(Renaud Garcia-Fons, 5-string doublebass; Kiko Ruiz, Flamenco guitar; Negrito Trasante, drums & percussion)
Garcia-Fons is an extraordinary bassist who plays more often with his bow than plucking his instrument. His music is part of the growing area of world music fused with jazz – in this case the ethnic area of Spanish Flamenco. But there are elements of chamber music, gypsy jazz, Brazilian music and just wide open creative improvisation. The rhythmic percussion effects don’t always come just from versatile drummer Trasante – both Garcia-Fons and Ruiz often tap, rap, and bang on the bodies of their string instruments as well. There is even one section of the closing track where all three are doing percussive effects for some time without any melody interfering. The bass is amplified and has a fifth string, so its range both frequency and dynamic-wise is extreme. Some of its sounds are extremely quiet and subdued while others are explosive in their power.
The DVD and CD are roughly similar material. The DVD has subtitles in English, French, German and Spanish with a Stereo PCM track of excellent fidelity at 48K/16 bit. The DVD also sports interviews with the trio’s members and a Making-Of featurette. It is widescreen but greatly letterboxed all the way around – don’t understand why a number of dual DVDs use this aspect ratio. Why not fill the screen if its going to be widescreen anyway?
TrackList: Arcoluz, Berimbass, Anda Loco, 40 Dias, Gitanet, Entremundo, Entre Continentes.
– John Henry
