Falling Grace

Description

For the first time in a journey marked by encounters of excellence, French guitarist Romain Pilon focuses on the repertoire of standards. Unearthing rare gems from the Great American Songbook and nuggets signed by Herbie Hancock, Steve Swallow, Thelonious Monk, or Miles Davis, he releases a trio album accompanied by a master of the drums, Jeff Ballard, the regular drummer of Brad Mehldau: “Falling Grace.” With the subtlety that characterizes him, Romain Pilon has drawn the program of his seventh album from various sources, and his choice tells us a lot about him: his attachment to the foundations of be-bop and the demands of phrasing; his sensitivity to poetic deviations and the lyricism of free thinkers affiliated with the ECM label; his assimilation of the great masters of the modern guitar tradition from Jim Hall to Pat Metheny, passing through John Scofield and Grant Green. Highly regarded by his fellow guitarists, Romain Pilon belongs to that category of musicians whose reputation is based on solid values that “Falling Grace” fully showcases in the context of the trio. The music flourishes there with a simplicity that is anything but obvious. The improvisation unfolds with perfect breathing. The rhythms are clear, and the atmospheres are tinged with just the right amount of colors to have character. The presence of the great Jeff Ballard in this adventure plays a significant role, bringing the elegance of his drumming, the relevance of his rhythmic choices, the colors he draws from his set, and an infinity of nuances and dynamics that contribute to the richness of the interpretations. His total involvement in the recording is perceptible at every moment, at every strike, in perfect complicity with the Franco-Israeli double bassist Yoni Zelnik (from the Yonathan Avishai trio). Remarkably recorded, “Falling Grace” is one of those rare albums where every note seems in its place, where every phrase seems self-evident without being offered too easily. Romain Pilon showcases both his electric inclinations and his lyrical sensitivity, his rhythmic firmness and his fluid sense of phrasing, embracing the lento of a ballad with superlative class, as well as the swing held without faltering. His album asserts itself from the first listen as a classic, whose successive listens do not exhaust its beauty. An instrumentalist with an imagination as rich as it is demanding, Romain Pilon has established himself since his return to France in 2004 as one of the most remarkable guitarists in the Hexagon. A graduate of Berklee College in Boston, where he completed his studies with a meeting with Pat Metheny and a concert opening for the latter, he co-led a group with tenor David Prez, then led various formations, the most recent being the Cooper group with two keyboards. An active educator in Europe and the United States, he has recorded an album and toured in a trio with the great drummer Brian Blade. In recent years, he has also played and/or recorded with saxophonists Ben Wendel, Walter Smith III, and Seamus Blake, organist Sam Yahel, and double bassist Linda May Han Oh.