Customer Reviews

Gipsy Project & Friends

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not really sure why this album has gotten only decent reviews. This is an outstanding album. One of Bireli's best. His solo on "Songe d'Automne" is out of this world. To me, this album proves my thought that Bireli swings more than any other guitarist around today as well as the fact that he is so much more versatile and interesting than most of his contemporaries. Florin is a delight on this cd. His violin playing is a wonder in itself, clearly on par with Bireli's guitar playing. I prefer this cd to the first Gypsy Project album. I actually prefer the dvd "Live Jazz a Vienne" to this album though. The dvd is much more spontaneous. I would reccommend all 3 Gypsy Project albums as well as his 2 dvds. If you have never heard Bireli before, all i can say is fasten your seatbelt. You are in for a treat! This album also contains a version of Dark Eyes featuring Stochelo Rosenberg on guitar. If you're a Stochelo fan, that would be a plus. Listen to the music!

Bireli Lagrene is obviously one of the finest gypsy jazz guitarists in this world & his latest DVD release is phenomenal ! i adore the first Gipsy Project studio recording BUT this second studio CD does not appeal to my ears as much as many other of Birelis' best recordings. that is not to say it is a bad CD BUT the inclusion of an excessive number of ballads & a vocal track drag down the total experience of the CD for my tastes. there are some great tracks - especially Birelis' duet w/ Stochelo Rosenberg on "Dark Eyes" BUT the many mid-tempo & slow paced ballads make this one of my last choices when i'm in the mood to listen to Bireli... as a professional gypsy guitarist who LOVES grrreat guitar CDs, i would recommend other Bireli CDs that are entirely instrumental & better examples of his brilliant playing before this particular "good but not great" recording of Lagrene's gifted guitar playing... if you think this is his best CD- then you should listen to his entire catalog as i have... there are more appealing all instrumental CDs with better choices of material... 'sorry if this sounds harsh.

[...] Bireli is among the 'top tier' of gypsy gutiarists playing in the style of Django Reinhardt alive today. If you can appreciate incredibly technical guitar playing there is plenty of that to chew on, but Bireli is much more than a showoff artist, he's a genius. If you can't appreciate this disc (or Bireli's first Gipsy Project CD), then you simply can 't appreciate music. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh.