Just got a viewing of the Renaud Garcia-Fons DVD at a friend's house. I was a bit dissapointed with the musical content - I've heard him play more movingly on his former records, and the guitarist left me unimpressed. Seeing him play, though, was an invaluable lesson on improvising with a bow. He has complete command of so many different effects that he just sings. I'm going to have to watch this quite a few times.

Now that I think of it, I may not have enjoyed the music because I didn't really listen - too involved in the technical aspect...

I have the music but not the DVD. Jaw-dropping technique, just astonishing. Muscially it's a little too polished and I'd rather have less virtuosity and more real interaction. It's growing on me though. The guy is amazing

Just recently saw him live. Great technician, perfect intonation, great tempo, good tone.

But musically I was disappointed. Not only did he seem idealess after his third solo, he also did a lot of things that were only technical and seemed to have no musical purpose at all.

What I also missed was him playing bass instead of a violin that turned out to be too large. He showed that he could be a fantastic Latin-bass-player, too sad he only showed he could for 16 bars and then returned to his technical doodleday.

What I after all adore more than his technique is his use of effects. He is one of the few people on earth who can use effects that are a bit more fancy than just an advanced equalizer on the bass in a way that seems totally natural and is totally musical.

I respect this man for what he could be instead of what he is, sad story or maybe just a matter of taste.

I've heard some wonderful stuff from Garcia-Fons in the past. Fuera is one of my desert island albums. It's a duet with accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier. On this album not only does GF play mean bass (as opposed tolarge violin) but both compositions and solos are both wondeful and very diverse.
Oriental Bass is also quite good.

I find however that I must agree with Karl that when watching the DVD the word 'idealess' comes to mind.

I thought his Acroluz live album was great

I've got one of his early albums, solo bass. Much preferred.