Watch the music video for ‘Libertango’ off of Café Musique’s new album.
The Central Coast’s favorite bohemian string band is at it again, releasing a new album and celebrating with an upcoming CD release show in Santa Maria. Café Musique has one new member since the ensemble’s last album, and the fiery spirit and technical prowess of the group has only been stoked by the new addition.
The group has been at it for nearly a decade now performing various flavors of music, explained accordion player for Café Musique Duane Inglish. Hot and heavy Latin sounds, such as tangos or gypsy jazz fantasies, abound from the nimble fingers of the players, who have won plenty of fans wherever they perform on the Central Coast.
The mission of the new album, titled Ebb and Flow, Inglish explained, is to reproduce that live experience for which Café Musique is beloved.
“Every song on this album is a song that we embrace on stage, that we perform live,” he said. “We have a term, it’s very simple, and it’s called ‘stage time.’ We need to vet every tune on stage, give it time to see if it really should be in our repertoire, and we judge by audience reaction whether a song should stay or go.”
The album includes a range typical of a live show, Inglish said, including up-tempo dance numbers as well as wistful and dreamy selections.
The project was more than a year in the making, Inglish explained, and it intentionally wasn’t a rushed job. Slow and steady wins the race, in the case of an album that captures the relaxed yet precise sound of a group like Café Musique.
“I have to say, it’s probably one of the most fun projects we’ve been involved with, and that had a lot to do with our producer Fred Murray, who is also our bass player,” Inglish said. “He really had a style and organization to the recording process and made it enjoyable, it was a good project.”
The group also includes the virtuosic violinist Brynn Albanese—whom many will recognize from among the violin section of a number of local orchestras—and her melody work is a defining characteristic of the band. Guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Craig Nuttycombe is a longtime member too. He lends rhythmic support and his own original tunes to a few tracks on Ebb and Flow.
The new face to the group is Eric Williams, a multi instrumentalist whom Inglish calls a “string wizard,” who adds another melodic element above the harmonic support of Murray and Nuttycombe. Together Albanese, Inglish, and Williams take turns throwing the lead to each other, join together in unison, and even tear through polyphonic runs.
“When we get together there’s a chemistry among all of us, just a personal chemistry, where we know each other very well not just as musicians, but friends, and we bring to that musical table five very different musical perspectives,” Inglish said. “There’s an element of discovery and surprise, we still feel that, but it’s also balanced out by the fact that we’ve been playing together for so long that we’re able to communicate. We talk to each other musically.”
Ebb and Flow is a great statement of Café Musique’s charm, though it’s just a snippet of what the group can do during one live show, such as the CD release concert in Santa Maria on April 23.
Tickets are available at the website Brown Paper Tickets, and should be bought in advance, Inglish said, because Café Musique shows often sell out.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have a loyal following as far as our fan base, and we don’t take it for granted,” he said. “It’s really been special, we have people who will not miss a show, but we only get down to Santa Maria about once or twice a year, so it’s always really special when we do get down there.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne is enjoying the feel of Ebb and Flow. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
COURTESY OF CAFE MUSIQUE/YOUTUBE.COM
This article appears in Apr 21-28, 2016.