HETEROKLITE LOCKDOWN (vinyl)

Description

When he joined the story, a lot of work had already been done on arranging the repertoire, but from the very first rehearsal the drummer found his place, contributing his rigor, imagination, and knowledge of timbre. 'In this type of setup, where the slightest impact of a stick on a cymbal, the slightest intonation of a snare drum suddenly take on crucial importance in the balance of the collective discourse, being like him, both solid and precise, proved to be a valuable asset in developing a group sound.' Very quickly, the idea of revisiting a handful of standards that had entered the collective imagination far beyond the circle of jazz enthusiasts ('Round About Midnight,' 'What Is This Thing Called Love?', 'Besame Mucho'), and resurrecting a few gems buried in the rich catalog of the bassist's themes ('Fertile Danse' created in 1998 on the album 'Mosaïc Man' and 'Islaz,' the eponymous title of a mythical recording by the Transatlantic Quartet released ten years earlier...), the three men decided to each add a new composition of their own. If Sébastien Texier's 'Take Your Time,' Gautier Garrigue's 'Forest Forgive Them,' and Henri Texier's 'Bacri's Mood' integrate so naturally into the program, it's because beyond their obvious intrinsic melodic qualities, the direct and unpretentious way the trio approaches them, just like the others, by resolutely delving into the heart of the song, gives the whole an undeniable aesthetic unity. 'I wanted to place this recording under the sign of two values that I find increasingly essential in any art form: precision and simplicity! It reveals itself in an obvious way, in my opinion, in the direct approach we chose to play the melodies! We never sought to show off with frills, arabesques, and comments; we always remained faithful to the letter, staying as close as possible to the song and the poetry of the composition. When a melody is beautiful, you have to respect it; that's the best way to touch the emotion it holds. But this choice of simplicity is a real risk. An incredible challenge!' This challenge, if admirably met throughout in a powerfully collective way, nevertheless largely rests on the shoulders of Sébastien Texier, whose nuanced beauty of his alto saxophone's fluted timbre, as well as his highly controlled way of combining formal rigor, expressive intensity, and lyrical imagination in the heat of improvisation, have perhaps never been heard better than in this album. 'This is an album for which I take full responsibility as a leader, but which was conceived in close collaboration with the other two members of the trio and is based on a true common discourse. It is collectively that, to fully realize this ode to melody, we placed Sébastien in the position of the singer, highlighting his lyricism. Throughout, he finds himself in a situation where he carries the melody alone and develops it in his improvisations, and the way he takes on this responsibility by choosing to play only alto saxophone for the first time on a record and assuming total freedom of expression touches me greatly!' And indeed, constantly inventive, wholeheartedly engaged in the core of the melody with an airy phrasing often evoking, through its fluidity, its sense of space, and its discreet elegance, the ghost of the great West Coast jazz stylists, Sébastien Texier not only gives the whole its general color and its very particular emotional intensity but also displays in these passages a new authority and serenity that undeniably place him among the best European saxophonists. Ultimately, captured without an audience in live conditions on the Triton stage, this music, which on paper could have appeared austere in its ascetic nakedness, nostalgic, and self-referential in its choice to revisit a repertoire partly composed of standards and old compositions, reveals itself in spirit and gesture to be entirely open and lively—extraordinarily contemporary and embodied in living totally in the present. 'What we feel in this album is the initial impulse: we had no argument to defend; no justification to give; no concept to embody; no extra-musical story to defend or illustrate—we just made music as a survival reflex, for the beauty of the gesture!' Pure music, bare music, free music --- Stéphane Ollivier ---.