http://www.smoothjazznow.com/artist/daniel_domenge.html

Daniel Domenge Creates His Own Patchwork
June 17, 2009 - Daniel Domenge is a genuine outsider to the international Smooth Jazz stage. Coming from Southern France, most well known for its great wine tradition and its appealing summer resorts, the French guitarist came up with his first CD, “Patchwork” released last year.

A talented self-taught guitarist, composer and producer, Domenge has been working as a professional musician for more than 20 years. He has always had a musical curiosity, that made him play various genres (blues, funk, rock, jazz, French music) with a lot of musicians, mainly in France. He has also recorded and arranged jingles for radio stations and TV shows.

Domenge found out smooth and contemporary jazz by listening to guitar stars such as George Benson, Larry Carlon, Lee Ritenour. His main source of inspiration came from Chuck Loeb’s famous track «The Music Inside». The French guitarist got hooked up to Loeb and bought all his albums. They became friends through the Web. The French musician, who is on Loeb’s My Space’s Top Friends, eventually met Loeb when he performed at the Marciac Jazz Festival in February 2009.

As a craftsman, Domenge worked on his self-released debut album “Patchwork” between 2005 and 2007 in his home studio and finished the composition process by early 2008. He then called three of his friends to record the various keyboards and drums sounds entailed in the album (Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond B3 organ and drum programming loops). He then recorded the definitive guitar sounds and refined the musical arrangements with French drummer and producer Reynald Evraux who took part to the CD’s mixing and mastering.

And the result is a conclusive musical “Patchwork” featuring a touch of smooth jazz, funk, soul and latin blues with Domenge’s own voice and great “wah-wah” guitar effects on several tracks. The album features beautiful melodies and outstanding musical arrangements. The first track “Smoothjames” became a hit in 2009, as it started to be played by various radio stations worldwide. The album’s eight tracks are really dashing and Domenge has joined the limited club of guitarists with a genuine smooth jazz coolness.

The success of “Patchwork” on world contemporary jazz radio stations has encouraged the musician to start to work on his second awaited album during this summer. Domenge will start touring this autumn. The guitar craftsmanship displayed in “Patchwork” definitively gets the French musician closer to the guitar stars who where sources of inspiration for him: Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Pat Metheny and Chuck Loeb among others. - by Akbar Nour