Search - Richard Galliano :: Concerts Inedits

No matter how you feel about the accordion--and there are those who would not grant it a place in jazz, though it was there almost from the beginning--Richard Galliano deserves attention. Classically trained, he turned next to becoming an accompanist for several important French singers, and then to jazz, finally settling on a very individual style based on all these elements. With monster chops and a gift for rhythm, Galliano has become the Art Tatum of his instrument--but a Tatum with bebop phrasing. This box set of three concerts captures Galliano's range. Disc No. 1 is a solo performance at Museo Emilia Greco a Orvieto in Italy in 1999; the second CD is a 1998 duo with reedman Michel Portal on NDR radio in Hamburg; and the third is a 1996 performance at Montreux with a trio including drummer Daniel Humair and the late Jean-Francois Jenny Clark on bass. Most of the pieces on these recordings are Galliano originals, and they stick close to the French taste in accordion repertoire--some waltzes, some very free tango, and lots of doubletime and flash fingering. But there are also several fascinating versions of Astor Piazzolla's "Libertango," and there's some Hermeto Pascoal. The solo disc shows something of his ability, but when he adds Portal, the music moves out a bit, and toys with sonority. When he adds the premier European rhythm section on disc No. 3, it's his feeling for swing that's on display. This music is not for everybody, of course. But if everybody could hear this box, they would probably agree that this is truly exceptional music. --John F. Szwed