Manfred Leuchter & Ian Melrose - Vis-à-Vis

For Reinhard Mey, Clannad, Paul Joses and many other artists, the outstanding guitarist, Ian Melrose, is appreciated as a sideman, author and arranger. This friendly Scotsman has also played his way to an excellent reputation as a solo artist. And now he has found an ideal counterpart in the accordionist and “global player”, Manfred Leuchter, a fact the duo now proves with “Vis-A-Vis”. A limitless selection of genres and styles produced a joint selection of the pieces and hence a mutual enhancement of the repertoire. Leuchter adds wonderful touches of color to the Melrose classic “Fingerpickers Have More Fun”, while the Scottish musician underlines the mysterious atmosphere of Leuchter’s “Reel D’Alphonse” with oriental runs. The guitar and accordion are well matched compositionally and from a sound perspective, too, a fact plainly revealed by the interaction of these two musicians, who not only play “vis-à-vis”, as it were, but are also at eye level in every other area.