| Washington
Post reviews CD's
by festival
acts, Wynton Marsalis
and Frédéric Yonnet
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Review
Washington
Post, September 9, 2005
When
French-born Frédéric Yonnet
plays jazz lines on harmonica,
he does it the hard way, and
yet ever so fluidly, on a diatonic
model, the sort favored by blues
players in search of thick chords,
chugging rhythms and bent notes.
"Front & Center" finds
Yonnet playing a lot more than
jazz, though. He uses his harp
to breathe gales of life into Stevie
Wonder's "Boogie On Reggae
Woman," the album's opening
track, and then to soulfully explore
the melodic contours of Marvin
Gaye's "What's Goin' On?," albeit
in a contemporary jazz setting.
Long before he reaches the final
cut, a live version of "Amazing
Grace," his mastery of the
small harp is as obvious as his
versatility and crowd-pleasing
appeal.
-- Mike Joyce, Washington
Post ###
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