Laurent Colson

It isn’t uncommon for musicians to use literature as inspiration for their compositions. The methods by which musicians approach this task differ not only from the artist’s individual style but also that of the writer whose work they will aurally illustrate. On their new Sunnyside release, saxophonist Miguel Zenón and pianist Laurent Coq challenge themselves to capture the breadth of character, form and perspective of Argentinean writer Julio Cortázar’s masterwork, Rayuela.

Five years after recording the live album that earns the Grand Prix Charles Cros Award ((Live@the Duc des Lombard/Cristal Records), it was about time to document the evolution of this atypical band with this second album of the Blowing Trio, the sixth under my name.

Robert Schumann’s Sonatas for violin and piano have been a part of our repertoire for many years. The more intimately we get to know them, the more we realize how much they are the unfiltered reflection of a troubled personality, very human, at the mercy of his contradictions, joys and sorrows. This is what makes these works endearing but also, at times, disconcerting (especially so in the case of the 3rd Sonata).

Willi Apel, one of the great twentieth-century experts on harpsichord music, declared: ‘With d’Anglebert, French keyboard music reaches its highest point of Baroque magnificence and fulness. His skill in continuing a melody, contrapuntally interweaving voices, concatenating harmonies by way of suspensions, and always using meaningful figures as ornaments brings to a final culmination and maturity what his teacher, Chambonnières, began . . .’

French saxophonist Laurent Bardainne summons the spirit of astral jazz on heavy-grooving album, Hymne au Soleil.

After a magnificent tribute to Thelonious Monk with the same partners a few years ago, Laurent de Wilde returns to us in a trio setting with a repertoire that is entirely his own, except for a theme co-composed with his drummer Donald Kontomanou.

At Work, produced by the pianist Laurent de Wilde, it is the communion of all. This alto saxophone incandescent also recalls that jazz is not just a man's. Supported by Paul Lay on piano, Yoni Zelnik on bass and Donald Kontomanou on drums, Géraldine Laurent sign probably his most concise drive but, on arrival, his most personal and most successful. A haven of musicality where his own compositions blend to perfection in those swords named Monk, Mingus or Jobim. Brilliant.

Two musicians frequently recognized for their passion for hard-edged modern and contemporary music take on the music of modern pioneer Maurice Ravel. The Ravel piano concertos come off as brilliant and sparkling in the hands of Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Pierre Boulez, along with the Cleveland Orchestra. Boulez and the orchestra make Ravel's orchestral writing sparkle in the Concerto for Left Hand, and in the Concerto in G they highlight not only the sassy jazz references, but also the references to Stravinsky, and do it without drawing attention away from the rest of the music.