AWE ! (2 vinyls)

Description

'Awé' marks the end of a trilogy for Samy Thiébault. 'Caribbean Stories' was its initiatory phase, with the tenor saxophone delving into the roots of Caribbean music, as well as the dreams and scars of those who brought it to life. Between Indian inspiration and large ensembles, 'Symphonic Tales' opted for a different setting, without disavowing a constantly enriched Coltranian spirituality. 'Awé!' synthesizes, or rather 'creolizes,' these two adventures. We find the Caribbean again, but with more modern accents. In the same vein, the saxophonist extends a certain 'made in France' orchestral fervor by once again bringing in strings and woodwinds. He also fulfills an old dream: bringing along his friend, pianist Éric Legnini. At the end of this journey and a quest for self that primarily involves encounters, the saxophonist is led to make several observations, starting with the evolution of his own playing. If 'Caribbean Stories' marked a kind of catharsis in this regard ("It broke the jazz codes I had internalized for 25 years," he said at the time...), 'Awé!' extends a practice that increasingly favors lyricism over technicality. It’s the same journey, in essence, as Coltrane, the supreme reference, ultimately shedding certain baggage to achieve the obviousness of breath. Another alchemy at work is that of a 'global village' conducive to a new creative process. Much more than a simple blend, 'Awé!' once again refers to the famous 'creolization' dear to Édouard Glissant, which, according to the philosopher, responds to the 'chaos-world' with which we must replace 'thoughts uncertain of their power, thoughts of trembling.' "Jazz is a creolized unexpected," Glissant continued, "not a melting pot but a transformation where the intertwining of roots and experiences creates something new." Samy Thiébault shares this same mindset: "I've taken diverse elements—Caribbean music, modern jazz, classical—to try a new language echoing my aspiration for living together in the face of the system that governs us." How can we not also 'creolize' the world before and the world after when listening to this album? The world before, where we could travel without masks, the world after, where a future with a human face, jazzified by a borderless troubadour, would regain all its mobilizing power. And what if 'Awé!' also symbolized hope? --- Laurent Sapir ---. "A JOURNEY AS BRILLIANT AS IT IS INVENTIVE." --- JAZZ MAGAZINE ---. "The saxophonist reaches his zenith and carries us off to a marvelous elsewhere." --- TÉLÉRAMA ---. "Samy Thiébault redraws the map of the Caribbean." --- L'EXPRESS ---.