The Summer Knows

Description

Back to basics for Franck Amsallem with The Summer Knows, his eleventh album which, after his very first recording Out a Day with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Bill Stewart in 1990, and Summer Times with Johannes Weidenmuller and Joe Chambers in 2003, reconnects with this magical isosceles trio formula. It is the very first time he has played and recorded with these two young New York musicians often associated with singer Cecile McLorin Salvant: David Wong, an economical and precise bassist with a flowing musicality, and Kush Abadey, a present, powerful and delicate drummer. This record was recorded “the old-fashioned way” in a single day in New York, in Queens, at Samuraï studio; its repertoire celebrates cover tunes, timeless themes drawn from the Babelian memory of standards and two film scores with refined French melodies (“Un été 42” by Michel Legrand and “La chanson d’Hélène” by Philippe Sarde) which are revisited/reinvented in situ. There are mainly first takes. Here, technique does not detract from the music. No booth isolating the drummer and hindering the trio’s collective playing. No headphones to adjust, just a fragile balance to establish. The three musicians are together, very together. Primordial interplay, essential, that state of collective osmosis that links minds and gestures. Immediate, organic relationship to the music. Freshness of the moment. Melodies alternately suave with a pervasive melancholy and invigorating. Wandering improvisations on the edge of chance under control. Pervasive interplay. Densities and intensities of sound. Burning and brilliant beauties. Franck Médion