Théo Ceccaldi & Roberto Negro - Montevago (2019) Hi Res

After mastering virtuosity and humor, the violinist and pianist have changed course with Montevago, an album inspired by electronic textures, indie rock as well as the migration crisis, pushing their instruments to the limits more than ever before. For the past ten years, Théo Ceccaldi and Roberto Negro’s collaboration in Paris has generated sparks on the European jazz scene. In addition to the violinist and pianist mixing it up in their respective groups or within the Tricollective ensemble, they form a duo that combines chamber music and jazz, erudition and derision. This was the case with the album Babies (2015), which was mainly improvised on stage, and then with the Danse de salon program, through which they challenged the tradition of minuets, jigs, and other quadrilles for two seasons. The latter project was supposed to be recorded. It was, without counting on the creativity that drives their brains, and that is doubled by their partnership. Two months before entering the studio, they changed course and sent folklore, virtuosity and irony flying. “Before summer, a particular concert revealed it to us; we didn’t want that anymore,” says Théo Ceccaldi. “We were tired of humor and wanted to move towards deeper, calmer, and purer things. When I leave a project, I often want to do the opposite, and Roberto is in the same state of mind. So we went back to the drawing board and started from scratch.”