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| Pierre Blanchard at the Dakota Jazz Club, November 19, 2012 |
© Andrea Canter
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| Dorado Schmitt and Ludovic Beier |
The band is billed as Dorado Schmitt’s Gypsy Jazz All-Stars,
but an equal amount of glory and virtuosity belongs to his long-standing
partner, violinist Pierre Blanchard. Together they revive Reinhardt and
Grappelli, augmented by the energy and wide-ranging sonics of accordionist
Ludovic Beier. (At the Dakota last week, Beier introduced many of us to the
accordina—a hybrid harmonica/accordion that sounds like… both.) Although mostly suggesting time travel to the
Paris of the
20s and 30s, Schmitt and Blanchard’s “Caravan”
offered a unique and exotic blend of time and place.
