Lionel Suarez
Origin: France
Line-up
solo Lionel Suarez - accordion / duo with André Minvielle (vocal) / duo with Airelle Besson (trumpet)
About us
Composer, arranger, director, producer – it’s hard to list everything he’s capable of and all those who have called on his services…
But from Claude Nougaro to Richard Bona, from Jean Rochefort to the Orchestre National de Jazz, via André Minvielle, Didier Lockwood, Sylvain Luc, Bumcello, Sixun, Bernard Lavilliers, Charles Aznavour, Véronique Sanson, Renaud, Pierre Perret, Clotilde Courau, Allain Leprest, Yael Naim and so many others, one grasps the eclecticism and versatility of this subtle master of colour who has managed to imbue the accordion with orchestral nuances one could never even have imagined.
As a soloist, in a duo with André Minvielle (vocals), in a duo with Airelle Besson (trumpet)
External links:
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Line-up: Lionel Suarez – accordion, André Minvielle – vocals, percussion, electronics
André Minvielle sings. He chants. He raps. He is a ‘vocal alchemist’. Lionel Suarez is an accordionist. He moves from chanson to jazz and from jazz to chanson; he is a chameleon. Hailing from Gascony, Minvielle plays with languages and sounds: from blues to local dialect, his jazz waltzes, twirls and takes on a rough-and-ready edge. In Suarez, he finds an alter ego: a waltz virtuoso, a subtle jazzman and an unrivalled master of rhythm. Together, they whisk us away on a poetic journey where the voice is an instrument and the instrument is an orchestra. When Minvielle meets Suarez, the result is great art.
Line-up: Airelle Besson : Trumpet - Lionel Suarez : Accordion
Airelle Besson, a multi-award-winning jazz trumpeter, has been lighting up European stages since 2015 at the head of several projects: duos, quartets, and even an orchestra.
Lionel Suarez has become the essential accordionist who has rehabilitated his 'classical' instrument into a fertile interface for all kinds of music.
An intimate duo, their compositions and improvisations are characterised by a blend of tenderness, danceable spirit and complicity... A rare combination of the brilliance of the trumpet and the mellowness of the accordion, combined with the liveliness, even the explosion, of Airelle's daring proposals and the sensitive inventions orchestrated by Lionel. It's worth emphasising just how much these two have a knack for natural simplicity, quickly shared with an audience in complicity. For while their virtuosity is amply established, it would not inspire the same enthusiasm without the captivating melodic and narrative qualities of this generous recital.
“The trumpeter Airelle Besson, a luminary of French jazz, further nurtures her long relationship with accordionist Lionel Suarez on Blossom, a mainstream but delightful mix of jaunty and tender originals, and affectionate covers of Carla Bley’s ‘Ida Lupino’ and the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays song ‘Au Lait’.” The Guardian
“It seems an odd pairing, but one that proves more than the sum of its parts (...) No matter the inspiration for the music - a foggy day in Japan’s imperial city for the wistful ‘Kyoto dans la Brume’, for example - we are never far from the moody Parisian skies captured on the cover.” The Observer
“French trumpet accordion duo albums aren’t the product of 52nd street. They don’t belong in a box assembled from a manual by a phalanx of self appointed taste terminators. They aren’t many of these.” Marlbank
Line-up: Lionel Suarez - accordion
“Alone on stage? Of course not! His accordion accompanies him – unless it is an integral part of the artist himself – and in the end, you can’t tell which is more human: the man or the instrument!
No, Lionel Suarez is certainly not alone on stage… He has with him his unique music and his artistic freedom, which allows him to move effortlessly from the ethereal elegance of a birdsong to a sound that is denser, deeper and more intense, as if rooted in the earth: the accordion grants him everything, allows him everything, enriching compositions, arrangements and standards in perfect harmony.
His many encounters with artists – musicians and otherwise – have inspired him to pay tribute to them, to walk alongside them for a while, contributing his own touch to their work. And it is through his unrivalled virtuosity and unique technical mastery that the musician conveys rare emotions – emotions that take your breath away, make you tremble with excitement, and leave you utterly spellbound by what a man and an instrument can achieve. ”
From chanson to jazz, from Brazil to Argentina, from dance halls to prestigious stages, Lionel Suarez recounts his journey – a journey rich in wonderful encounters, moving anecdotes and, of course, music, brimming with music.