With subtlety, delicacy and finesse, Laurent Bonnot puts the electric bass at the heart of his musical discourse. It replaces the so-called “harmonic” instruments and gives the project a resolutely atypical aesthetic.
But it is especially the repertoire of Songs for Louisa that is innovative. The project could be defined as a transposition in music of the literary movement OuLiPo (Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec…). There is here an asserted will to push back the limits of jazz improvisation. The complex metrics change every measure, and the incessant modulations, lead the listener to no longer find his way around any predefined stylistic knowledge without getting lost.
Cannibal Penguin is a comic and sarcastic French power trio of fuck metal and punk rock. Although made up of very various tracks, the album Cannibal Penguin Ne Sait Pas aims for an overall coherence around the theme of the unknown, uncertainty and wandering. In an era where many pretend to know and cling to a few ideological, militant or scientific certainties, Cannibal Penguin states on the contrary that it understands nothing and is lost, totally lost……
Why “ONE PAGE”? Each of the compositions of the jazz album fits on a single page…or almost. For Haboyan Pallaro, it means going to the essential with spontaneity and creativity. With more than thirty years of experience in jazz, more than half of which were spent on common projects, composers Didier Haboyan and Claudio Pallaro affirm their sincere passion for music and offer with “ONE PAGE” an unpredictable album by a incredible quintet.
Back to the roots for Jay and the Cooks!
Blues, Rock, Country, we get a peek of the atmosphere of the Black Keys. At times it’s the shadow of Nick Cave that appears or the breath of a disillusioned Tom Waits.
The sexagenarians don’t beat around the bush: they express themselves loud and strong without digression, the subjects are simple and direct with tracks like “Poor Everybody” or “Dried up Hearts”. All the songs are inspired by real life stories or very close to reality.
MY ZOMBIE GIRL is a humanistic Country Rock album, near Bluegrass and Roots music as psychedelic rock, by Missri and friends. For this crazy project, singer, banjoist, guitarist, author, and composer Missri is surrounded by many artists including Barry “The Fish” Melton. A kaleidoscopic sound journey where we find major influences such as Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Lyle Lovett, or Deroll Adams.
Singer-songwriter-guitarist Paul Péchenart, well known on the rock scene with his legendary band (the Dogs), offers a simple and modern album, lyrics that sound. The sincerity, the frankness and the clarity of his words allow us to listen with our eyes closed and then to find our way.
Ce Que Tanguer Veut Dire is a rock album, alternative, soft and natural.
Vicki Rummler makes giant strides with her bucolic folk composed outdoors during a stay at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park (Michigan). After forays into the jazz sphere in the last ten years, or with the Grandes Gueules, Vicki Rummler returns to her first loves, folk, and offers us a personal, refined and intimate album.
Laurent Mignard Duke Orchestra
Duke Ellington loved women who returned the sentiment; this passion for womankind inspired his oeuvre throughout his long career. The Duke Ladies are those whom he frequented, whose portraits he painted or who sang for him, embellished with subtle and refined arrangements. His music paid homage to them with tenderness and humor.
The Duke Ladies are also the sincere and passionate feminine artists of our time who have come together to incarnate with talent and generosity the many facets of Ellington’s art. And since the maestro of charm considered that music is a woman, we dare to proclaim that women are the future of Duke! With Duke Ladies, Laurent Mignard Duke Orchestra proposes a wide instrumental and vocal range in homage to the feminine gent. Eight invited artists like Natalie Dessay, Rhoda Scott and Roberta Gambarini join the jazzwomen of the orchestra to embody with talent and generosity the multiple facets of Ellingtonian elegance.
«Best classical jazz recordings 2021» by Jazz Academy (L’Académie du Jazz)
Laurent Mignard Duke Orchestra
Music is a beautiful woman in her prime,
Music is a scrubwoman, clearing away
the dirt and grime.
Music is a girl child,
Simple, sweet and beaming,
A thousand years old,
Cold as sleet, and scheming.
In search of the perfect balance of the sounds and with an impeccable swing, Laurent Mignard Duke Orchestra embodies the spirit of Ellington in today’s body (Télérama). And since the maestro did not leave scores, he meticulously transcribed the repertoire from the original recordings, that his dream-team of soloists appropriated themselves in interpretations both respectful and creative. A work of goldsmith (Jazz magazine).
Seven invited artists like Natalie Dessay, Rhoda Scott and Roberta Gambarini join the jazzwomen of the orchestra to embody with passion and generosity the multiple facets of Ellingtonian elegance.
Hong is a delicate, subtle and very original album. The “traditional” jazz Big Band is revisited. The flute and the oboe replace the trumpets, the clarinet, the soprano saxophone and the bass clarinet replace the saxophones and the horns take the place of the trombones. Counterpoint, modern compositional techniques (musical palindrome) as well as the contribution of the Sonata form (bi-thematic, tri-thematic) are the foundation of Arteskor Orkestra.
The album can be listened to like watching great cinema. The casting is dreamy, the scenes follow one another, the dialogues are rich, the emotions are flowing. The whole thing is projected meticulously, carefully and passionately.
VOGUE LA GALERE is a playful, spontaneous and invigorating album. Missri transports us with such lightness, a certain recklessness, in imaginary lands.
All the songs are about some situations Missri hd been confronted to but he never unveils completely his presence. He talks about love almost everywhere. The album is full of folk songs, with some bluegrass. Some simples melodies follow each other with a well organized orchestration.
LE COEUR SEC is a full French album by JAY AND THE COOKS. Original songs by Jay Ryan except one cover by Serge Gainsbourg.
All the songs tell stories inspired by real life stories or pretty close to reality. Jay Ryan takes a look at society through the eyes of an American that has lived for more than 30 years in France, who reads the New York Times and Le Parisien every day, devours books, loves cooking French cuisine and walks daily through his disfigured suburban Parisian neighborhood.