In recent years the French bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons has not only extended the boundaries of jazz but also those of his instrument, the double bass. By adding a fifth, high string to his bass, Garcia-Fons has created an entire register for himself in order to play his mix of gipsy music, jazz, world and classical music even more expressively. Garcia-Fons reached musical maturity at an early age: he was just 5 years old when he started to learn to play the piano, he was 8 when he switched to classical guitar and after a rock period - as an adolescent of 16 - he finally chose the double bass. He was deeply impressed by the playing of François Rabbath, a bassist who inspired Garcia-Fons to find his own sound and style. He has more than achieved this ambition. On his recent album Arcoluz, with flamenco guitarist Antonio Ruiz, among others, Garcia-Fons gets every possible sound out of his bass and allows his listeners to hear that the world of music literally knows no limits.
