Henri Texier

Henri Texier, double bass player, multi-instrumentalist traces his path, record after record since 1967. The more the years pass, the more the importance and the originality of Henri Texier impose themselves on all the musicians, fellow travelers, or not. A wonderful combination of a great tradition of double bass and a modernism that has never been frightened of anything. Time passing seems to have no hold on his game: round, powerful and above all animated by an extraordinary awareness of rhythm. A high-flying cast and a sequence of scenes and landscapes that give the listener the certainty of a global scenario.

Return Henri Texier, legend of the transalpine jazz, with the last mutation of the group started with Francois Corneloup to the baritone and the son Sébastien to the contralto. The two saxophonists were in the organic of the Strada Sextet ((V) ivre, Label Bleu 2005), they animated the most recent Hope Quartet (with the drummer Louis Moutin) and we find them together here, next to the guitarist Nguyen Le and the pianist Armel Dupas.

French double-bass master Henri Texier has partnered some of the greatest of jazz legends over the decades, but in mid-life he developed his own evocative, north African-influenced world-jazz, often with his fine reeds-playing son, Sébastien. Unmistakable and tireless adventurer-explorer, the musician Henri Texier releases a new album, "Sand Woman", as one sends a postcard during a long trip. More than fifty years that it lasts … and the news that it sends us are always splendid, exotic, full of risks and adventures. Today he intends to pay tribute to women and preserve nature.

Henri Texier, contrebassiste, multi-instrumentiste trace sa route, disque après disque depuis 1967. En faisant moins attention, on pourrait croire que cet ensemble impressionnant de productions discographiques raconte une carrière, alors qu’il dessine surtout une oeuvre, puissante et admirable. L’oeuvre d’un musicien qui s’est toujours tenu aux avant-postes de la musique qui s’invente, l’oeuvre d’un artiste inquiet et sensible, à l’écoute du monde. Plus les années passent, plus l’importance et l’originalité d’Henri Texier s’imposent à tous les musiciens, compagnons de route, ou pas.

Ce n’est pas parce que l’on est un monument national du jazz que l’on se sclérose pour autant ! Tout au long de sa vie, Henri Texier n’a eu de cesse d’approfondir son art, notamment en s’ouvrant aux jeunes. Parce qu’il a su leur donner une chance à leurs débuts, celle qui consiste à se confronter en direct à l’histoire du jazz (Henri Texier a joué avec Chet Baker, Bud Powell, Joe Lovano, Paolo Fresu, ou dans le cultissime European Rhythm Machine de Phil Woods), de nombreux artistes, aujourd’hui reconnus, savent combien ils lui doivent (Bojan Z, François Corneloup, Julien Lourau…). Et, à soixante-dix ans, le contrebassiste n’est pas près d’arrêter, comme le prouve la présence du jeune et brillant Armel Dupas dans Sky Dancers, sa plus récente formation. Avec un guitariste électrique tous terrains et un batteur aussi raffiné qu’il peut être explosif, Sky Dancers est sans aucun doute l’un des événements du jazz français actuel à ne rater sous aucun prétexte !

Free and open minds and quiet temperament, Daniel Erdmann (tenor saxophone) and Christophe Marguet (drums) have naturally found themselves in a face-to-face formula, in 2010 for fun and very seriously in 2012 to record the album "Together Together" published in 2014 (Abalone), one of our favorites that year. So we find them together, surrounded by two of their most faithful contrabassist friends: Henri Texier and Claude Tchamitchian.

Here is an exceptional album, released on the occasion of the anniversary concert of 30 years of the label amiénois. To celebrate this date, the label offered a carte blanche to this musician faithful among all who recorded about twenty albums on Blue label, namely the bassist Henri Texier. For the occasion, he was accompanied by some friends of European jazz, old companions like Michel Portal, Bojan Z. but also improvisers who contributed more recently to the history of the label, as Xavier de Pourquery. Not to mention the talented Manu Codjia, Edward Perraud who contribute in their own way to renew, prolong the spirit of this original French label.

A Revelation!
There are groups that one constructs painstakingly, one element at a time, and then there are those that just spring up on you, like an epiphany. This is truly the first time that a group simply crept up from behind and surprised me! Unexpectedly gathered together during a residency offered to Sébastien Texier by L`improviste, a welcoming club located on a Paris barge, this Quartet spontaneously found itself “in orbit” at equal distances around a common sphere.

The Label Bleu give us back to one of those productions that made her famous in the late and early millennium. Who does not remember such works as “Carnet de Route”, “Suite Africaine” and most recently “African Flashback”? Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis and Henry Texier, are once again the protagonists, though surrounded by three genuine stars of contemporary jazz that is not risky to qualify as a co-star in this 3 + 3.