Richard Galliano – Love Day (Los Angeles Sessions) – Milan M2-36398 ****:
(Richard Galliano, accordion & accordina; Gonzalo Rubalcaba, piano; Charlie Haden, doublebass; Mino Cinelu, percussion)
Richard Galliano – probably the greatest living jazz accordionist today – took a break from his gypsy jazz bag and assembled a few of the musicians he had worked with in his musical travels to record an original series of a dozen compositions evoking “a day in the life.” To realize his Love Day album he choose the historic LA recording studio of Capitol Records in Hollywood, and two of the finest jazz performers today on piano and bass.
The selections begin with the birth of a human being, learning simple words, the sounds of the world, towards the end a winding down into a more meditative state – the final tracks are Aria and Crepuscule. I was going to say that the two keyboards have some very interesting interplay, but Galliano doesn’t play a piano accordion – it’s a button model, and his fingers flash around on the right side of his instrument faster than I see most pianist’s move. (How do I know this? From watching his recent DVD I reviewed.)
TrackList:
Aurore, Bonjour, Birds, Hymne, Mister J, Love Day, Appel Pie, Serenite, Pourquoi?, Poeme, Aria, Crepuscule.
– John Henry
