Samuel Bonnet Trio – Live in Harmony

This live album has been out for a while now (January), so my bad. That said, as is all too often the case with our traditional media rivals, no one has offered a review of this seven-track package, recorded in Ontario and Quebec at two separate concerts. It’s hard to understand, given Bonnet’s impressive instrument mastery. He is certainly one of the finest guitarists on the contemporary Canadian scene, and more.

Bonnet and his partners Jonathan-Guillaume Boudreau on double bass and Simon Bergeron on drums offer us vibrant, refined readings of memorable standards such as “On Green Dolphin Street,” “Nardis,” “My One and Only Love, Hava Nagila” (a Jewish traditional brilliantly fused with Caravan) and the classic (in the sense of classical music) “Recuerdos de Alambra,” Francisco Tarrega’s magnificent masterpiece. 

Bonnet is well acquainted with his predecessors (Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery) and follows in their footsteps, but he is also a master in his own right, distilling a knowledge that is as imbued with classical values as it is with modern ones (Kurt Rosenwinkel comes to mind), in an artistic pose bathed in confidence, serenity and beauty. There’s something soothingly Zen about Bonnet’s music, even in the more agitated passages. A kind of splendour of elegance. A great jazz guitar album.