Jass

Description

At the outset, just a few crossing paths, a few connections, a few coincidences. Sébastien Boisseau (double bass), a longtime accomplice of Alban Darche (saxophones), who, during one of his sideman experiences, had a “musical crush” on the airy trombone of Samuel Blaser. Samuel Blaser, a Swiss musician based in Berlin, the other city where American drummer John Hollenbeck likes to set down his sticks (he teaches there at the Jazz Institute). John Hollenbeck, who happens to share the bill of the Orchestre National de Jazz with Alban Darche: the ONJ spotted their compositional talent and commissioned a program from each of them. On paper, it all seemed to hold together. What remained was to see how these four foreign elements would react once brought together in the same jar. The experiment was tried during the summer of 2011, in Berlin. A few days of meeting/testing/confrontation/exchange: promising. The American, the Swiss and the two Frenchmen felt that the experience was worth trying as a leaderless quartet, each bringing his compositions to the ensemble. A new group is born, a name to be found. John, Alban, Samuel, Sébastien go for the shortest route. The first letter of their first name: JASS. The very first word used to designate jazz. Coincidences...