For the violin belongs to a vast family of bowed instruments encompassing many cultures and styles. Costel Nitescu comes out of the Gypsy/Romany culture that produced Django Reinhardt and influenced Django's French musical partner.
On Forever Swing Grappelli Forever, Nitescu captures the fluidity and forthright swing of Grappelli, although not much of Grappelli's enchanting lyricism. Some of the straight 4/4 pieces with piano, bass and drums are express-lane fast, but Nitescu handles the fleet tempos with admirable aplomb. Maybe a little too admirable, to the point of being facile. He can also be sentimental, almost maudlin, on the slower tempos, making his strings weep on "Ballade pour Ileana" and wringing out the emotion in that most sentimental of songs, "Nature Boy". The best tracks are the three that add guitarist Adrien Moignard, whose exchanges with Nitescu, especially on Django's "Amouman," bring out a welcome competitive spirit in the violinist.