Devil's Tale

Both Raso and Fanfare share a love of Django and big band jazz. Across several chilly Toronto days at the Metalworks studios the Romanians and the Canadian came together. Raso called in several heavy friends to contribute to sessions. These included legendary guitarists John Jorgenson and Rodrigo (of Rodrigo & Gabriela) and rock drummer Kevin Figueiredo. This album - reaching down to New Orleans, across the Atlantic to Paris, deep into the Balkans and back through decaying Detroit to Toronto's grandeur - is the result. What wild beauty these thirteen men created! Raso's guitar sets off on a fluid journey, caressing and cajoling the horns who tell tales of a music that has ancestors in Africa and India, one shaped in old Europe and young America. Perhaps no one involved guessed such wild beauty would result from these sessions. Adrian Raso & Fanfare Ciocarlia have created a music rooted in jazz and the Balkans, a sound full of history but looking towards the future. Adrian Raso has inspired Fanfare Ciocarlia to raise their game. Balkan brass stands renewed!