As part of the ongoing celebrations of his historic Hollywood Bowl performance, JOE BONAMASSA has revealed his most recent song, “The Last Matador Of Bayonne,” taken from the critically acclaimed live album and DVD Live At The Hollywood Bowl With Orchestra. The full recording will be available through J&R Adventures on May 17th.
This profound composition conveys the vitality, fortitude, and reflective spirit of a matador confronting his impending demise and fuses Bonamassa’s distinctive guitar virtuosity with the magnificence of a full orchestra.
This elegant piece delivers a vivid drama of forewish & vanquishment…
Raw Ramp Music Magazine
The elegant piece delivers a vivid drama of forewish and vanquishment. Renowned composer David Campbell (who arranged strings on The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds, and strings on Adele’s 30) arranged “The Last Matador Of Bayonne” which also includes a riveting trumpet solo by veteran Dave Matthews Band member Rashawn Ross.
The twilight serenade provided on trumpet by Ross is matched in grandeur by the glittering moonstone majesty of Bonamassa’s guitar, as his cloudsmoke vocal performance balances forgiveness & pain in equal measure. Wonderful!
“There’s a Bayonne in France, which is where this song got its title,” Bonamassa explains.
“I was doing amphitheater dates in Europe back in 2010 with ZZ Top, and in a lot of these cities, when they say ‘Amphitheater,’ they’re not kidding. They’re talking about Roman-style bullrings. Over the years, I think they phased out the killing of the bulls. The matadors are there more for show these days. But during one of these gigs, I was standing in one of the areas where the matadors were kept, and I saw this little door. So, I opened it and I saw this little prayer booth, where I guess a matador would sit and pray before going out to face a bull. I started to think, Who was the last guy to do this? It was a great concept for a song – again, to think that you may die doing what you do for a living.”
This track comes after the captivating performance of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s classic, which served as the live album’s lead single and which we described as “a superb execution […] a fluid translucence of gemstone lavender and honey.”
Main photo Credit © Jenise Jensen
Pre-order the New Live Album and Film here: https://lnk.to/joebonamassa
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