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Yves Carbonne | “Seven Waves” : Recommended Listening With Damian Erskine
“Seven Waves”
www.yvescarbonne.com
I must admit, I am typically very open minded, but the very first time I saw a picture of Yves and his monster (albeit beautiful) fretless 12 string Jerzy Drozd, I was guilty of thinking, “Oh geeze…c’mon now”. But… Then I heard him play it at a NAMM show a few years ago. I’m still looking for my jaw on the floor somewhere back in Anaheim. (If I remember correctly, when I first walked up to hear what was happening on the other side of the crowd, Yves was trading solos on Giant Steps with Janek Gwizdala and very much holding his own). Regardless of the instrument… 4 strings, 2 strings 30 strings… Yves is a masterful player. Every melody was beautiful, every groove was pocket oriented and every flourish was restrained and perfect for the moment. Needless to say, when I got his CD in the mail I couldn’t wait to hear what he had in store on his first release.
I am not disappointed in the least. The music is wonderful and his playing is absolutely beautiful. There are some tracks complete with vocals (I’m a new fan of vocalist Guillaume Eyango). Typically, vocal tracks in the midst of primarily instrumental albums stick out to me like a sore thumb and make me wince. Not the case here, the vocals are great and the music is strong. Michael Manring also guests here and both he and Yves play beautifully together (also check out the recording with Manring, Carbonne and Dominique DiPiazza). Every track has a very positive vibe and the production is very nice.
If you love bass (or if you were ever curious what a B string at 15hertz sounds like?!) get this album. Yves Carbonne is definitely one to check out!