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Richard Galliano

Luz Negra

Milan 399 078-2 Warner 9903990782

Solo

Milan 399 044-2 Warner 9903990442

Recorded in Sao Paulo in 2006 with the Tangaria Quartet (violinist Alexis Cardenas, bassist Philippe Aerts and percussionists Raphael Mejias and Amoy Ribas, plus mandolin player Hamilton De Holanda), Luz Negra is accordionist Richard Galliano's first studio album since 2001's Face to Face.

A genuine eclectic (a true musical traveller rather than a tourist), Galliano sets out his stall with 'Tangaria', a perfectly realised fusion of 'tango' with 'aria' in the style of Bach, then leads his passionate yet elegant band through an extraordinary range of music with its roots in Paris, Naples and various parts of latin America.

Irresistibly exuberant but consistently tasteful and musicianly, Galliano and his band move entirely unaffectedly between taut tangos and deceptively lazy-sounding lopes, taking in a delightful latinised valse musette and a visit to Erik Satie's 'Gnossienne No. 3' on the way, but it is their apparently effortless grace, their intriguing textures (percussion instruments often 'sigh' and rattle in a manner reminiscent of Astor Piazzolla's Nuevo Tango bands; Galliano's accordion is perfectly set off by both mandolin and violin) and their easy familiarity with such a plethora of rhythms and musical styles that really impress.

Issued alongside a remastered Solo (originally recorded in 1992, and including a 'Ballet Tango' suite and seven other pieces by Piazzolla), Luz Negra is at once absorbingly subtle and infectiously rumbustious, another triumph for a truly world-class musician.