Album Notes

"The best jazz guitarist on the international scene."... This is what Romain Decoret wrote in the Acoustic Guitarist Magazine in november 2007 about Fabien Degryse and his first CD (The Heart of the Acoustic Guitar) with his new trio. This CD was blending a jazz approach with a very personal steel-string guitar sound. The new CD, the "Chapter 2" just goes one step further in this direction, with the same trio and two very special guests.

This CD is the second step in the realization of a dream the leader had a few years ago. Mastering jazz for two decades, and deeply in love with the sound of the acoustic steel-string guitar, he decided that the technology of amplifying acoustic guitar was finally mature enough to give a try to a trio with this guitar sound together with upright bass and drums. The first CD was very well appreciated, both in the jazz field and among the acoustic guitar fans. The second is here, and he will not stop on his way ......

The musicians of this trio are all well know in Belgium and abroad. They all played with big names in jazz and in pop music, and teach at the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels for years: Bart De Nolf on upright bass, played with Toots Thielemans, Andy Shepard, Mal Waldrom, Lew Tabackin, Lee Konitz ... Bruno Castellucci, on drums, played with Toots Thielemans, Slide Hampton, Art Farmer, Joe Pass, Niels HH Pedersen, Charlie Mariano ... and Fabien Degryse played also with Toots Thielemans, with Philip Catherine, Calvin Owens, Claudio Roditi ...

The two special guests on this second CD were choosen for the acoustic instrument they play, who would blend into the sound of this very specific trio without denature the music. But they were also choosen for their fantastic musical ideas and their great feelings: the young Thibault Dille on the accordion, and the fantastic american clarinet master: John Ruocco.

After almost five years of concerts in Europe, Tunisia, Taîwan with this trio, the energy is there to keep touring and recording, to let the music grow. Watch out for their next release !