Search - Andre Ceccarelli, Bireli Lagrene :: Avenue Des Diables Blues

The spirit of 60's jazz lives!

bluesdoc05 | South | 09/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"French drummer Andre Ceccareli has played just about every style of music with just about everyone on this planet from Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles to Chick Corea and Stan Getz. For his first American release in decades, he chose Joey DeFrancesco on the Hammond and fellow Frenchman Bireli Lagrene on guitar. In the words of the keeper of the grail in "Raiders of thr Lost Ark", he chose wisely. DeFrancesco may be the finest Hammond organ player of all time. His style melds Jimmy Smith's fire, and explosive technique with Don Patterson's bop sophistication and Jack McDuff's funk and soul. And Lagrene is every bit his equal on guitar: A supernatural combination of Django Reinhardt, George Benson and Wes Montgomery with the chops of Jimmy Bruno.



Ceccarelli also chose wisely as to the material, which is incredibly diverse, featuring compositions by Miles, Jaco Pastorius, Gershwin, Ellington and even Norah Jones. Highlights? Just about every track is a treasure but "Summertime" dedicated to Jimmy Smith is especially fine as is the spirited version of "The Song is You which showcases all three of these incredible musicians at their finest: Mind boggling solos from DeFrancesco and Lagrene followed by equally impressive trades with Cecarelli. And the title track written by the leader himself conjures up memories of 70's fusion ala Lifetime mixed with hard bop."

How good can it get ? A must have recording !!!

Enno Roosink | 09/25/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A steady swinging steam-train in the lead / driver's seat, supported by todays top Hammond B3 exponent and a jazzguitar " wunderkind " from France, can it get any better ? In french they say " creme de la creme " and yes it is without a doubt " the " most swinging trio recording of this century by which all the others should be measured ! All the tricks in the trade is what you hear, B3 licks & quotes ( Joey shows all the melodic and hard swinging sounds the B3 can produce ) , super jazzguitar all there is to be said & played ( Bireli plays both incredidable solo's and super steady rythm a la Freddy Green - Counts livetime guitarist )

Not to forget Andre pushing / driving from his " driversseat " swinging & melodic his " batterie ". You can hear he knows what the songs are about, he is following the melody and the words / meanings. ( isn't it tenorist Scott Hamilton saying : one can only play a song by knowing the words ? ) Listen careful to the very thoughtful drumming of Andre.



All in all probably the best and most swinging trio recording so far of Joey DeFrancesco as well. He has performed / recorded with many of the top notch jazz-guitarists living today, Randy Johnston / Paul Bollenbeck /

Melvin Sparks / Frank Vignola / Phil Upchurch / Pat Martino / Ron Eschete and lately with Spainish guitar hero Ximo Tebar to name a few.



Ooops Bireli " le diable " from France, he contributed so much to the world of swing both in hot-club-de france settings, mainstream and bop settings. Tell me what he cannot paly ? Watch his dvd recordings !



Shame on me Andre is knew to me although he seems to be around for a long time already, I am glad I did run into him and intend to follow him more closely. This recording will be on my bookshelf next to Buddy Rich / Louie Bellson / Francois Laudet / Joe Morello / Frankl Capp / Joe Jones /

Chuck Redd and Jake Hanna to name the other few.



Avenue des Diables Blues a Must Have for every serious Swing Cat.



Enno Roosink / Amsterdam / Netherlands



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