You can almost hear their restlessness: listen the two saxophonists enter the arena, Peter King on alto, Jean Toussaint on tenor. Playfully, they try to reach each other’s registry—the alto scraping for its lower notes while the tenor goes through the higher octaves. And in two of the tunes they have the young Sylvain Beuf join in for the games. At the piano? Alain Jean-Marie, immediately recognizable by his unrivaled touch and swing, by the elegance without flourishes that he has always represented. The many colors of Tony Rabeson on drums: revel in his solo on Minor Mood. And in some tunes George Brown replaces him with his bold, unpredictable swing, unrivaled in the history of Parisian jazz! And behind this beautiful scene Gildas Souarnec, composer and bassist. Not all the tunes are his —for example Shorter, composed by Peter King, who quotes Nefertiti with admiration and a hint of mischief—but you can hear the leader’s hand in most of them: his enthusiastic proposals, the interplay between the voices of the saxophones, the melodic charm of Valse pour Margot…
And through all of it, a beautiful bass, natural, fair and full bodied, unfiltered by amplification, delivering the sound of the fingers and the string—a real taste of the authentic without added colorings and preservatives, as fresh today as the day it was made!
CD 1
01. Mr. Silver
02. Modjo
03. Minor Mood
04. U.Turn
CD 2
01. Shorter
02. First Kick
03. 93/94
04. Valse pour Margot
05. Blues for Sylvain
All tracks composed by Gildas Scouarnec, except CD1 #1 by Peter King
Gildas Scouarnec (b)
Peter King (as)
Jean Toussaint (ts)
Alain Jean Marie (p)
Tony Rabeson (d)
On CD 1, tracks #1 & 4: Sylvain Beuf (ts), Georges Brown (d)
Recorded at La Maison de Radio France, Paris, June 11, 1996 (CD1 #1 & 4: Broadcast “Jazz Vivant,”) & February 11, 1994 (Broadcast “Transcontinentales”)
Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Stereo · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered
