Artist.......: Christophe Dal Sasso
Album........: Exploration
Label........: NOCTURNE JAZZ
Genre........: Jazz
Catnr........: NTCD388
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Feb-15-2007
str.date.....: Mar-27-2006
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. No Fly Zone 05:07
02. Parcours 13:19
03. Piano Solo 00:50
04. Relentless 07:18
05. Deux Nouvelles 07:39
06. Invocation 13:43
07. New Group 07:06
08. Exploration 08:01
Runtime 63:03 min
Size 91,7 MB
Release Notes:
Christophe Dal Sasso, diplome d'etude superieure
d'Arrangement - Composition - Orchestration
(Medaille d'Or) au C.I.M de Paris, premier prix
d'orchestre du Concours de Jazz a La Villette en
1992, est aussi un professeur, un trompettiste et
flutiste de talent. Reconnu pour ses collaborations
avec les freres Belmondo - Hymne au soleil - et sur
le projet de David El-Malek - Music From Source -,
et bien qu'il vienne de sortir son premier disque
en leader - Ouverture -, il est deje parti vers une
autre aventure.
La musique proposee avec ce nouveau groupe en nonet
est issue du travail effectue au cours de ces dix
dernieres annees sur la musique du XXe siecle.
Influence par les compositeurs tels que Ravel,
Debussy, Faure , Lili Boulanger, Bela Bartok,
Stravinsky ou Henri Dutilleux, l'idee de ce projet
est de melanger une ecriture sophistiquee avec les
racines du jazz, en y incorporant des plages
d'improvisation.
Neanmoins, pour lui, l'essence du jazz etant le
groove, l'instrumentation choisie lui a permis
d'ecrire des melanges de timbres proches de la
musique classique, tout en ayant des solistes hors
pair et mis en valeur. On pourrait dire que cet
orchestre se rapproche des formations de Charles
Mingus ou Georges Russell, avec quelques couleurs a
la Gil Evans. Le but etant de faire voyager
l'auditeur a la frontiere des deux mondes tout en
restant accessible.
Le jazz francais est bien vivant et avance de belle
maniere. (CITIZEN JAZZ)
The story goes that flautist/bandleader Christophe
dal Sasso, in his tireless quest for new sonorities
for his arranging tasks, absorbed the lessons of
saxophonist Dave LiebmanÆs treatise A Chromatic
Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody. Onstage some
time later with a big band at ParisÆs Sunset
nightclub, he applied those lessons to an
arrangement of Woody ShawÆs ôLittle Red Fantasyö;
and who should be in the audience but Liebman
himself, who hears something oddly familiar in the
groupÆs sound. Liebman would sit in with the band,
thus beginning a collaboration whose fullest
fruition is this disc.
The dal Sasso/Liebman relationship here is
analogous to that between Gil Evans and Miles
Davis, or more likely Palle Mikkelborg and Davis on
the latterÆs Aura (CBS, 1985): while the first is
the composer-arranger and the second is the star
soloist, it's also the case that the star has
influenced the composer-arranger. Liebman
furthermore contributes a pair of longer
compositions (in addition to his short Piano
Solo). The saxophonist's Relentless, highlighted
by his sparse soprano sax solo, features a
memorable ostinato melodic figure, around which
rhythmic improvisation is embroidered, much like
the approach favored by Paul Motian on several of
his recent projects.
Liebman's playing is characteristically strong,
particularly his soprano sax breaks on No Fly
Zone and Invocation. But he does not overshadow
the other excellent players here: notably,
trumpeter/buglist Yoann Loustalot's limpid lines on
Parcours and Relentless, and Thomas Savy's bass
clarinet on New Group.
And dal Sasso, as the principal composer and
arranger, may possess the most significant voice of
all. The compositions betray the influence of
twelve-tone serialism (eg. Invocation, New
Group), the arrangements a relentless quest for
fresh instrumental combinations. These and other
intellectual touches come across not as academic,
but as fresh and approachable.
For many listeners, French jazz in 2006 will be
marked by three exceptional large-ensemble records
that mix fairly cerebral composition and
arrangement with highly entertaining soloing and
overall execution. The Martial Solal Newdecaband's
Exposition sans tableau (Nocturne, 2006) sits at
the brainier end of that continuum, while Antoine
Herve's Road Movie (Nocturne, 2006) is more of a
rousing crowd-pleaser. Exploration strikes a lovely
balance between these extremes and is probably the
best of the lot.