Michel Doneda/Thierry Waziniak

Sympa, the French abbreviation for sympathique means friendly as well as sympathetic, and that’s precisely the feeling expressed during these three extended tracks by two veteran French improv masters. Drummer Thierry Waziniak has played with everyone from Jean-Jacques Avenel to Barre Philipps, while saxophonist Michel Doneda is known for his work, with among many others Urs Leimgruber and John Butcher. Old hands  at instant composition, the arrangement between Doneda and Waziniak isn’t so much call and response, but acknowledgement of sounds with illumination and amplification.

Omnipresent, but more recessed, Waziniak alternates silent interludes with interjected percussion comments which include paradiddles, rumbles, press rolls and intermittent pops or cymbal stings. More upfront, Doneda’s strained and buzzing variations engage his horns’ inner metal casing and air flow as much as its reed. Engulfing scoops, prolonged bites, flattement and unexpected flutters propel timbres, with bagpipe-like tremors or forays into restrained circular breathing, often used to wrap up solos.

The duo reaches a point of near-ferociousness and higher volume on the protracted “Aux rhymes de l’absence”, with busy drum smacks and cymbal crunches evolving beside strangled reed cries and hissing breaths. Yet a horizontal kinship is also maintained. Pivots towards sonic anarchy is superseded by taut control in all instances.

In short the skills displayed by the duo on Le Chemin du Jour are not only sympa, but splendid and superb as well.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. L’allée quotidienne 2. Aux rhymes de l’absence 3. Un oeil voyageurs

Personnel: Michel Doneda (soprano and sopranino saxophones) and Thierry Waziniak (drums)