Hamaika Digipack

Description

Jean-Marie Ecay is a French guitarist, born in 1962 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France).
He has participated in numerous albums and concerts of artists such as Didier Lockwood, Billy Cobham, Randy Brecker, Gino Vannelli, Claude Nougaro, Richard Galliano, Carlos Benavent, Eddy Louiss. Since 2006 he has been playing in the band of the legendary Billy Cobham. JME is recognized for his eclecticism. Since his professional beginnings in Spain with Itoiz, through the Lubat company, he has regularly worked with artists such as Didier Lockwood, Richard Galliano, Alain Caron, Carlos Benavent, Eddy Louiss, Eric Lelann, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Claude Nougaro, or Terez Montcalm and has been a studio musician for artists such as Jacques Higelin, Mylene Farmer, Joan Baez, Barbara, .. JME is credited on more than 200 albums. Some foreign artists like Randy Brecker, Gino Vannelli, Eddy Gomez, Alex Acuna, or Stanley Clarke have solicited JME for occasional collaborations, live or studio, during their visits to Europe. In 2015 he participated in the tour "Autour de la guitare" of Jean Felix Lalanne alongside, among others, Larry Carlton and Robben Ford.
"Hamaika" is his 4th album as a leader. He is accompanied by Michel Charbonnel on double bass and André Charlier on drums.
After the recent album of compositions "Gemini mode" recorded in trio, and released in 2014, Jean-Marie Ecay immediately went back into the studio with the same team. The idea was to take advantage of this momentum of musical and human complicity, with his two accomplices (one of the best rhythm sections on the French jazz scene) to realize a project he had been nurturing for years: An album of standards.
Aware that the majority of jazz artists, in order to fit into the tradition, have revisited standards sooner or later throughout their careers, Jean-Marie felt that it was the right time to tackle this perilous exercise as the comparisons are numerous.
Among the 9 tracks, there are 7 American jazz standards, arranged by Jean-Marie as well as two compositions "Hamaika" by JM Ecay and "Juggling in central park" by Benoît Sourisse.
The trio reaches its full maturity on this album. The collective interaction, the fluidity of the improvisations, and the overall impression that emerges from this CD, give Jean-Marie a legitimacy and an identity that places him, without complexes, in the lineage of jazz guitar trios of these illustrious peers.