TOULOUSE
‘Blue Maqam’ features vocals in eight languages – a miniature Tower of Babel – where the lyrics by Renaud and Solea evoke emotional landscapes in the style of haikus.
At the heart of the music lies the combination of double bass and vocals; that of Solea Garcia-Fons, a first not only because she is his daughter, but also because singing has long been absent from his musical world. And here, the vibraphone tones of Stéphan Caracci (who also plays the bass marimba during the double-bass player’s soaring passages), alongside Jean-Luc Di Fraya’s percussion, weave a tapestry that provides the perfect backdrop for the Garcia-Fons duo’s flights of fancy.
The double-bass player emerges as one of the wizards of the current jazz scene, one of its most captivating pioneers. He is one of those instrumentalists who have regularly caused the river to burst its banks, diverting the very language of jazz to elevate it with the scents of distant lands. The expressiveness of his playing is surprising given the instrument’s usual range; here, it is fitted with a fifth string in the treble register, and an unexpected orchestral world emerges beneath his nimble, mischievous fingers.
The ensemble sounds like a bold, universalist plea, given how threatening the clouds are on the horizon.
