Vieaux, Jason and Julien Labro: Infusion

Jason Vieaux is a Grammy Award winning classical guitarist who at a young age has an incredible pedigree in classical music. French born Julien Labro is a much sought after accordion player who has played with a number of ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, A Far Cry, Spektral Quartet, Curtis On Tour and Ensemble Vivant just to name a few. On their new album Infusion Vieaux (guitar) and Labro (accordion, accordina, bandoneón) team up with Peter Dominguez (bass) and Jamey Haddad (drums and percussion).

The multi part suite "Tres Danzas Concertantes", originally written by Cuban classical guitarist Leo Brouwer features amazing classical guitar backed by accordion drenched soundscapes. The instruments take on lighter and darker shades depending on the mood of the piece. The generally fast paced guitar and the slower moving accordion are a curiously good match and make for interesting listening. With Metheny's "Antonia" Labro colours the landscape with his lush instrumentation before Vieaux's luxurious guitar runs its course.

"Suite Retratos", written by Brazilian composer Radamés Gnattali is a four part suite featuring choro (instrumental popular music in Brazil). The gentle "Pixinguinha" begins the piece contrasting with the more joyous "Ernesto Nazareth". The sweetly flowing "Anacleto de Medeiros" has one of the nicest melodies on the disc.

The album ends with a cover of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". The foursome keep the original melody intact while adding a jazzy variant providing some wonderful improvisation. It's different yet very familiar at the same time.

Infusion brings classical and jazz music together in quite a wonderful way. If you are into classical guitar this is probably worth checking out. Recommended.

Track Listing:
Tres Danzas Concertantes:
1. I. Allegro (3:51)
2. II. Andantino (quasi allegretto) (5:02)
3. III. Toccata (5:30)
4. Antonia (6:22)
Suite Retratos:
5. I. Pixinguinha (8:45)
6. II. Ernesto Nazaareth (5:37)
7. III. Anacleto de Medeiros (6:38)
8. IV. Chiquinha Gonzaga (8:09)
9. Escualo (7:58)
10. Everybody Wants to Rule the World (4:57)

Added: January 25th 2017
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 1469
Language: english

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