Eclectica

Our car is German, our TV Korean, our coffee comes from Bolivia and our fruit and veg are preferably locally produced. The ice cream was made in Italy and the Swedish couch is next to grandma’s antique cupboard. All these items belong together, are indivisible and unique, constitute a whole. This is the meaning of ‘Eclectica’.

Accordion player Gwen Cresens adopts an equally eclectic approach to his materials. He looks at music from the perspective of globalisation. The most wonderful music is created when boundaries are blurred.

Composers such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were masterful improvisers. The score is the point of departure, but the music is much more than notes written on paper, it depends on artistic freedom and talent. With his new quartet, Gwen Cresens harks back to this tradition by entering into a dialogue with three outstanding jazz musicians: pianist Bart Van Caenegem (De Frivole Framboos and Brussels Jazz Orchestra), bass player Janos Bruneel (Jack Van Poll Trio and Marjan Van Rompay Group) and drummer Matthias De Waele (Stéphane Mercier and De Looze-Machtel-De Waele Trio), who were taught by the best in New York.

Together, they bring exciting interpretations of compositions by Cresens, Bach and Grieg, film scores by Laurel and Hardy, and 20^th-century Brazilian dance music. The accordion takes centre stage as a multicultural instrument, regardless of genre. The tango and valse-musette are of course indispensable ingredients. All is one. Eclectica.

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with Gwen Cresens (accordion, bandoneon), Bart Van Caenegem (piano), Matthias De Waele (drums) and Janos Bruneel (double bass)