Baptiste Trotignon makes a grand return to the jazz trio format with an album dedicated to British pop. From The Beatles to Radiohead, Queen, and The Rolling Stones, the French pianist demonstrates his arranging talents by adapting the greatest melodies from a legendary repertoire, accompanied by Matt Penman on double bass and Greg Hutchinson on drums.
“BREXIT MUSIC is not a political album! But its title — which came to me long after the idea for the repertoire — probably contains a certain taste for derision, which is ultimately quite British: in the end, art will survive all social whims!
Above all, I wanted a very fresh, playful sound here, lots of groove and a bit of humor... A real game, in a way, but done seriously! The intense presence of Matt [Penman] and Greg [Hutchinson] contributed greatly to this.
Covering a well-known song is common among jazz musicians, and like many others, I’ve often done it in small touches, but the idea of an entire album exclusively centered around British pop music was not straightforward: remaining vibrant and “fun” without lyrics, with the often very simple material of the songs, and even if most of them happily and excitingly accompanied my teenage years, it’s a challenge!
And then, little by little, especially by exploring the 70s, a crazy period of creativity, I got into the game, sometimes arranging-disrupting the melodies with the language most familiar to me, and sometimes simply playing them as they are, and then it's the simple sound of the acoustic jazz trio of piano/double bass/drums that creates the surprise.
Jazz and pop musicians (rock, chanson, etc.) have sometimes been like old, somewhat rival enemy brothers... And yet, in both worlds, we hear the same sublime violence and this very demanding thirst for freedom, simply expressed in very different ways.
Jazz was a very popular and revolutionary music long before the arrival of rock exuberance, whose animality — which I adore! — contrasted with so-called more learned music, of which jazz is a part with its complex harmonies and rhythms.
Why not try to combine the two? Keeping in mind this form of amorous and poetic resistance common to ALL music.”
Baptiste Trotignon, May 2023
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