Erik Truffaz

"Mexico" is the result of an exciting collaboration between Mexican electronic artist Murcof and Swiss born French trumpet player Erik Truffaz.
Truffaz, an improvisational jazz trumpeter and Murcof, a glitchy, classically influenced ambient laptop artist are an interesting pairing to begin with. Rather than structuring each piece in a completely democratic format, Truffaz and Murcof seem to take a jazz-like approach; playing off each other and allowing each other to dominate at the appropriate places. Opener "Al Mediodia" bears the most resemblance to traditional jazz and is based on a simple, syncopated percussion track which Murcof augments with repetitive, glitchy samples here and there…

One of the great nu jazz album of year 2010. Album includes three quite different kind of compositions,very professionally (and successfully) mixed in one release. Opener composition is great slightly dreamy melodic and a bit melancholic song with soling trumpet,strongly influenced by Niels Petter Molvaer. There will be some more compositions in similar key on this album, and they are all big positive value of this release. Not too much original, they still really have their own signature ( let say Molvaer without Nordic clear cool air around and with warmer sound)…

An odd reissue of sorts, Bending New Corners combines tracks off two of trumpeter Erik Truffaz's previous albums. It is unclear why Blue Note felt the need to repackage these tracks yet again; however, here they are and they are worth a listen. Containing tracks from the sessions that produced The Mask and its European version, The Dream, Bending New Corners is a groove-oriented work that draws heavily on late-'60s and early-'70s Miles Davis.

Truffaz's quartet has been awhile, evolving considerably. It's morphed from an all-acoustic mainstream group in 1997 to a more aggressively rock-informed unit in recent years, influenced by but way less dense and angular than Miles's late-60'/early-70's electric works. These days Patrick Muller is often found feeding his Rhodes through a distortion box, with more powerful rhythms coming from bassist Marcello Giuliani and drummer Marc Erbetta. This early work keeps Erik Truffaz new approach into today's modern jazz.

Erik Truffaz, a Swiss-born French jazz trumpeter, has long acknowledged his greatest role model, Miles Davis. But the sound aesthetics of Nils Petter Molvaer also resonate in his music. With his latest album, he now takes his listeners into the darkened cinema hall and introduces them to unforgettable film classics with his music. Of course, Miles Davis' legendary theme from "Elevator to the Scaffold" is not to be missed, and compositions by Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota and others can also be heard. Jazz and cinema have always cross-fertilised each other and left lasting impressions, and Erik Truffaz now continues this tradition in a modern way.

Erik Truffaz’ sweet, open trumpet tone reveals the influence of a 1970s Miles Davis. The Fender Rhodes with echo serves to drive that message home. Most of the compilation employs acoustic bass and a tasteful drummer in the mainstream jazz tradition. However, it’s the French trumpeter’s intimacy with Davis’ fusion periods that takes center stage. From the small town of Gex, ten miles from the French/Swiss border, Truffaz got his early training working with his father’s dance band. His formal training came later at the Geneva Conservatoire where the trumpeter studied composition, theory and technique. Each track is an original, composed by the quartet. Truffaz wrote "Betty," a light, lyrical waltz with open trumpet, acoustic piano and acoustic bass. A vocal-like trumpet message becomes soaked in the piano’s overlapping harmony.

The album is a delight. Especially for Indrani Mukherjee's wonderful singing and Apurba Mukherjee tabla-playing. But Malcolm Braff's sympathetic piano-playing and Truffaz' mainstream trumpet accents add a nice jazz flavor to the music which fits really well. Real fans of traditional Indian music will possibly be frustrated by the intrusion of the piano and the trumpet, and true, the record is really carried musically by the Mukherjees, yet the combination works well. There are three studio performances, and two pieces that were recorded live at the Cully Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Truffaz and Braff spent two months in Kolkata (Calcutta) studying Indian music with the Mukherjees, then inviting them for a tour in Europe.