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Playing great guitar and writing excellent songs takes time and dedication. For true artists, it is a lifetime commitment. The artist only gets better with the experiences in their life. On the fifth record from Tomas Michaud, New World Flamenco Jazz, the excellence of musical dedication shines clear and bright. This all-instrumental recording features flamenco guitar as the melody instrument played beautifully by Michaud. On each song, his guitar work is supported by a collection of top notch musicians.
The record opens with the track "Seville" as the flamenco guitar and the melody take you on a musical visit to Seville, Spain. Tomas has captured his visits to this great city in the music he writes. The sound production is top quality, and the tone allows you to enjoy the wonderful guitar work.
This passion for Spain is carried on with "Whispers of Paradise." The musicians relay the musical spirit of the song, surrounding the flamenco guitar with an appropriate backdrop, especially the percussion work.
"Awakened by an Angel" is the kind of song that U.K. hit maker Sting would like to record, and in the song's melody, Tomas makes his guitar sing like a fine classic vocalist. This record is on the level of the best from Sting and is very impressive.
The precision of the musicians will lift your spirit on "Winds of Time," and the flamenco guitar work confirms the quality of this record. This track has a romantic feel, with the guitar accompanied by piano and sax. The music always brings you back to a feeling of Spain and someplace where life is lived at a slower pace.
Traveling and writing is an artist's dream come true: to write from the feel of a local, and express what you see, hear and experience in the form of music. On New World Flamenco Jazz, Tomas Michaud expresses the excitement of flamenco guitar, and he is superb. The music is relaxing yet engaging, each song creating images of a place you would like to visit often. It's a wonderful record you'll want to listen to from beginning to end.
- www.Indie-Music.com
“New World Flamenco Jazz”…it certainly is a thought provoking way to describe your music. Tomas Michaud is a masterful guitar player on 12 Latin jazz compositions that you will enjoy on his latest release. You may not have heard of his name mentioned in the same sentence as world-renowned artists such as Al Di Meola or Airto, although I see no reason why that is not a possibility in the near future based on what I just heard. Michaud will get the respect of his peers due to his outstanding artisanship and the technical expertise that he commands with his acoustic guitar.
I now understand after several listens why he chose the title of the album. The new world aspect comes into play with the modern sounds of the various keyboards and saxophones implemented to give it that very character and worldly flavor. In many instances when a soloist plays flamenco guitar, that is the only instrument that you hear, while Michaud could easily perform in that context, he prefers to use the many tools and instruments at his disposal for a fruitful full sound that pulls the listener in without ever letting go. Admittedly, I have a penchant for Latino jazz and feel a certain kinship and connection the genre and the culture, which I really have no explanation as to why except that I know it makes me feel so good when I listen to it.
Michaud has a superior supporting cast that enables him to weave his magical chords from his guitar faultlessly with all the other instruments, blending effortlessly into each composition, therefore making this entire recording an experience for a truly worldly audience to enjoy. I thought of beautiful sunsets, long walks on warm sandy beaches and the romanticism and story that this music created at all times while listening, totally spellbound. So much becomes a reality because one man decides to pick up a guitar; it is just beyond my comprehension.
- JazzReview.com
Discography
5 CDs:
Heart Coming Home
Passion Dance
I Must Be Dreaming
In the Presence of Angels
New World Flamenco Jazz
Photos
Bio
Artist Profile - The Tomas Michaud Story
Most guitarists in the Flamenco influenced genre today seem more interested with finger pyrotechnics and how many notes can fit into a musical passage than in communicating on a deep emotional level with their listener. Though technical proficiency is not in short supply, Tomas Michaud is clearly a different kind of guitarist.
While creating his own blend of Smooth Jazz and Flamenco guitar with subtle twists of Latin American grooves and Middle Eastern Percussion, Tomas weaves a melodic, almost vocal, tapestry with his guitar that, if one listens carefully, can breath beauty and sacredness into even the most mundane events of daily life. There's a kind of mystical yet practical spirituality to his music that has the effect of both calming and energizing.
Tomas creates music that is exotic with a lingering sense of the familiar. Perhaps it's his ability to meld the sights and sounds of his travels to far away places with his upbringing in the American pop culture. He writes the kind of songs that creates images of places you'd like to be often - even if only in your imagination. His influences are such diverse music talents as Santana, who communicates profound beauty in the way he plays even a few notes, and the Gipsy Kings, who are masters at creating songs which take the listener on a romantic, exotic adventure.
In his new album,” New World Flamenco Jazz", songs such as "Seville" not only take you on a musical imagery filled trip to Seville, Spain where he composed the song, but brings us face to face with the mysterious and somewhat magical force that delivers ideas and realizations in our dreams while we sleep. Inspired by a dream, one can’t help but wonder where powerful and evocative melodies like this come from.
From beginning to end of this CD Tomas puts forth a musical calling for embracing and being grateful for who we are, for being alive and believing in ourselves and for appreciating both the uniqueness and the common elements we share as different cultures and one humanity. An example of this can be experienced by listening to the song “Moroccan Lullaby” with eyes closed. While this song lures us on an adventure to an exotic world of belly dancers and musty smells one can’t help but experience, at the same time, a world where diverse instruments and sounds work together seamlessly and in perfect harmony.
It’s been said that music has the ability to “sooth the savage beast”. If this is true Tomas takes it to new heights. He communicates intimately; one on one, with his listeners with music that seems to reach right into a deep, tender place. The effect is that of not only soothing the emotional beast but uplifting on a profound spiritual level as well.
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