKE SHENKER, THE GAZETTE (MONTRÉAL)

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