Yohan Giaume - Whisper of a Shadow (February 2021)

French Composer/Trumpeter Yohan Giaume Presents Whisper of a Shadow Opus 1, a Sonic Celebration that Traces the Musical Lineage Between Europe, Africa and America Through the Eyes of Romantic Composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Whisper of a Shadow is a Cross Cultural Project Featuring Evan Christopher, Herlin Riley, Nicholas Payton, Roland Guerin, Aaron Diehl, and More

Giaume explains, “By exploring these cultures from inside, traveling back and forth to different countries seeking the roots of the music, I started to discover pieces of the puzzle of the musical family tree and the links that interconnect the various cultures. Music is like a tree, everything is connected, every musical line or rhythm you play is the shadow of something that came from somewhere and it is fascinating to me to see how cultural heritage continues to exist after centuries of geographical transformations. It shows how music is powerful, essential in a society, and how vital it is to have continuum from the past to present time.” Giaume began in Cuba and South America, but it was New Orleans that left him rapt. “I had a strong feeling of recognizing a part of myself in that culture and city.” He also made an unexpected discovery during his journeys to the Crescent City: Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the Louisiana romantic Creole composer and pianist, had taken almost the same route in his travels as Giaume did two centuries apart. During Gottschalk’s time, he was one of the first, if not the first, American composer to inspirationally embrace Afro-Creole music. Gottschalk was heavily inspired by Afro-creole folk songs that his Haitian nanny sang to him when he was child.

Giaume discovered a song that Gottschalk never used in his compositions, although it was very familiar to him, he reimagined it as his own arrangement, sublimated by Christopher’s interpretation. In New Orleans the melody of “Lisette Quitté la Plaine,” once a very popular tune, was labeled as an Afro-creole song, but in his research Giaume discovered that the melody was originally part of the melodic repertoire used in operettas vaudevilles in France during the 18th century and the lyrics were a creole parody of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera “Le Devin du Village.” In his composition “Lez African E La” Giaume was inspired as well by another old afro-creole folk melody “Quan Patate La Cuite“ that Gottschalk used for his famous piece named “Bamboula”. In this track, Yohan pays a special homage to the enslaved that gathered on Sunday afternoon in Congo Square at Gottschalk’s era.

Another example of Giaume’s compositional process is what he did with the melody of Gottschalk’s piece titled “Morte!! (She is dead).” “One of my most powerful experiences was to attend Snooks Eaglin’s funeral in the streets of New Orleans. It is the first time I saw a funeral that celebrates a life and life, in general, with such beauty,” explains Giaume. “I was moved by the emotional strength and grace of this experience where the procession is accompanied by a riveting and soulful music. Gottschalk’s melodic lamentation sounds like a hymn and it moved me by its grace and its simplicity. That melody walked with me and infused the whole development of my composition called “Life Circle” inspired by the jazz funeral procession.”

Whisper of a Shadow in summary is much more than a musical album. It is an artistic invitation to slow down, step back from our time, enter into a journey through times and spaces, and celebrate what a multicultural experience can offer. Giaume concludes, “I found my roots through my journey in the culture of others which were entwined with so many others. We all have a shared commonality even if nothing suggests it; but to discover it, one must go out of one’s own comfort zone to explore it.”

1. Le Poète Mourant 06:49

2. Mascarade 04:48

3. Lisette 05:44

4. Cold Facts 02:54

5. The Promise of Dawn 06:12

6. Bamboula Dreams Part 1 02:01

7. Bamboula Dreams Part 2 01:53

8. Lez African E La 06:12

9. Life Circle Part 1 - Death 07:01

10. The Passage 01:20

11. Life Circle Part 2 - Birth 04:30

Yohan Giaume (Compositions / Arrangements / Musical Director / Trumpet) 

Evan Christopher (Clarinet / Collaborating partner)

Aaron Diehl (Piano)

Herlin Riley (Drums)

Roland Guerin (Bass)

Tristan Liehr (Violin)

Louis-Jean Perreau (Violin)

Emmanuel Francois (Viola)

Thomas Ravez (Cello)

Additional musicians:

Nicholas Payton (Trumpet on tracks 5, 9, 11)

Terrance Taplin (Trombone on tracks 9, 11)

Greg Hicks (Trombone on tracks 9, 11)

Matt Perrine (Tuba on tracks 9, 11)

Chuck Perkins (Spoken word / poetry and lyrics on tracks 2, 4, 6, 10, 11)

Nell Simmons, Kid Merv, Troy Sawyer, Casme Barnes, James Germain (Choir on tracks 8, 11)

Philippe Makaïa (Vocal and Percussions on track 8)

Bago Balthazar (Percussions on track 8)

Bruce Sunpie Barnes (Lyrics on track 8)

Recorded at Esplanade Studio in New Orleans 

by Misha Kachkachishvili assisted by Jesse Snider 

Recorded at Sextan Studio in Paris 

by Vincent Mahey assisted by Arthur Gouret. 

Mixed by Steve Reynolds 

Mastered by Gene Paul and Joel Kerr at G&J Audio, Union City, NJ

Artwork by Guillaume Saix

Nicholas Payton appears courtesy of Paytone Records.

Executif production by Yohan Giaume.

Produced by Life Celebration Project.

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Lucky Peterson - Tribute To Jimmy Smith (JAZZ VILLAGE 2017)

Lucky Peterson concentrates here on the Hammond B-3 organ, his favorite instrument whose warm tone refers to the songs of gospel and the hymns of soul music. To pay tribute to his mentor Jimmy Smith, he surrounded himself with virtuoso partners among whom stands the prodigy guitarist Kelyn Crapp. Throughout the album, Lucky Peterson is the repository of a long musical history rooted in the blues but very open; we find the pulsation of jazz, the groove of rhythm'n'blues and the energy of rock'n'roll.

After the remarkable The Son of a Bluesman and Live in Marciac, the new album of the American bluesman Lucky Peterson at Jazz Village is already an important and indispensable disc in his lush discography. The reason for this is twofold. First of all, Lucky Peterson plays exclusively with the Hammond B-3 organ and favors instrumental pieces, and then proposes a particularly compact instrumentation (a trio orgueguitare-drums, sometimes with the addition of a trumpet or a saxophone) through a repertoire clearly oriented towards jazz, in tribute to the great organist Jimmy Smith, with classics from his repertoire (The Sermon, The Champ), and many other surprises ...

This jazz is tinged with soul and of blues. Music that groove and could be called "jazz'n'blues," as in the old days of the vinyls of Blue Note. From 1956 to 1963, Jimmy Smith was also one of the locomotives of this label, knowing how to deploy with force and elegance swingups tracklistings resembling trains undulating in the night.

And it is precisely by the energetic and enthralling Night Train of Jimmy Forrest that starts this album, with the presence in guest of the French trumpeter Nicolas Folmer. A piece that Jimmy Smith recorded in 1966 for Verve with the majestic guitarist Wes Montgomery, and who in this new version, as well as on the whole album, sees Lucky Peterson entrust the guitar to a musician who knows how to sound its strings between jazz and funk, in the line of the great Wes ...

This is a young guitarist from San Francisco named Kelyn Crapp who, given his talent and sense of feeling, will not remain long unknown.

1 Night Train 8:44

2 The Sermon 6:30

3 The Champ 6:42

4 Jimmy Wants to Groove 6:40

5 Singin this Song 4 U 5:48

6 Jimmy's Jumpin 5:20

7 Misty 7:56

8 Back at the Chicken Shack 7:53

9 Blues for Wes 4:43

Lucky Peterson - Hammond Organ, vocals on 4 and 5

with Herlin Riley - drums

Kelyn Crapp - guitar

and Nicolas Folmer - trumpet on 1

Philippe Petrucciani - guitar on 9

Archie Shepp - sax on 4 and 8, vocals on 4

Herlin Riley - New Direction (2016)

Label: Mack Avenue

Source: Proper Music

Herlin Riley's 'New Direction', sees the New Orleans drummer with a fierce musical intelligence and prodigious skills, lead a fine group of outstanding young musicians, including players from Haiti and Jamaica. Veteran guitarist Mark Whitfield and Cuba's Pedrito Martinez on percussion are Herlin's special guests.

New Orleans ambassador of drumming, Herlin Riley has recorded with many of the bayou's favourite sons including Harry Connick Jr., Dr. John, Marcus Roberts and toured in Wynton Marsalis' band for more than six years. For 'New Direction' - his first leader date in many years - Herlin chose originals and local favorites resulting in an eclectic and heady mix. Herlin speaks of his process: "I have a radio in my head that plays melodies and tunes, then I sit down at the piano and work it out. Once you start writing and engaging in the music it takes you to different places?" hence, New Direction. Magnificent, N'awlins dipped neo-bop, funk jazz. Where will it take you?

1. New Direction     06:53
2. A Spring Fantasy     06:01
3. The Crossbar     06:44
4. The Big Banana     06:15
5. Shake Off The Dust     05:55
6. Connection To Congo Square     05:32
7. Herlin's Hurdle     07:04
8. Hiccup Smooth     07:20
9. Harlem Shuffle     07:23
10.Toottie Ma     04:35

Herlin Riley - drums
Bruce Harris - trumpet
Godwin Louis - saxophone
Emmet Cohen - piano
Russell Hall - bass
Mark Whitfield - guitar
Pedrito Martinez - congas

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