Manu Comté

“Like a painful beauty close to human vocalizations,” sings the accordion of Manu Comté, author of interpretations of great virtuosity, full of life and intense dramatic moments.” Libertà, culture

“It possesses to the highest degree the swing and madness of these musics that sharpen the senses and pack the heart.” The World of Music

From a very young age, Manu Comté has carried the strength of a passion that has allowed him to break out of the mold to challenge contemporary music, whether classical, jazz or world!

Always looking to find a non-traditional way to make his instruments speak, the accordion or the bandoneon, his playing is characterized by an intense expressiveness and a touch of a felt lightness. It is those who write the beautiful pages of this popular instrument par excellence that is the accordion.

“Listening to the group Soledad, I was struck by their rare intensity. Combining intelligence, know-how and sex-appeal, they transported me into the mysterious and tragic world of tango.” – Martha Argerich –

His path is marked by the adventure of the group “Soledad” that he created in the 1990s and with which he travels the most beautiful stages of the world (The Santory Hall in Tokyo, the festival of La Roque d’Anthéron, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Jazz Palace in Paris and the Cannes Festival Montreal, the New Morning in Paris, the festivals of Beppu, Lugano, Pietrasanta, Toronto, Ottawa,…).

Soledad’s new album marks the trio’s 20th anniversary. It opens on a cover – adaptation of Logical Song of the rock group Supertramp (album Breakfast In America, 1979), virtuoso tango style, mainly because of the accordion of Manu Comté. One can only admire this remake which is much more than a decal of the original. Even more daring and equally successful is the adaptation of the slow movement of Ravel’s Concerto in G. The sublime melody is entrusted to the accordion, while the piano of Alexander Gruning accompanies it, and the violin of Jean-Frédéric Molard takes care of the counterchangers. Among the other adaptations on the album, we note the Prelude, a superb rewriting of the Prelude, Fugue and Variation op.18 by César Franck, especially the version for harmonium and piano (excellent version at Ricercar), since the accordion reminds us of the sound of the harmonium. Two excerpts from Prokofiev’s Cinderella ballet should also be mentioned. And it seems natural to find on the program two compositions by Piazzolla. Jeff Buckley’s Grace is the generic title of his only studio album, a 1994 masterpiece left without a sequel, since the American singer died shortly after its release. Finally, there are two “original” compositions by Alexander Gruning, Paraphrase, and Manuel Comté, Preamble. Soledad’s album closes with Des Pas Sur La Neige, a prelude by Debussy, excerpted from the first book. It is unfortunately too rare to see first-rate musicians excel as much in classical as in rock or jazz. This indicates a strong culture that allows Soledad to offer us a beautiful cocktail of exquisite musicianship.

Dominique Lawalrée-Crescendo Mag

“The role of carrier of the ensemble is attributed to Manu Comté, a true virtuoso of the accordion that he mastered without fail. The young Belgian has received many awards in France, Italy, Germany, Belgium,…
A name to keep!”

 M. Frost – CD Kritik (Allemagne)

“When the group “Soledad” expresses a strong interest in collaborating with you … it does not refuse!
These explorers of music are Belgian but they are everywhere, although we feel that Astor Piazzolla probably occupies the number 1 place of the screens of their masters to think …
That said, they must have known my passion for Brazilian music by offering to sing “Por toda a minha vida” “When the group “Soledad” expresses a strong interest in collaborating with you … it does not refuse!
This song, I had heard, listened to under all the seams, to all the sauces, by the greatest artists.
So… What to do? Otherwise trust the members of this set who always seem to know what the right direction is. All combined with the unstoppable talent of the arranger and (my) faithful accomplice: Arnould Massart and the demanding coaching of my friend Peter Lorne since it was the first time I sang in Portuguese (I should say “Brazilian”, it would be more correct). There will certainly be things to say but for my part, here is a project that I have taken very much to heart and that has given me infinite pleasure.”

Maurane

“When the group “Soledad” expresses a strong interest in collaborating with you … it does not refuse!
This song, I had heard, listened to under all the seams, to all the sauces, by the greatest artists.
“Shock of the year 2002 of the magazine “Le Monde de la Musique”: “Pathetic and intoxicating universe, hammered with ivory, in the after-thoughts of Argentina, the twelve titles of this tango album constitute a breathless race that fascinates, in a repertoire of Astor Pizo Astor, Pizo Astor passing by Daniel Capelletti, Michel Lysight and Igor Stravinsky. To pull off this masterstroke, it took virtuosos. The virtuosos, it’s the group Soledad… “

Georges Gad – Le Monde de la Musique

“Sublunary, cracking and tearing…”

 Martine Dumont-Mergeay – La Libre Belgique

“The swing, the rage, the emotion, the sound: Soledad … Finally a group of wonderful musicians who play the music of Astor Piazzolla as it should be played … with passion. I am sure that if Astor Piazzolla were still among us he would say, as he often said to me collaborations: “You have done a good job!” I have to congratulate Soledad for the version of Tango for Claude Magnifique!
“Rhythm, fury, emotion, sonority : Soledad… At last a group of marvelous musicians who play the music of Astor Piazzolla as it should be played… with passion. Magnificent ! A stunning disc.”

Musicalement votre, Richard Galliano 

“Like a painful beauty close to human vocalizations, here is how the accordion sings Manu Comté, author of interpretations of great virtuosity, full of life and intense dramatic moments.”

Liberta, culture…(Italie)

“The accordionist and bandone player Manu Comté possesses to the highest degree the swing and madness of these musics that sharpen the senses and pack the heart.”

François Lafon – Le Monde de la Musique (France)

“His accordion plunges into curiously delightful abysses of despair. A stimulating melancholy. Contradictory sensations that evoke Petrarch’s oxymoron: joyful sadness, pleasure of opposite loves, jubilant fragments of pain. the Manu County game.”

 Le blog de Stéphane Dado (Belgique)

“Soledad Plays Soledad. The title is eloquent: eight of the twelve tracks of this album are signed by the Brussels group. Accordionist/bandone player Manu Comté and pianist Alexander Gurning, joined in the composition exercise, by violinist Jean-Frédéric Molideux Mulicie. parricides since for the first time, an album of the Belgians under tango hypnosis, is made entirely without Astor Piazzolla A decade has passed to play the magical Argentine and his stupors of the Rio de la Plata: it was necessary without a doubt to kill symbolically to grow up and find other colors. beyond virtuosity and interpretation Although chavirée melancholy lives forever in Soledad’s DNA, notably in Manu Comté’s accordion and the triumphant drift of Homilia and Ginza. The abandonment of a Latin tutelage has freed the musicians: never has Patrick De Schuyter pulled so much from his guitar, as in JF Molard’s ambitious Victor, where the six strings take on unpublished, Hendrix burns. From now on, everything will be allowed. Perhaps because bassist Sam Gertsmans and newcomer Michel Seba on percussion push the band to jazz and improvisation. Maybe because the funky feeling constantly permeates the music, for example Gurning’s Rebound, worthy of a Quincy Jones groove. And then, Soledad Plays Soledad also marries this trio of Brazilian compos, coup de chaleur d’Hermeto Pascoal (Chorinho pra ele), Egberto Gismonti (Frevo) and Antonio Carlos Jobim via a tube sung by Elis Regina in 1974 (Por Toda A Minha Vida). Drilled by an accelerated Brazilian course, Maurane layered the melody-sun into vocals worthy of Rio’s humid nights. This new journey Soledad, would certainly not have reached such a good port without Christine Verschorren, engineer of the customary sound of jazz and rock works, who recorded, mixed and mastered the twelve titles. Open and stuffy, polished and remarkably contemporary, this Soledad Plays Soledad will also dazzle with its sonic panache.”

Philippe Cornet