Café Musette

Personnel: Enrique Ugarte (accordion).
Liner Note Authors: Diz Heller; Enrique Ugarte.
From ARC regular and world accordion championship runner-up Enrique Ugarte comes Cafe Musette, an album of French accordion music. The basis of the album is in the musette styles, formed around the accordion musette (rather than the old bal musette bagpipes). The disc starts out with something heavily reminiscent of a Piazzolla tango before delving into the more French-sounding works. The mix of waltzes, brises, and crepes is quite well performed, though the sound can become rather monotonous from time to time as the works blend together almost too seamlessly (something of an odd criticism). The album is worth hearing for fans of the accordion or traditional French music alike. As a special treat for the listeners, one can also note the ancestry of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in Ugarte's rendition of "Crepes Suzette." ~ Adam Greenberg