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Clarinetist Delaunay was another constant presence at AJF. Besides playing with Corneloup, she and bassist Hélène Labarrière created a chamber-improv recital at the Passerelle art space on October 7. Picking up clues from each other’s timbres as they advanced thorough a series of brief encounters, Delaunay and Labarrière shook and slithered the results every which way, with the bassist’s string-tolling providing the fleet undercurrent upon which the clarinetist could puff, project or circularly breathe patterns expressed in an individual fashion. Concluding with darker string slaps and moderated trills that mirrored each other’s narratives, the final number was a jerky, near-Dixieland foot-tapper.

Delaunay, Courtois and clarinetist Christophe Rocher played during the following afternoon’s L’Heure magnétique when Courtois’ arching slaps rarely fastened on more conventional beats. With Rocher sourcing split tones and reed bites from his small, standard, and bass clarinets, sometimes played simultaneously, the idea was tone investigation rather than idiomatic expression. Layering the exposition in three parts, the cellist’s tremolo sweeps often made common cause with dual reed puffs and trills. Eventually intimations of the Blues and bagpipe airs worked their way into the well-balanced trio mix.

Two other AJF visitors who demonstrated adaptable musical skill with contrasting styles were guitarist Richard Comte and flutist Delphine Joussein. Fittingly, the Heavy Metal side of Comte’s playing was on show back-to-back at Le Vauban October 7, when the guitarist’s Punk-Jazz ensemble Hippie Diktat with baritone saxophonist Antoine Viard and drummer Julien Chamla shared a double bill with the Band of Dogs’ Prog duo of bassist Jean-Philippe Morel and drummer Philippe Gleizes, whose guest was Joussein. Subtlety was not part of Hippie Diktat’s game plan. Viard spent most of his time – and almost all of his breath – snarling continuous blasts of weighted air. Yet this strategy dovetailed appropriately with Comte’s energetic string-strumming and Chamla’s bellicose ruffs. Still, a close listen revealed that while the trio’s constant riffing and distorted crescendos may have satisfied the headbangers in attendance, the lack of pounding percussion and time-worn repeated guitar riffs showed that Hippie Diktat considered the inside of the brain as well as its outside motion when playing.

That concept was a bit harder to discern earlier in the evening with Band of Dogs in full flight. That’s because Morel’s solos were able to suggest both lead guitar string distortion and bass guitar rhythmic anchoring until the program finally climaxed with an inflated coda of riffs, ruffs and resounds from the drummer. Constant hard blowing from the flutist amplified with pedal expansions established her place among the boisterous Rock-like intonation, though her riffs seemed more like add-ons than a full-fledged partnership with the others.

The flutist’s duet with accordionist Céline Rivoal two days later during L’Heure magnétique was altogether different. Splaying multiple textures from her instrument’s bellows, Rivoal shook out memories of rustic forest paths and Paris café soundtracks as Joussein’s melodic hollering helped move the two into unexpected sonic territory. As percussive as horse-hooves’ echoes in her draughts, or with barely there whispers, Joussein helped shake the duet into sampling various satisfying pitches and tempos. Similarly, Comte’s opening-day L’Heure magnétique concert was also a study in contrast with his Hippie Diktat work. Affiliated with the drums of Nicolas Pointard, the guitar and synthesizer of Baptiste Martin de Frémont, and the voice, keyboards and synthesizer of Romane Rosser, that day’s set was an instance of mesmerizing minimalism. Repeating atmospheric string riffs nearly endlessly from both plectrumists led to the group’s promulgation of time suspension.

Now that it has attained late-adolescent confidence, this year’s AJF was unafraid to also present additional programs which brought other aspects of improvised music into the mix. On the first evening in the suburban Centre socioculturel Horizons for instance, bassist Sébastien Boisseau and special guest flutist Sylvaine Hélary led a half-improvisation/half-discussion dealing with the infrastructure of improvised music, and encouraged audience members to voice their ideas on the subject. On the penultimate day at La Maison du Théâtre in a different suburb, the trio of saxophonist Antonin Trí Hoàng, vocalist/pianist Jeanne Susin and drummer/guitarist Thibault Perriard created the musical play Chewing Gum Silence for young audiences. Involved with trying to define musical currents for the general population, the straightforward and fast-moving production kept the crowd of mainly children consistently fascinated and without seat-squirming its entire length. Meanwhile, a complete left-turn was provided by the Horla duo on October 7’s noon-hour concert on the waterfront La Carène. Banjoist Jack Titley and cellist/gadulka player Pauline Willerval both interpreted primitive vocal classics by Delta Blues guitarist Skip James and others. Show business rather than Jazz, the performance still managed to entertainingly prove that Blues variations were part of Jazz’s roots.

Even slicker were the shows of veteran organist Rhoda Scott and her augmented Ladies All Stars, which filled the mammoth soft-seated Le Quartz theatre hall the evening of October 10, and the quartet of violinist Mathias Levy, which performed an equivalent feat as the top half of a double bill at the auditorium of the local Conservatoire on October 8. Sleek, as only someone can be who has been successfully performing her R&B flavored Jazz since the early 1960s, New Jersey-born, long-time Paris resident Scott gave ample solo space to her all-female ensemble. Organist Scott added funky dual keyboard glissandi when needed and without a hint of headliner exhibitionism. With the majority of the band’s book consisting of originals composed by its members, the group produced finger-snapping swing without compromise. Drummer Julie Saury, whose playing was sometimes a little overbearing, kept the beat going and contributed some fine simple tunes. So did the others, as the bottom slurps of Sophie Céline Bonacina’s baritone saxophone provided the funk glue that held together many of the tunes, and as trumpeter Airelle Besson and saxophonists Lisa Cat-Berro, Géraldine Laurent, Sophie Alour and Géraldine Laurent contributed notable solo turns balancing grease and glossiness.

Professional glossiness, but no grease, was also present with the Levy foursome, which featured bassist Jean-Philippe Viret, guitarist/cellist Sébastien Giniaux and accordionist Vincent Peirani. Informed by the violinist’s spectacular and sometimes blindingly speedy double and triple stops, and the accordionist’s contagious smears and jerky button splashes, fast pacing was always front and centre. Viret’s solo spot showed that he could work his way around difficult passages as easily as his string accents kept time throughout, while Giniaux’s instrumental ambidexterity added unexpectedly canny shading to many of the tunes.

There were other notable shows during AJF, including the fast-paced, near-African rhythms projected by the eight-piece Grand Imperial Orchestra’s October 9 set at Le Vauban. Sophisticated improvisational outpourings by trombonist Simon Girard and Gérald Chevillon on the hard-to-manoeuver bass saxophone provided many of the highlights of that performance. In short, AJF #17 proved that it would take more than a global pandemic to prevent a first-class festival from not only taking place, but also presenting first-rate music in 2020.