Reviews that mention Valentin Ceccaldi
September 5, 2017
August 22 to August 26, 2017 A consistent French tradition like chewy baguettes, fine Camembert or Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Mulhouse, France’s Météo Festival, now in its 35th year, continues to present exemplary musicians in concert, without the program ever becoming homogeneous. What this means is that while the festival which took place August 22-August 26, was introduced and reached a climax with absorbing and innovative with sets by veteran Imptov saxophonists Evan Parker and Peter Brötzmann, performances which encompassed minimalism, hard-core Free Jazz, electronics, Rock, notated and folkloric music were part of the schedule.
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July 18, 2017
Garibaldi Plop
Triocollectif Trico 08
Eve Risser/Benjamin Duboc/Edward Perraud
En Corps Generation
Dark Tree: Records D107
Time-honored but tractable, the piano-bass-drums trio has been an intricate part of Jazz since the late 1940s, with its appropriately balanced triangle of sounds making it ideal for concepts ranging from Oscar Peterson’s precision to The Necks experimentation. Like Gallic reimagining of American film noir, two made-in-France trios are some of the most recent to expand on this formula. And like varied theories of viniculture each creates its product in a unique, though electrifying form. MORE
October 16, 2016
Can You Hear Me?
Ayler Records AYLCD-146
Never content to stand still – often literally – French double bassist Joëlle Léandre’s music can be likened to the epistemological studies of pre-modern scientists. From her beginnings she didn’t feel that mastery of any one discipline meant she had to abjure from others. She demonstrated that by sidestepping from interpreting scores to improvising. During almost four decades she has usually expressed her skills in smaller ensembles. Now with Can You Hear Me she has turned to a large scale composition, played by a 10-piece orchestra. MORE
January 1, 2016
Invite Maris
BeCoq 09
Cuir
Chez Ackenbush
Fou Records FR-CD 08
Despite easing into the 21st Century, the Jazz business still operates in a similar fashion to Hollywood with Americentrism paramount. Foreign musicians exist, but only if they play with Americans or have moved to the United States. Meanwhile like unique wild flowers that only spout in native soils, improvisers are coming to maturity in their own countries. Take France for instance. Although Cuir and Walabix are ensembles staffed with young French musicians, both are little known outside the Gallic borders. MORE
July 26, 2015
Marcel et Solange Invite Samuel Blaser
Tomate et parapluie
TrioCollectif Trio CD 4
Utilizing the blustery timbres from versatile Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser to add ballast to a program of originals, the young French trio (sic) Marcel et Solange aims for more dramatic contrasts on their newest CD. Together since 2011, saxophonist/clarinetist Gabriel Lemaire, cellist Valentin Ceccaldi and drummer Florian Satche ably demonstrate that like outstanding cooking and eccentric politicians, musical invention and experimentation are still at a premium in France.
Well-integrated in a group identity, the three are also part of the 10-member Trio Collectif – there seems to be a pattern here – which like similar national associations spend time moving in and out of each other’s bands. This sense of familiarity may be the set’s limitation however as the foursome runs through the nine originals, all composed by either Lemaire or Ceccaldi. As a trio Marcel et Solange express musical closeness. But the vivid aural colors expressed by Blaser’s technical skill appear to call for more rhythmic and melodic tinctures on the trio’s part which aren’t forthcoming. So like bucolic pictures hanging on the wall of a comfortable parlor, the majority of the tunes on this CD end up being shaded in neutral pastels. That’s probably also why the saxophonist’s “Marceline” makes such a forceful impression. A tango borne along on guitar-like plucking from Ceccaldi and with a clarinet lead as clean as rustic air space, it almost doesn’t need the additional hues provided by Blaser’s mellow grace notes. MORE
August 1, 2014
Jazzdor-Strasbourg-Berlin 2014
By Ken Waxman
The KulturBrauerei’s music space Kesselhaus in East Berlin was a fitting site for the eighth annual Jazzdor-Strasbourg-Berlin (JSB) festival June 3-6. With jazz and improvised music’s universality now a given, a festival presenting mostly French jazz taking place in what had been one of Berlin’s oldest breweries, now repurposed from industrial to artistic use, doesn’t seem that much of a stretch.
Overall its all-inclusive musical theme was confirmed by the programming of JSB’s artistic director Philippe Ochem and his team, which already host Strasbourg’s annual Jazzdor festival. Over four nights, JSB presented musician from different parts of Germany, Belgium and the US plus proudly delineated Basque and Corsican players, all of whom worked with improvisers from France’s major musical centres. MORE
May 14, 2014
Can You Smile?
Ayler Records AYLCD 136
Uri Caine Ensemble
Rhapsody in Blue
Winter & Winter 910.905-2
Samo Salamon & Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra
Free Strings Orchestrology
KGOSF VD 013
Nils Wogram & Root 70 with strings
Riomar
Wog Records 007
Vijay Iyer
Mutations
ECM CD 2372
Something In The Air: Innovative Writing for Strings and Improvisers
By Ken Waxman
As genres draw closer to one another, the idea of a musician from one area playing and composing a work in another area doesn’t seem so far-fetched. More importantly the sophistication of many contemporary performers means that these inter-genre excursions are triumphant rather than merely passable. One form that is being explored by improvised musicians for instance is composing for the bedrock of the so-called classical music tradition: string groupings. MORE