Dominique Pifarély Quartet - Nocturnes April 19, 2021 clean feed records)

Any new recording by French violinist Dominique Pifarély is good news. Being his quartet with Antonin Rayon,Bruno Chevillon and François Merville his more enduring band, this former companion of the also French reedist Louis Sclavis benefits from the maturity of this project, gained through the years, but also from an attitude of always reinventing itself, going to places that we not explored before. Interesting would be to compare this “Nocturnes” with “Tracé Provisoire”, the album recorded by the Dominique Pifarély Quartet for ECM. If this previous one had the undistinguishable mark of Manfred Eicher’s production, the first evidence of difference when listening to “Nocturnes” is in Sound.

More is to come, even if there’s similar poetic atmospheres and, as a composer (and particularly brilliant at that task), Pifarély continues to put his writing at the service of the collective and of their improvisational work, be it the ensemble or the individual solos. Besides the pleasure these four exceptional instrumentalists give to our ears, the way in which the composed and the improvised intermingles in this collection of pieces is a very strong factor of enthusiasm.

1. Nocturne 1 02:56

2. La nuit ravie (part 1) 02:36

3. La rumeur qui vient (part 1) 08:16

4. La rumeur qui vient (part 2) 05:00

5. Nocturne 2 02:09

6. Nocturne 3 02:20

7. Les ombres (part 1) 07:25

8. Nocturne 4 01:33

9. clean feed - La nuit ravie (part 2) 02:29

10. Ad augusta 05:32

11. Ad augusta 05:34

Dominique Pifarély violin

Antonin Rayon piano

Bruno Chevillon double bass

François Merville drums

All compositions by Dominique Pifarély except 1, 5 by Dominique Pifarély and Antonin Rayon and 6, 8 by Dominique Pifarély and Bruno Chevillon

Recorded on Dec. 5-6-7, 2017 by Gérard de Haro, assisted by Anaëlle Marsollier, at Studio La Buissonne (France) Mixed by Gérard de Haro on Sept. 7-8, 2020 | Mastered by Nicolas Baillard, Studio La Buissonne

Produced by Virginie Crouail / Archipels-Cie Dominique Pifarély | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos | Cover photo by Ricardo Leiria | Photos by Jean-Baptiste Millot

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Michel Portal - MP85 (March 2021)

A l’occasion de ses 85 ans, Michel Portal rompt un silence discographique de 10 ans (Baïlador, 2011) avec « MP85 »

Tout nouveau disque de Michel Portal est, en soi, un événement. Certains, plus que d’autres… Ainsi “MP85”. D’abord, parce qu’il vient rompre, avec éclat(s), un trop long silence, ensuite parce qu’il célèbre les grandes retrouvailles du musicien avec Label Bleu - 23 ans après que “Dockings” ait clôturé en beauté une collaboration féconde qui tout au long des années 90 aura donné naissance à quelques oeuvres clés de sa discographie ! Enfin (et surtout !) parce qu’à 85 ans, tout à la fois monstre sacré incontesté de la scène jazz européenne et éternel électron libre, Michel Portal, soucieux de ne jamais “se fixer” une fois pour toute dans un style ou dans un genre, signe avec ce disque joyeux et iconoclaste l’exact opposé de l’oeuvre testamentaire que d’aucuns escompteraient de lui à cet instant de sa carrière!

Porté par l’énergie d’un nouveau groupe entremêlant allégrement générations et traditions musicales, Michel Portal, loin de mettre au propre pour la postérité quelques “moments choisis” d’une vie dédiée corps et âme à la musique, poursuit avec “MP85” cette quête existentielle et artistique qui depuis plus de 60 ans le pousse à se remettre chaque fois “en jeu” et en mouvement. Délicieusement inclassable — lyrique, virtuose, spontanée et sophistiquée —, cette musique de l’instant présent, d’une totale liberté et définitivement affranchie de toute notion d’avant-garde et de classicisme, prend une nouvelle fois la tangente ! Avec une irrévérence juvénile irrésistible!

1. African Wind

2. Full Half Moon

3. Armenia

4. Jazzoulie

5. Split The Difference

6. Desertown

7. No Hay

8. Euskal Kantua

Michel Portal : clarinettes, saxophone

Bojan Z : piano, claviers

Nils Wogram : trombone

Bruno Chevillon : contrebasse

Lander Gyselinck : batterie

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Baptiste Boiron - Lá (2021 Ayler Records)

It is during a residency from February to April 2020 at the Domaine de Kerguéhennec, in Brittany, that saxophonist and composer Baptiste Boiron composed and created the repertoire of the trio “Là”.

As a saxophonist, Baptiste Boiron has been navigating between jazz and contemporary music that he studied with Jean-Yves Bosseur. He has performed with many improvisers as much as he has interpreted the scores of Jean-Sébastien Bach, Claude Debussy, Edgard Varèse, Georges Aperghis and many others ...

From the first track, our ears are caught by the superposition of ostinatos and proposals, as much as by the polyphonic abundance and the multiplication of modes of play, conventional or alternative. This diversity is only matched by the multiplicity of writing processes emanating from an artist whose pen, like saxophones, testifies to a long experience in the classical and contemporary field. These processes are relayed here by his two fellow musicians who, in addition to the spaces left to their own initiatives as improvisers, have contributed to the completion of these scores in which the boundary between the premeditated and the ‘impromptu’ blurs.

The repertoire – all originals, except for three titles – is dedicated to various artists (musicians or not, "who helped me build myself" says the composer) whose names are only delivered to our perspicacity in the form of anagrams. They say something more about this music where the narrative qualities and emotion show through beautiful instrumental and compositional techniques.

1. MAlin né délivré 04:22

2. Là 05:54

3. J’étais cet homme 03:14

4. trace de Fard Gris 06:11

5. Fleurette Africaine 04:21

6. nus, MonoliThe ok 05:06

7. B- Choir nu, l’envol 07:45

8. hAt noyant Bronx 07:48

9. avec StyLe 06:35

10. Bander brutaL 05:16

11. Prayer 03:30

12. Dur trac Mec 14:54

13. Le sourire à travers les larmes 06:39

14. Lonnie’s Lament 07:18

Baptiste Boiron - Soprano, alto & tenor saxophones

Bruno Chevillon - Double bass

Frédéric Gastard - Bass saxophone

All music composed and arranged by Baptiste Boiron

at Centre d’Art de Kerguéhennec, Bignan, France, except

#5 by Duke Ellington, #11 by Keith Jarrett & #14 by John Coltrane

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Fred Woff

Cover photo by Baptiste Boiron

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Edward Perraud - Espaces (2018)

« Retrouver une mystique des intervalles et ses mouvements secrets », telle est l’ambition d’Edward Perraud, batteur et compositeur fasciné par les correspondances entre physique et musique, astronomie et poétique. Toutes déterminées selon un intervalle précis ­(espace par où deux notes entrent en ­polarité), les quatorze compositions de ce disque s’ouvrent aussi à la synesthésie grâce aux photos et au texte de Perraud reproduits dans le livret.

Le geste est impressionnant, à la fois réfléchi et instinctif, adressé aux sens comme à l’intelligence. Pour l’accomplir, Perraud s’en est remis à Paul Lay (piano) et Bruno Chevillon (contrebasse), deux musiciens dont la grâce s’accorde à merveille à sa propre finesse d’esprit et de jeu. La musique d’Espaces ne s’analyse pas, elle se reçoit avec le sentiment d’une hauteur particulière, d’une étrangeté qui n’exclut pourtant pas le familier, comme si son écoute permettait de retrouver un signal autrefois proche, depuis longtemps perdu.

Ce mystère « si loin, si proche » incessamment con­voqué par le trio se révèle d’une grande beauté qui ne s’estompe jamais, tout au long de cet album majeur.

Edward Perraud © Maarit Kytoharju

Edward Perraud, batterie et compositions

Paul Lay, piano

Bruno Chevillon, contrebasse

1 Élévation 00:03:20

2 Collapse 00:06:43

3 Tone It Down 00:05:35

4 Melancholia 00:04:31 

5 Space Time 00:04:42

6 Tocsin 00:06:58

7 Sixième sens 00:01:57 

8 La dernière carte 00:03:31 

9 Just One Dollar 00:06:49 

10 Cinéma 00:03:06 

11 Laps 00:03:54

12 L'âge d'or 00:06:46

13 Hiatus 00:03:16

14 Singularity 00:03:43

Jozef Dumoulin & Orca Noise Unit - A Beginner's Guide to Diving and Flying (YOLK RECORDS 2018)

"Orca Noise Unit is based on an anagram of —oneironautics—, which refers to the ability to travel within a dream on a conscious basis. Those who have already kept a dream journal know what it feels like to go back and read over older parts. Some dream accounts have a lot of details, others evoke not much more than just a vibe. Some can be read like a full story, whereas others have no beginning, or no end, or neither. Sometimes we were genuinely lucid at the moment of the dream - or at least had a clear perception of things - whereas at other moments we were totally immersed in the projected reality.

But together the stories always make sense in a very particular way that is difficult to describe. When I was putting this record together I understood at some point that this was the perfect image for what I was trying to do. The feeling I got when listening to the whole of the final versions of the songs was very similar to the one I get when I’m dealing with my own dream world and my dream journal.

This was a new sensation for me. I let it be the guide for the final adjustments of the music and I’m very happy and excited to have been able to turn that atmosphere into a musical form.”

“This record is dedicated to the loving memory of my father, Jacques Dumoulin.”

1 As Above, So Below 5'15"

2 The Garden 3'42"

3 Imagined Rotation 1'40"

4 The Hand 3'18"

5 Second Room 2'27"

6 Little Lemon 4'36"

7 Mild 5'06"

8 Peering And Palpation 0'55"

9 Breathing Under Water 2'26"

10 The Bristlecone Pine 2'46"

11 The Other Side Of The Month 6'12"

12 Something About A Horse 0'26"

13 Little Flower Expanding 4'56"

14 Acknowledgements 1'38"

15 As Below, So Above 6’16"

Jozef Dumoulin - piano, percussion

Sylvaine Hélary - flutes

Antonin Tri Hoang - saxophone, clarinete, percussion

Bruno Chevillon - bass

Tom Gouband - percussions

YOLK RECORDS