Eric Hochberg recently sent me a link to some videos by Renaud Garcia-Fons. You can view them here. They are definitely worth checking out. Here is some biographical information about Renaud Garcia-Fons:
Renaud Garcia-Fons is a French double-bass player and composer, notable for his virtuoso musicianship and for using a customised 5-stringed bass.
Garcia-Fons’ father is the painter Pierre Garcia-Fons. Yet being of Catalonian origin, Garcia-Fons’ affinity for Spanish and oriental culture is understandable. In the early 1980s he enrolled at the Paris Conservatory. François Rabbath taught him his special technique of playing arco. Garcia-Fons is known for his overwhelming virtuosity, his Mediterranean melodic sense and his viola-like con-arco sound. He is not only influenced by jazz and classical music, but also by flamenco, new musette, and “imaginary folklore” traditions.
Garcia-Fons started playing jazz in trumpet player Roger Guérin‘s band. From 1987 to 1993 he was part of the unique French all-double bass ensemble L’Orchestre de Contrebasses before he played in the Orchestre National de Jazz directed by Claude Barthélémy. His artistry led to many exciting and successful collaborations with other open-minded jazz musicians like Jean-Louis Matinier, Michael Riessler, Nguyên Lê, and Michel Godard. Actually he is working in his own projects, but also contributing to recordings of Gerardo Núñez, or of oriental players such as Kudsi Erguner, Dhafer Youssef, and even Cheb Mami.
You can check out his Wikipedia page here.
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