Ceccaldi

A Roberto Negro album is never something predictable or easily labeled; we had taken note of it a couple of years ago, listening to his piano alone, Kings and Bastards, we come back to observe it in his new work in which once again he puts together a very original, changeable and surprising work. He does so by expanding the already tested Dadada trio—with which he had published (Saison 3—) to a quartet, adding Valentin Ceccaldi's electric bass to his historic collaborators Emile Parisien on soprano sax and Michele Rabbia on drums and electronics, working on eight compositions of his own hand.

French theater maker Louis Jouvet once said : “L’improvisation ça ne s’improvise pas”, meaning that improvisation can only be done properly with lots of preparation and practice, and that is what you get here. Music that at first hearing sounds like modern classical music, composed, well-structured, balanced, with lyrical lines and interactions that could only be the result of carefully annotated written music. But listen - and think - again. The dynamics, the tension, the rawness and authenticity, the inventiveness, the liveliness you hear, can only be the result of improvisation: it is the music coming out of more than one mind, or one heart, the music that creates itself on the spot, out of the tension and the harmony between two people, full of confidence in each other, musically and technically, two musicians who have something to tell. It is a personal story. Two personal stories of likeminded people merged into one.

Historically, there have been many variations on the line-up of a jazz trio. But as the piano-led model becomes somewhat ubiquitous any alternatives are more than welcome. Herman/Ceccaldi/Darrifourcq is a breath of fresh air in small group improvisation, as the uncommon textural palette created by saxophone, cello, drums and electronics reveals the maximum possibilities of what some might call a minimal set up.

On "Tribute To Lucienne Boyer", the formation is dedicated to the pieces of French singer Lucienne Boyer, who was discovered as a singer in 1916 at the age of 13 years and in the first 30 years of the 20th century in cabarets, including the Théâtre de L 'Athénée, Concordia, L'Eldorado and even sang on Broadway in New York. The Broadway attitude is also omnipresent on the upcoming tribute album. Flahault breathes, scratches and sings passionately through the eight tracks, cello, piano, trombone and clarinet support her powerfully and lively.

An unusual and captivating work from the trio of saxophonist Alexandra Grimal, double bassist Benjaim Duboc, and cellist Valentin Ceccaldi, leading their album with tracks from "Respirer l'ombre" by Giuseppe Penone "spontaneously used without permission but with great admiration," leading to powerful and unpredictable directions in free improvisation; excellent.

What is the use of limiting one's imagination to what one already knows? This question, posed by the character incarnated by Robin Mercier, is central to the artistic approach of Valentin Ceccaldi and the Grand Orchester du Tricot. Atomic Sputnik is like a kid's dream put into music, a dreamlike journey in which one follows, in parallel, the odyssey in the space of a child and the spatial fantasy of an adult having visibly refused the constraints of the world. Quite a bit of narration strictly speaking, but the interventions of Robin Mercier and André Robillard suggest this duality within this ambitious fresco where clash the naive melodies and the contemporary bursts.