Jeremy Black

Ce premier disque de Jérémy Bruger recèle de bien belles promesses, de celles qui permettent de croire en l’avenir du jazz. Ce jeune pianiste a écouté Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal mais aussi Hank Jones, Junior Mance, Ray Bryant et Kenny Drew dont il interprète quelques-uns des titres intercalés entre ses propres compositions. Puisant ainsi aux meilleures sources, Jérémy Bruger est en pleine progression et il ne tardera pas, si l’on en juge par les étincelles qui crépitent çà et là dans ses interventions, à marquer du sceau de sa personnalité un discours pianistique déjà brillant. Il en a la volonté et le talent. Il sait jouer le blues, il swingue avec aisance et possède un beau toucher. Il écoute ses partenaires et sait où il va. Il a aussi la chance de disposer avec Mourad Benhammou et Raphaël Dever, de deux complices de haute volée, de ceux que l’on aime avoir à ses côtés, et qui soutiennent remarquablement sa démarche (« Alpha »).

Jeremy Beck has created a special kind of musical world; one which combines hope with a gentle sadness and nostalgia. It is the kind that you glimpse upon waking on a Sunday morning and seeing a steady rain in the garden, knowing that you can go right back to bed. Satisfying, warm inside, and with little self-pity. His Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 may as well have been composed looking over the drenched rooftops of Paris rather than in Cedar Falls, Iowa……

The Black Art Jazz Collective's mission statement celebrates African-American cultural and political icons. At the core is a modernism that conjures up the classic bands of Art Blakey and acoustic Miles Davis. But with the contemporary soul-fueled solos and locked-in rhythm the band is more likely to launch into a counterpoint riff or the spacious funk of hip-hop than the svelte lines of a classic walking bass. The Black Art Jazz Collective delivers strong original tunes and purposeful, form-hugging improvisation that keeps things looking forward rather than back. And with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt on ebullient form, and saxophonist Wayne Escoffery's muscularity contrasting with the tenderness of James Burton III's trombone, the focus never becomes diffuse or wavers.

For its 10th anniversary release, the Black Art Jazz Collective (BAJC), hailed by DownBeat Magazine as "a powerhouse of contemporary jazz talent," offers ten exciting and unique works that speak to both artistic freedom and musical sensibility relative to the tenor of our times. The band features an all-star line-up, including founding members Wayne Escoffery, Jeremy Pelt, James Burton III, Xavier Davis and Johnathan Blake who are joined by current members Victor Gould, Rashaan Carter and Mark Whitfield Jr. Wayne Escoffery tells us, "I formed Black Art Jazz Collective as an ensemble of African American musicians, celebrating Black culture and the origins of the music through original compositions with unapologetic pride."