After a (way too) short night staying at my friends - god, how I hate being woken up at 7:30 AM by excited, screaming children when I went to bed at 2 AM the previous night - I had a pleasant morning and lunch and then left for St Aignan again. When I arrived, Jason Ricci was giving his masterclass. I only managed to listen for twenty minutes or so before I had to dash off, but it was interesting to hear Jason's very systematic approach to blues, applying what I understand to be jazz tricks of the trade to spice up blues improvisations. The inevitable Robert 'Sunnyside Bob' Koch was doing the translation as best he could considering Jason's very associative speech, jumping from topic to topic faster than the translator could safely follow ! It reminded me of the rough time I had translating Howard Levy's masterclasse in 2005...
Christophe has asked me if I'd organise a jam session with the house band, a French blues-rock outfit called Double Stone Washed. It was set in a very small bar, and absolutely impromptu since there hadn't been time to rehearse. We found elements of a common repertoire and went from there. It gave the chance to sing and play for a good hour and invite up five or six of the attending harp players. There, sitting by a small table, I also met with Damien Tartamella, the harp player and singer from the French pop band Kwak. Sweet guy, great player and a fresh approach to harp : despite an amazing technique, Damien is not particularly into using the instrument for improvisation on the Kwak material. Quite refreshing. We talked oriental scales and he gave me their latest album Des Thunes, which I'll review later on.
I was pretty exhausted after the gig. I relaxed over a meal and came back to the concert hall for the first concert of the evening, a 15mn presentation by 4-year olds from the local schools. Not very musical, but so very cute ! They were followed on the stage by Barefoot Iano. Ian is an Australian guy who's been living in France for the last twenty or so years. He is the absolute sweetest guy ever, a little on the daydreamy side, and a damn fine harp player and showman to boost. His concert was eminently accessible, his musicians being both proficient and self-effacing. His Elvis-esque vocals carried a sophisticated blues and rock'n'roll repertoire peperred with anecdotes told in an often slightly broken French that contributed to the charm. Ian was, of course, barefoot on stage (as he is elsewhere) and always moving. His concert may not have been the pinnacle of musical originality, but it was very endearing and accessible.
I was so tired that during the intermission I dozed off on a chair. I was soon woken up when Olrando Poleo and his afro-venezuela jazz band. The line up was tight, especially for latin jazz, with drums, double bass, piano, chromatic harmonica and, of course, percussions. From the get-go, I was hooked. The sheer energy of the music was unbelievable, the tight interweaving of the drums and percussion with little opposing space from the piano and harmonica gave it a very powerful drive that only abated on one or two tracks for the whole concert.
Harmonicist Laurent Maur had the difficult task of being the sole solo instrument if you except that some of the melodies were doubled by the piano or the bass. His impressive velocity and precision, however, allowed him to lead the melodic part of the music beautifully, and his improvisations were just as pertinent. I particularly appreciated the way he used octaves and double-stops to give the music an Argentinian accordeon flavour.
Orlando Poleo himself, while seemingly cold at the beginning of the concert (and you could see that the band is tight under his leash) seemed to lossen up in front of the response of the audience. They played for a good two hours and it was a real joy from start to finish. All the tunes were originals, mostly instrumental latin jazz but a number of pieces had vocals in Spanish. The compositions, most by Poleo himself or by his Argentinian piano player (whose name I didn't catch) were very interesting, sometimes quite out, but always drivent by such a powerful beat that even the sometimes surprising harmonies felt at home.
I already knew Laurent Maur's music and I knew he had increadible chops, but I was amazed how well his playing fit in what I assume to be a very challenging musical context. He felt at home, and despite his sober appearance he was visibly enjoying himself. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted by the end of the concert that I headed back to my friends' for sleep without taking the time of congratuling him about the concert. I really hope the band as it stands records, because the relative intimacy of the line-up really brings somehting more to the music. I'm no expert on latin jazz, but rarely have I enjoyed this kind of music as much as I loved that band.
A further unfortune was the fact that this was to be the last gig of the festival for me. I missed the last evening with Sébastien Charlier and Jason Ricci. I also missed Sébastien and Laurent's masterclasses... That's what happens when family life and Derek Trucks gigs get in the way of good harmonica festivals... all the more frustrating since I hear that these two concerts were absolutely amazing.
Oh well...
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