Gwen Cresens, Riguelle & Hautekiet - Brussels Musette

Met Bruxelles Musette brings an ensemble around Gwen Cresens a warm tribute to Gus Viseur (1915–1974), the accordion answer to Django Reinhardt. The ensemble honors not only his music, but also the rich musette tradition and the often-forgotten accordionists who gave Brussels color. Musette, also called the Parisian blues, originated from a mix of Auvergne dance music and Italian folk melodies, and was later enriched with jazz swing and chanson. The result is a style that can be simultaneously rousing and cheerful, but can also be wistful and melancholic. Gus Viseur gave the rich accordion repertoire a new breath by adding jazz elements to it: swing, harmonic enrichment and lots of improvisation, inspired by the virtuoso swing jazz of Django Reinhardt and the nervous bebop of Charlie Parker. Viseur was an inspiring grandmaster of the accordion: a passionate composer, a masterful improviser, a sincere jazzman and in all respects a gentleman. It is therefore not surprising that Gus Viseur became a member of the famous Hot Club De France. Met Bruxelles Musette wants to highlight the figure and the music of Gus Viseur for Gwen Cresens again, place it in its musical context and bring it to the present. In doing so, the ensemble makes use of original compositions by Viseur himself, but also by his contemporaries, his successors and his adepts: Jo Privat, Tony Murena, Marcel Azzola, Jean Corti, Richard Galliano and Rony Verbiest, supplemented with new own repertoire. Bruxelles Musette is a warm plea to bring our expatriate compatriot Gus Viseur back to Belgium and give him a place of honor in our rich music history. The ensemble consists of musicians who, each in their own way, are connected to Brussels: born, living, working or making music in the city. With the music of Gus Viseur, Bruxelles Musette wants to form a guard of honor for the forgotten and often under-exposed accordionists that Brussels has produced over the past hundred years. Vive l’accordéon! Ah non peut-être!