Barcelone

BARCELONE TRACKLIST & AUDIO

Check out the album HERE
http://tchalimberger.com

BARCELONE REVIEWS

ALBUM REVIEW – BABELMED 19.03.2020
Barcelone – Les Violons de Bruxelles
Lejazzetal Records LJCD20
Lovers of Gypsy swing, you are in for a treat! Here is an album that magically transports us to the world of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, whose legacy is proudly carried on by our five musicians gathered here.
Centered around violinist Tcha Limberger, “Les violons de Bruxelles” also includes Renaud Crols on violin, Alexandre Tripodi on viola, Renaud Dardenne on guitar, and Sam Gertsmans on bass. All five members are Belgian, just like the late Django.
Belgium is a richly fertile musical land, even if Belgians don’t shout it from the rooftops—perhaps because the country has maintained a “human” scale, a place where artists are proud and happy to continue the tradition of “popular” music, in the noblest sense of the word: music that comes from the people and, most importantly, that pleases the greatest number of people… which is the dream and goal of every artist!
While the Quintette du Hot Club de France brought together Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli with three guitars, a violin, and a double bass, the guitar/violin ratio is reversed here. Additionally, our five artists, as worthy heirs, enrich the legacy left by their predecessors and take the musical adventure further. They draw not only from the traditional “Gypsy jazz” repertoire but also from all the world’s traditions: Brazilian choro, Portuguese fado, Argentine tango, and Brazilian samba—always with that touch of humor and lightness unique to Gypsy jazz. They play excellently but remain humble, a tradition of “popular” music!
An album that has won us over with its incredible good humor, and one you will be happy to share with your best friends!
NADIA KHOURI-DAGHER

ALBUM REVIEW – JAZZ HALO 09.10.2019
Barcelone – Les Violons de Bruxelles
Lejazzetal Records LJCD20
Tcha Limberger brings a second album with Les Violons de Bruxelles, titled “Barcelone” (after a composition by Boris Vian), with the full vigor of his original group. This means three violins (besides Limberger, Renaud Crols, and Alexandre Tripodi), guitar (Renaud Dardenne), and double bass (Sam Gerstmans). They present a unique and expansive vision that traditionally references the Hot Club de France, which featured three guitars, a violin, and a double bass.
Les Violons de Bruxelles do not confine themselves to that form and freely embrace innovative arrangements, strong interaction, virtuosity, and dynamism. Django continues to inspire them, and they rework “Black and White,” “Impromptu,” and the collaboration with Grappelli, “Sweet Chorus,” into fresh, lyrical interpretations.
Tcha Limberger emerges as an authentic singer (even scatting) in Ellington’s “I’ve Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good.” The tight, beautifully balanced group sound further excels in jazz standards: “Avalon” (Al Jolson), “How About You” (Burton Lane/Ralph Freed), and the masterfully driven title track “Barcelone” (Boris Vian) by Sam Gerstmans and Tcha.
The musical atmosphere sparks with fitting Brazilian classics “Sempre Teu” and “Receita de Samba” by Jacob do Bandolim and the Mexican standard “La Bikina” by Ruben Fuente. And it hits the mark completely with the original pieces by Tcha Limberger (the wistful “Patchagonia”) and Renaud Dardenne (the melancholic “Pixinguinha em Lisboa”).
It’s wonderful how these creative minds of Les Violons de Bruxelles touch emotions with a colorful spectrum of strings! They rightfully hold the patent for reinventing Gypsy swing with a contemporary and timeless character.
Experience them live, as their infectious music gains even more value when all the senses are engaged.
BERNARD LEFEVRE

ALBUM REVIEW – JAZZ DA GAMA 02.07.2019
almost impossibly breathtaking to bear witness perfection on such a scale
A new way of thinking about strings in the context of anything from the traditional music of New Orleans to swing and – with Barcelone – well beyond as well, is probably a reasonable approximation of what Les Violons de Bruxelles is hoping to convey to serious aficionados of music. The first thing to acknowledge about the music played by this ensemble is, of course, that what they play and the manner in which they express themselves – with broad syncopation and a generous helping of improvisation – offers a strong but not slavish period awareness. As a result the group’s interpretations of repertoire that is often well worn almost never even rings with familiarity.
The very high degree of instrumental proficiency is, of course, topped by the genius of Tcha Limberger who is a musical polymath equally at home in his native Manouche music as he is in the traditional (or folk) music of the Carpathian basin, not to mention Jazz. Add to that Mr Limberger plays violin and guitar with breathtaking virtuosity and is also a vocalist of the first order although he rarely sings often enough on his recordings. As if that were not enough violinist Renaud Crols, violist Andre Tripodi, guitarist Renaud Dardenne and contrabassist Sam Gerstmans also play with a mastery of instrumentation and imagery to deliver music with idiomatic beauty and eloquence as well.
Together in ensemble and while soloing therefore, the musicians of Les Violons de Bruxelles unfailingly deliver repertoire that is sensitive, punctuated with singular improvisatory responses to the charts, always taking the music to emotional and stylistic directions which, in turn., carry us off to surprising and profound new musical waters. Sometimes this means performances that are loosely rooted in traditional forms, such as on “Avalon” and a stellar performance of “I’ve Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good” (in which Mr Limberger delivers the lyric with his superb vocal), and at other times with looser and freer form and atonality as on Django Reinhardt’s darkish piece, “Impromptu”.
To my mind (at least) the absolute crowning glory of the recording are the two Brasilian formed works on the album, which are “Pixinguinha em Lisboa” and “Receita be Samba”. The former – an original composition (no less) by Renaud Dardenne, is a meditative, and translucent choro which imagines a dreamy visit of the great Brasilian musician Pixinguinha to Lisbon. It is a piece so vivid in its detail that one feels the heat of sun on cobble-stones and the lonely chill whipped up by a sudden wind in the night; and if you’re thinking “a watercolor painting”, this one is all in “black and white”. Meanwhile the latter piece – a classic from the pen of Jacob de Bandolim – is a magnificently conceived samba that evokes the dusty streets of Rio in the throes of a carnival.
It’s almost impossibly breathtaking to bear witness perfection on such a scale – both in performance and the documentation of it in this recording by the incomparable musician and engineer Dylan Fowler; but then this is music by Les Violons de Bruxelles that we’re talking about, a musical ensemble recorded at his Stiwdio Felin Fach, in Abergavenny, the Gateway to Wales; and that means music and the recording of it performed and captured in an altogether rarefied realm.
RAUL DA GAMA

ALBUM REVIEW – THE JAZZ RAG 01.07.2019
Barcelone – Les Violons de Bruxelles
Lejazzetal Records LJCD20
American, British and European exponents of the gypsy/string jazz genre have assisted Lejazzetal in amassing an enviable catalogue of recordings. Dave Kelbie’s label continues its pursuit of excellence with the release of Barcelone. This European (specifically Belgian) contribution takes the Quintette du Hot Club de France’s instrumentation of three guitars spearheaded by Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli’s violin and a string bass and inverts it with a lineup comprising three violins, a guitar and a double bass. Les Violons de Bruxelles’ new CD was recorded in February 2016 yet it is only now it sees the light of day. Tcha Limberger leads a virtuosic quintet in more than sixty minutes of Hot Club-inspired material which, at times, evokes the sound of the classical chamber music ensemble. Of twelve tracks one is a standout – Ellington’s I’ve Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good – and it’s Limberger’s singing that makes it so good on what is essentially an instrumental project. Jazz standards Avalon, Black and White and Sweet Chorus take their place in the programme alongside numbers from South America including La Bikina and guitarist Renaud Dardenne’s Pixinguinha em Lisboa. The closing track is an impromptu titled Impromptu which distils Les Violons’ wider interests fusing contemporary classical elements with startling improvisations. Barcelone is likely to appeal to an audience beyond confirmed Djangologists.
RUSSELL CORBETT

ALBUM REVIEW – SUNDAY TIMES 30.06.2019
Barcelone – Les Violons de Bruxelles
You may have seen the violinist Tcha Limberger fronting his rambunctious Budapest Gypsy Orchestra. This quintet are sleeker, yet every bit as unpredictable. Two violins and a viola float above Django-esque guitar and bass, the repertoire wandering far from standard Hot Club fare. The excursions into mellow Brazilian choro are a delight, and Limberger isn’t afraid to add unfussy vocals to I’ve Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good.
CLIVE DAVIS