Claude Tchamitchian Trio

Paying homage with imaginative if imaginary sounds that reflect his ancestral roots, French-Armenian bassist Claude Tchamitchian has composed four suites celebrating Naïri, the name of Armenia’s territory in antiquity. Reflecting the country’s distinct situation with its multi-cultural European and Asian influences, the music is folksy, bouncy and with a touch of melancholy.While harmonic empathy is more prominent than technical emphasis, interpretations and improvisations are at a sufficiently elevated level to confirm the trio members skills. Tchamitchian has played with the likes of Daunik Lazro and Michel Doneda. Although he’s an acoustic guitarist, Pierrick Hardy, who has played with Régis Huby among others is more attuned to pedagogical and Jazz currents than pure folklore. As for clarinetist Catherine Delaunay, she moves among several idioms, having worked with dance and theatre companies plus associates ranging from Steve Coleman to Hélène Labarrière.

When folksy guitar plinks and strums are prominent for instance, mid-range bowed or plucked bass work usually emphasizes basic syncopation while curved reed peeps and trills both preserve the exposition and decorate it. Also advancing themes in duo form, an elevated reed squeak can be moderated to a horizontal trill when accompanied by a walking bass line, or buzz and burble along with swift guitar picking. Interludes that include solo and sometimes acapella fantasias for each player expand the suite variations. Stopping short of dissonance, expression, though advancement may include broken octave motifs yet almost always includes recapping of the head.

“Katsoumine” and the concluding “Le temps d’une caresse” provide instances of this as pizzicato bass thumps speed and power up to meet corkscrew reed trills and guitar frails. Toughened with bongo-like guitar wood slaps from Hardy and ending with tandem bowed bass buzzing and echoing guitar licks, >Delaunay’s respite from altissimo maintains horizontal evolution.

Articulating the themes with references to eastern European jollity from the clarinet, echoing guitar twangs and somber buzzing from the arco bass, Tchamitchian’s compositions attain his objectives by going past folk pastiche to textural sophistication. But they stay communicative by never exceeding the limits of melodic expression.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Suite 1: 1. La caresse du temps 2. Guillaumos le Grec 3. Les Sarmates Suiite 2: 4. L’écume des soupirs 5. Les héros perdue 6. L’invisible armada  Suite 3: 7. Suite 3: Armenia 8. Suite 4: Katsoumine 9. Le temps d’une caresse

Personnel: Catherine Delaunay(clarinet); Pierrick Hardy (guitar) and Claude Tchamitchian (bass)