Russian Renaissance RUSSIAN RENAISSANCE

                                                        RUSSIAN RENAISSANCE

Félicien Brut / Quatuor Hermès / Édouard Macarez LE PARI DES BRETELLES

A native of Auvergne, Félicien Brut shatters the image of the accordion! He discovered at a very young age the instrument and this popular music that characterised it for so long: the musette. Following thorough training at the Jacques Mornet CNIMA (National and International Music and Accordion Centre), he played at numerous dances over the years. In 2009 he went to continue his studies at the Pôle Supérieur de Bordeaux- Aquitaine for, in the meantime, he had also developed a passion for classical music.

The musette is celebrating its centennial, so this is the occasion to bring back, at the centre of a creative project, this style so characteristic of France and the esprit français from the beginning of the 20th century. 

Musette is perhaps the most multicultural musical style there is, born of unprecedented international encounters. Indeed, at the beginning of the last century, France, and especially Paris, experienced large waves of immigration. Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Eastern Europeans, and Latin Americans arrived in large numbers, settling in the capital. At the same time, France was undergoing a very intense rural exodus. Inhabitants of the provinces were leaving their countryside and also converging on Paris. Natives of Auvergne were amongst the most numerous and moved into the Bastille district with their favourite instrument: the musette, a sort of small bagpipe, of which the air bag is inflated with a bellows.

Richard Galliano MOZART

Accordionist Richard Galliano did for European folk -- specifically, the early 20th century French ballroom dance form known as musette -- what his mentor Astor Piazzolla did for the Argentinian tango. Galliano reimagined and revitalized a musical tradition, expanding its emotional range to reflect modern sensibilities, opening it up to improvisation learned through American jazz. In fact, Galliano was more of a jazz musician than a folk one, although he blurred the lines so much that distinctions were often difficult to make. Born in France of Italian stock, Galliano began playing accordion (as his father had) at a young age. He later picked up the trombone, and studied composition at the Academy in Nice; he also fell in love with jazz as a teenager, particularly cool-era Miles Davis and Clifford Brown, and had made it his primary focus by the late '60s. Making a living as a jazz accordionist naturally proved difficult; fortunately, after moving to Paris in 1973, he landed a position as conductor, arranger, and composer for Claude Nougaro's orchestra. He remained there until 1976, and went on to work with numerous American and European jazz luminaries, including Chet Baker, Joe Zawinul, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Michel Petrucciani, and Jan Garbarek. After meeting Astor Piazzolla, Galliano refocused on his European heritage and set about reviving and updating musette, widely considered antiquated at the time. He signed with Dreyfus in 1993, and the label gave him enough exposure to cause a stir first in his home country, then among international jazz and world music fans. Regular recordings followed; some with clarinetist/soprano saxophonist Michel Portal, some with guitarist Jean Marie Ecay, and some with his favorite rhythm section of bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark and drummer Daniel Humair (after Jenny-Clark's untimely death, Rémi Vignolo took his place). In 2001, Dreyfus released Gallianissimo, a compilation drawing from his seven albums for the label and a new recording, Face to Face, a duet recording with French pianist and vocalist Eddy Louiss. (Steve Huey)