Deadjazz (Plays The Music of the Grateful Dead)

Description

The cream of French Jazz takes charge of The Grateful Dead’s repertoire! Less a tribute than an interpretation, less a reworking than a resurrection, Deadjazz brings the music of the Grateful Dead, the mythical band of the psychedelic years, back to life. Drawing from a cult repertoire, carried by musicians who, around the Belmondo brothers, have forged unbreakable bonds for decades, this collective project feels like an immersion in a crucial moment in music history: when jazz was electrified by the rhythms of rock and rock was freed from the constraints of the song through improvisation. Developed around a mirrored two-keyboard setup, like the two guitars at the heart of the Grateful Dead machine, this adventure vibrates to the sound of the distorted tones of Fender Rhodes and other Farfisa keyboards that made the sound of the sixties, masterfully driven by Laurent Fickelson and Eric Legnini. Stripping the songs down to their forms, preserving their complexity beneath their apparent simplicity, Lionel Belmondo conceived the repertoire as songs that open onto improvisation and welcome solos that tear through as much as they illuminate their frame. Carried by the drumming of Dré Pallemaerts, undisputed master of grooves, and the rock-solid double bass of Thomas Bramerie, Jerry Garcia’s songs return from the dead, resurrected by the breath of the Belmondo brothers, Lionel on fiery saxophone and Stéphane on lyrical trumpet.