François Tusques Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra

Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra Vol.4
Jo Maka
Souffle Continu  FF LO 92 CD

Capturing a period in the late 1970s-early 1980s when pianist François Tusques adapted song forms, folkloric and non-Western sounds to support those involved in anti-establishment actions are these unique CDs. Tusque, now 86, a pioneer of Free Jazz in France, would return to more nuanced exploratory music in the 1990s. But in those years, as a committed gauchiste he used these larger ensembles, labelled the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra (IFSMO) to create fusion sounds for the people. The basic building blocks of swing and sophisticated improvisation were fused with a contorted freer variation on ethnic and pop melodies.

Each disc integrate a particular lyric variant with the cadenced instrumental skills of Jazz and improvised music practitioners. Most of Après la Marée Noire for instance uses the dedicated expertise of three bombarde or ethic bagpipe players to create droning leitmotifs that integrate not only with the IFSMO’s horn and string players, but also with the Africanized rhythms of two percussionists. Designed as a memorial to the Guinean soprano saxophonist Jo Maka, who also plays on both discs, the eponymously titled album is only slightly more  oriented towards Africa win that four percussionists are featured. Instead with committed improvisers like bugle player Bernard Vitet, saxophonist Sylvain Kassap, bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel and drummer Jacques Thollot on board, Jazz roots are emphasized, including playing of an extended version of Charles Mingus’ “Fables Of Faubus”

Strident bagpipe chanter drones vibrate above Tanguy Ledore’s electric bass continuum throughout the first disc. Yet the defining factors are how Jean-Louis Le Vallegant’s, Gaby Kardoncuff and Philippe Lestrat’s pressurized bombarde are integrated with the other motifs. A track like “Le Cheval” for instance contrasts deflating bag hums with antiphonic vamps from brass and reed players Michel Marre, Ramadolf and Maka. Meanwhile Tusques’ piano accompaniment is half Thelonious Monk and half Jelly Roll Morton, and along the way there’s an interlude of Carlos Andreou singing a Catalonian song of struggle, further torqued as other musicians scat and whistle..

With other tracks pivoting to kwela and gigue affiliations, one such as “Les Racines De La Montagne” expands bouncy, straightforward piano clips and comping to meet Maka’s snaky soprano saxophone trills until both are enveloped by undulating chanter drones. Samuel Ateba’s conga and Koilkus’ darbuka slap up the rhythmic component as the horn ascends thew scale climaxing with an extended and vociferous bombarde shrill.

Shades of Blues phrasing from Tusques and Marre’s muted trumpet sighs animate some sequences, as do more cross pulses among bagpipe and reeds, Overall, with far reaching Continental African and Maghrib percussion pulses as prominent during an uncommon take on rural French melodies, it appears that rather than creating une musique bretonne nouvelle, the disc posits the birth of a musique bretonne singulière.

Without bombardes, but with conventional horn and rhythm sections, Vol. 4’s more sophisticated arrangements show that Jazz was aways a part of Tusques’ musical DNA. Although “Fables Of Faubus” is the longest track, bent note emphasis by saxophonists Kassap and Maka, trombonist Adolph Winkler and the pianist are surmounted  by a bass drum heavy, and cymbal clashing solo by Thollot along with a later note-perfect reading of the head,

Still Jazz, Blues and improv references resonate from all the album’s tracks. For example until the introductory “Vive La Commune” is led by portamento trombone and percussion slaps into sequences that sound like a Iberian and African dance merge, the them with tough reed snarls, half-valve brass emphasis and Blues keyboard echoes suggest a Jazz affiliated novelle vague film soundtrack. Furthermore, the concluding “Mazir” includes stop-start, round robin elaborations that bring in Klezmer, Carnatic amd flamenco influences, although reed tones midway between end blown flute and alto squeezes, joins with piano and drums to cement Jazz syncopation attachment. Furthermore should peeps from a reedist push expositions towards kwela, positioned piano, bass and drum comping preserve Jazz-like cadences. As well an  overlay tough reed vibration and half-valve brass emphasis prevents simplistic dance rhythms to predominate .

These reissues bring fundamental and defining creative music from France back into circulation. They also prove in Tusques’ case that a musicians can minimize his connection to Jazz improv, but it’s always apparent in his work.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Après: 1. La Rencontre 2. Biniou Koz Free Blues Valse 3. Blues Gavotte 4. Les Racines De La Montagne 5. La Marée Noire 6. Le Cheval 7. Marche Des Pollués

Personnel: Après: Michel Marre (trumpet, alto saxophone); Ramadolf (trombone); Jo Maka (soprano saxophone); Jean-Louis Le Vallegant (bombarde, biniou koz); Gaby Kardoncuff, Philippe Lestrat (bombarde); François Tusques (piano); Tanguy Ledore (electric bass); Samuel Ateba (congas, bongos); Koilkus (darbuka); Carlos Andreou (vocals)

Track Listing: Jo: 1. Vive La Commune 2. Poses Ton Fardeau Et Remets La Machine En Route 3. 7 Rue Des Prêcheurs 4. Fables Of Faubus 5. Mazir

Personnel: Jo: Michel Marre (trumpet); Bernard Vitet (bugle); Adolph Winkler (trombone, percussion); Jo Maka (soprano, alto saxophones); Sylvain Kassap (alto, tenor saxophones); François Tusques (piano); Jean-Jacques Avenel (bass); Jacques Thollot (drums); Koilkus (darbuka, percussion); Carlos Andreou, Samuel Ateba (percussion)