OK, Renaud Garcia-Fons was fantastic last Friday. Phenomenal. Virtuostic. As in, one of the best concerts I've ever been to in my life. Admittedly I have been rather slavish in my adoration of a few of these Mondavi-sponsored performances; I assure you that this is because I am often easily pleased, rather than a mindless automaton of the marketing "machine." Garcia-Fons can play the double bass. Yes. He can make sounds emerge from it that I have never heard. At times he played it with the bow in the classical style - at other times he plucked it in the more percussive stand-up jazz style. He made it a flute; I closed my eyes and heard woodwinds. He made it a cicada; he made it a sitar at one point, and a fiddle at another. Then it became a drum.
The trio had excellent chemistry - both the guitarist's quick-fingered flamenco work and the drummer's passionate percussion interwove seamlessly with the double bass. The tones were rich and lovely, and full of stories.
I loved this so much that I'm fully prepared to buy a copy of Arcoluz (the Trio's most recent live CD) at import prices, on a graduate student's budget.
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I was also at this concert and agree with you 150%. I sat mesmerized and amazed the entire time. I have never seen bass playing like that in my life. One of the best concerts I have EVER been to as well. I intend to follow Renaud as much as I can and hope to catch him in concert again even if it is in europe somewhere.
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