The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour is on Creative Loafing's top 101 Albums of the Decade List!! Atlanta's Greatest Hits: 2000-2009...
Best of Atlanta 2008, 2009:
Best Local Jazz Band Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing, September 2009
"The swaying, jazzy, Reinhardt/Grappelli-inspired music of the Bonaventure Quartet is a rare treat, and this group does an amazing job of capturing that era. With former Atlantan Amy Pike on vocals, this is a perfect combination"
-James Kelly, Creative Loafing
Vintage Guitar Magazine, October 2008
"Only the Atlanta-based Bonaventure Quartet could concoct such a fascinating "concept album". Their Gypsy jazz is infused with humor and a dose of the bizarre, but that only adds to the band's able musicianship, featuring the guitars of Charles Williams and Dave Boling. This is a unique album, alive with vision, fun, and hot music."
-Michael Dregni, Vintage Guitar, Oct 2008
Southeastern Performer Magazine, August 2008
The Bonaventure Quartet - The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour
Recorded at Ken Gregory Studios in Atlanta, GA | Produced by Charles Williams
Engineered and mixed by Ken Gregory | Mastered by Alex Lowe
"It never, ever, gets old hearing a band play music like The Bonaventure Quartet does on The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour. The band’s blend of western swing and old time jazz played through a southern filter jumps in your pocket and puts a high-dollar sprint in your step. Like Christabel and the Jons or Miss Tess, The Bonaventure Quartet brings the unmistakable music of jazz clubs and cabarets of ages past beautifully to the present and in an unsullied light.
The songs are steadfast and mysterious. They are sleek and sexy, smooth like honey spread on gold bars. Amy Pike’s vocals are celestial in a bawdy kind of way — sweet and sassy, delivering something both timeless and easy to swoon over. On “Henry and June” Pike coos and purrs when she sings lyrics like “They were the love of each other’s lives.”
But just as the music on The Secret is from an era many will find fresh, yet it’s not without its own diversity. Note the Asian flavor lent to “Postcards” on its opening and during each break, the Mexicali flair of “Moonlight Falling” or the Henry Mancini strut of “Lily’s on the Prowl.” Don Erdman’s sax takes a wonderfully curious walk all over the track. His clarinet playing on “The World’s Greatest Lover” charms and the combination of Erdman and Pike recalls Carmen McRae’s “You Took Advantage of Me.”
The music-only interludes on The Secret are like life’s playful moments, sweet pauses before strong emotions. This is a careful and cautious creation to be sure, but the band handles it deftly with uncanny inspiration.
When not focused on cooking things up, The Secret moves casually along like a stroll on a weekday afternoon. Take “The Very Idea” or “Little World” which sound like the melodies echoing in the ears of new lovers or those taking the fall unknowingly. The Bonaventure Quartet takes care to swing you around in their arms and embrace you with the same soulful manner. (Château Debris Music)"
www.thebonaventurequartet.com
-Brian Tucker
Creative Loafing, July 9-15, 2008 Southeastern Performer Magazine August 2008
"The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour is a velvety concept album cut from a different cloth than anything the Bonaventure Quartet has done before. The group straddles a baroque in-between area of smooth, continental jazz and secretly torchy tendencies for a release that is pure mood. Vocalist Amy Pike is as classy as she wants to be, as she gives a warm romantic hue to the album's subtler moments. Her moonlit croon carries a sense of innocence and allure to "The Scene of You", while bestowing "The World's Greates Lover" with a frolicsome air.
There's no denying that it's an essential BVQ offering. It is it's most accomplished to work to date that uses shades of klezmer sounds and a gypsy jangle to add flavor to a timeless and tasteful jazz palette." Five stars! -Chad Radford
Creative Loafing, May 20-27, 2008
"The Bonaventure Quartet gives a breath of fresh air to classic jazz and swing sensibilities with a strong but elegant Gypsy flare. Django Reinhardt worship with a touch of camp gives BVQ's blend of ballroom jazz a subtle sense of humor"
The Atlanta Journal/Constitution, May 22 2008:
"With the sultry, silky voice of former Lost Continentals front woman Amy Pike and the gypsy-jazz flavored guitar of Charles Williams, Bonaventure is a marvelous melting pot. They add Southern sass to the smokey jazz of Parisian cabarets between the world wars on their new album, "the Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour". -Shane Harrison.
Georgia Music Magazine, Spring Issue 2008 and INsite, April issue, 2008:
The Bonaventure Quartet- The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour (Self Released)
Chances are you’ve never heard a band quite like the Bonaventure Quartet. Like the Squirrel Nut Zippers before them, the misnomered sextet is steeped in the old-time jazz your grandparents may well have listened to in their youth. But where that Carolina act tended to serve up Dixieland and Ragtime with a healthy dose of camp, the Bonaventure Quartet tackles Django Reinhardt’s Continental jazz with a warm sense of reverence that reeks of authenticity.
The group began as an acoustic trio, but it’s hard to imagine them being this good without veteran vocalist Amy Pike, former frontwoman for swing band The Lost Continentals. The orchestral opening of “The March of the Grand Pompadour” showcases guitarist Charles Williams’ (a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit) classical compositional influences, but it’s when Pike’s rich vocals intertwine with Williams and Dave Boling’s strummed guitars and Don Erdman’s smooth clarinet on the frisky “The World’s Greatest Lover” that the album really comes alive. “The Scene Of You” proves the band can deliver a torch ballad with just as much personality as their swing, with Pike lamenting, “What can I say, you had it coming/What with the way you ran around/And who in the world could blame this sweet little girl/Besides, I didn’t leave any clues at the scene of you.”
And so it goes throughout this fantastic 15-track LP, moving from gypsy-style jazz (“The Heat Below”) and Argentinian tango (“Moonlight Falling”) to klezmer influences (“Ou Est Pepe Lopez”) and sultry blues (“Lily’s On The Prowl”) with equal aplomb. Since each of these seasoned veterans seems to have their own side gigs, I’m guessing the Bonaventure Quartet doesn’t play out all that often. Which makes it all the more essential for jazz fans to catch them when they do. – BRET LOVE
"The swaying, jazzy, Reinhardt/Grappelli-inspired music of the Bonaventure Quartet is a rare treat, and this group does an amazing job of capturing that era. With former Atlantan Amy Pike on vocals, this is a perfect combination"
-James Kelly, Creative Loafing
Vintage Guitar Magazine, October 2008
"Only the Atlanta-based Bonaventure Quartet could concoct such a fascinating "concept album". Their Gypsy jazz is infused with humor and a dose of the bizarre, but that only adds to the band's able musicianship, featuring the guitars of Charles Williams and Dave Boling. This is a unique album, alive with vision, fun, and hot music."
-Michael Dregni, Vintage Guitar, Oct 2008
Southeastern Performer Magazine, August 2008
The Bonaventure Quartet - The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour
Recorded at Ken Gregory Studios in Atlanta, GA | Produced by Charles Williams
Engineered and mixed by Ken Gregory | Mastered by Alex Lowe
"It never, ever, gets old hearing a band play music like The Bonaventure Quartet does on The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour. The band’s blend of western swing and old time jazz played through a southern filter jumps in your pocket and puts a high-dollar sprint in your step. Like Christabel and the Jons or Miss Tess, The Bonaventure Quartet brings the unmistakable music of jazz clubs and cabarets of ages past beautifully to the present and in an unsullied light.
The songs are steadfast and mysterious. They are sleek and sexy, smooth like honey spread on gold bars. Amy Pike’s vocals are celestial in a bawdy kind of way — sweet and sassy, delivering something both timeless and easy to swoon over. On “Henry and June” Pike coos and purrs when she sings lyrics like “They were the love of each other’s lives.”
But just as the music on The Secret is from an era many will find fresh, yet it’s not without its own diversity. Note the Asian flavor lent to “Postcards” on its opening and during each break, the Mexicali flair of “Moonlight Falling” or the Henry Mancini strut of “Lily’s on the Prowl.” Don Erdman’s sax takes a wonderfully curious walk all over the track. His clarinet playing on “The World’s Greatest Lover” charms and the combination of Erdman and Pike recalls Carmen McRae’s “You Took Advantage of Me.”
The music-only interludes on The Secret are like life’s playful moments, sweet pauses before strong emotions. This is a careful and cautious creation to be sure, but the band handles it deftly with uncanny inspiration.
When not focused on cooking things up, The Secret moves casually along like a stroll on a weekday afternoon. Take “The Very Idea” or “Little World” which sound like the melodies echoing in the ears of new lovers or those taking the fall unknowingly. The Bonaventure Quartet takes care to swing you around in their arms and embrace you with the same soulful manner. (Château Debris Music)"
www.thebonaventurequartet.com
-Brian Tucker
Creative Loafing, July 9-15, 2008 Southeastern Performer Magazine August 2008
"The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour is a velvety concept album cut from a different cloth than anything the Bonaventure Quartet has done before. The group straddles a baroque in-between area of smooth, continental jazz and secretly torchy tendencies for a release that is pure mood. Vocalist Amy Pike is as classy as she wants to be, as she gives a warm romantic hue to the album's subtler moments. Her moonlit croon carries a sense of innocence and allure to "The Scene of You", while bestowing "The World's Greates Lover" with a frolicsome air.
There's no denying that it's an essential BVQ offering. It is it's most accomplished to work to date that uses shades of klezmer sounds and a gypsy jangle to add flavor to a timeless and tasteful jazz palette." Five stars! -Chad Radford
Creative Loafing, May 20-27, 2008
"The Bonaventure Quartet gives a breath of fresh air to classic jazz and swing sensibilities with a strong but elegant Gypsy flare. Django Reinhardt worship with a touch of camp gives BVQ's blend of ballroom jazz a subtle sense of humor"
The Atlanta Journal/Constitution, May 22 2008:
"With the sultry, silky voice of former Lost Continentals front woman Amy Pike and the gypsy-jazz flavored guitar of Charles Williams, Bonaventure is a marvelous melting pot. They add Southern sass to the smokey jazz of Parisian cabarets between the world wars on their new album, "the Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour". -Shane Harrison.
Georgia Music Magazine, Spring Issue 2008 and INsite, April issue, 2008:
The Bonaventure Quartet- The Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour (Self Released)
Chances are you’ve never heard a band quite like the Bonaventure Quartet. Like the Squirrel Nut Zippers before them, the misnomered sextet is steeped in the old-time jazz your grandparents may well have listened to in their youth. But where that Carolina act tended to serve up Dixieland and Ragtime with a healthy dose of camp, the Bonaventure Quartet tackles Django Reinhardt’s Continental jazz with a warm sense of reverence that reeks of authenticity.
The group began as an acoustic trio, but it’s hard to imagine them being this good without veteran vocalist Amy Pike, former frontwoman for swing band The Lost Continentals. The orchestral opening of “The March of the Grand Pompadour” showcases guitarist Charles Williams’ (a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit) classical compositional influences, but it’s when Pike’s rich vocals intertwine with Williams and Dave Boling’s strummed guitars and Don Erdman’s smooth clarinet on the frisky “The World’s Greatest Lover” that the album really comes alive. “The Scene Of You” proves the band can deliver a torch ballad with just as much personality as their swing, with Pike lamenting, “What can I say, you had it coming/What with the way you ran around/And who in the world could blame this sweet little girl/Besides, I didn’t leave any clues at the scene of you.”
And so it goes throughout this fantastic 15-track LP, moving from gypsy-style jazz (“The Heat Below”) and Argentinian tango (“Moonlight Falling”) to klezmer influences (“Ou Est Pepe Lopez”) and sultry blues (“Lily’s On The Prowl”) with equal aplomb. Since each of these seasoned veterans seems to have their own side gigs, I’m guessing the Bonaventure Quartet doesn’t play out all that often. Which makes it all the more essential for jazz fans to catch them when they do. – BRET LOVE
Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz
In this book, which will become one of the few academic resources on Django Reinhardt and the style of music he created, the Bonaventure Quartet has been profiled as one of the groups in America that is helping to keep this music vibrant!
Wow! We like what we do, but when a scholarly publication recognizes your efforts, well.....We're still blushing!
Available at bookstores and Amazon.com
Wow! We like what we do, but when a scholarly publication recognizes your efforts, well.....We're still blushing!
Available at bookstores and Amazon.com