Description
The fabled French fiddler, Stephane Grappelli, is remembered and celebrated by violinist/composer Christian Garrick's Spirit of Stephane.
'Vib' showcases the sheer variety of the great French fiddler whose 79-year career led him to play with artists as diverse as Paul Simon, Yehudi Menuhin, Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, Ravi Shankar and Gary Burton. The eclectic list goes on but his instrumental voice was unmistakeable whatever the setting.
Spirit of Stephane is a hybrid of Grappelli's two central vehicles - the Hot Club Of France and the piano/bass/drums bands he led with such wonderful pianists as George Shearing and Alan Clare. As Garrick explains: "I like the flexibility this crossover line-up gives us: we'll approach an older tune like "My Serenade", with Tom Hooper as our 'rhythm guitarist' one minute and then a later thing like "Blue In Green", with Jez Cook in 'pianist' mode. Eddie Hession's accordion enriches the sound picture further on a selection of these tracks as we evoke a young Stephane in his very beginnings as an orphan on the streets of early 20th century Paris."