Memorable night...

A couple of weeks back, I spent an evening at the New Morning - a famous parisian jazz club - enjoying the fine fleur of New European Jazz. I went there originally to see Le Monde de Kota, but it turns out that the same label - Italy based Radar - that has released Murmures, their first album, also carries Cristiano Arcelli, an Italian composer and alto sax player.

Arcelli opened the evening with a project entitled Bestiario, featuring both an unusual line-up and an atypical approach to jazz composition. The band was composed of a rhythm section of electric guitar, drums and double-bass (that particular seat was filled by Kota's Guido Zorn but I suspect he's not the regular guy) and a horn section of bass saxophone, alto saxophone and trombone. The trombone player also doubled up on accordion for a couple of tracks.

Arcelli's repertoire (at least in this project) could best be described as heavily written pieces inspired by European folklore with jazz time signatures and occasional improvisation. Actually there was quite a bit of improvisation, but it was individual improvisation with little or no interplay. The compositions were quite amazing, making full-use of the low register power of the bass saxophone (so much so that, at times, you were wondering why there was a double-bass player in the line-up: you couldn't hear his playing). A lot of two or three piece harmonies between the horns delineated the "themes".

Overall, it was quite hard-hitting, driven music. Imagine the energy of Kusturica's No Smoking Orchestra but with a mad jazz composer and you'll get close to the feeling I had that night. The compositions were varied both in tempo and mood, with the accordion pieces laying a subtler, more western European feel. Both Arcelli and the trombone player are fierce improvisers, both lyrical and pulsating. The bass sax did only a couple of improvisations, and one of them at least was more showmanship than music (but fun nonetheless). The guitarist took a number of choruses but he seemed out of focus and I couldn't work out if him being off the beat all the time was deliberate or if it was an off-night for him.

Overall, a great musical discovery. I purchased Arcelli's Bestiario, which I hope to review here soon. After a short break, it was time for Le Monde de Kota to take over the stage. It was the third concert of theirs I attended, and while I know most of the repertoire very well by now, I was still blown away. First of all, this being a large club, their sound was bigger, with an aggressive edge that the near acoustic context of my previous attendance hadn't translated at all. Plus the musicians were all really hot that night. Probably due to the fact that they were playing in the temple of Parisian Jazz.

Le Monde de Kota is lyrical yet modern, their repertoire is mostly slow tunes, though they can sound really harsh, and they are all top notch musicians while their greatest asset is the collective work. The contrast with the previous band was nice, Kota's music being more introspective and somber than Arcelli's.

Apart from one tune which I didn't know, all the rest of what they played that night is on their CD Murmures. While the written parts are mostly similar to the album versions, the improvisation is very fresh each time, and there's a lot of interplay between harmonica and trombone, trombone and bass, bass and guitar, etc.

My impressions on the musicians were reinforced from the previous times. Guido Zorn is a stunning bass player, not scared to mistreat his instrument to extract new and powerful sounds from it. I think he even hurt himself once, so hard was he slapping on the strings. His playing really forms the backbone of the music, and it's astonishing to find that such a floating and writhing backbone can be so solid a foundation at the same time. Julien Omé is a superb backing player, using his guitar in interesting ways to contribute a harmonic backdrop to the whole. He's not so solid as a solist though. In a way, surrounded by such strong personalities, it feels like he doesn't find the right ways to assert himself.

Stéphane Montigny on trombone and chromatic player Olivier Goulet are great soloists and play around each other a lot. It's really fresh that they can listen to each other so well and build collective phrases on the vocabulary the other contributes. Montigny uses his trombone in surprising ways as well, both in the aural range of the instrument and as a percussion. Olivier does the same and longs, it seems, to use a variety of harmonicas instead of just his chromatic. His attempt at a diatonic solo, though, was not entirely appropriate to the harmonic complexity at hand.

At least, this constant experimentation guarantees that - though the repertoire is mostly the same - no two of Le Monde de Kota's concerts are the same. Their fresh appraoch to music and their exploration of their own composition is fueled by the fire of a true love of jazz. There's no falling back on trusty old phrases for these guys. One thing that was nice is that, although they don't speak to the audience much, a few of the songs were introduced to us. Stéphane mentioned, in particular, that Guido's somber composition Radio Cora was a homage to the Italian citizens who ran a radio station during WW2 to inform the freedom fighters of the fascist regime's moves. They were all shot in the village where Guido was born.

I hope to hear more new compositions the next time I see Le Monde de Kota live, but still, I can't complain. I had an amazing evening of jazz, and I was even lucky enough to have my wife with me (although she found it all together too progressive, if you see what I mean!) Altogether a great evening!

Comments

[christophe]

Hi Ben,
I wasn't there, but I've seen twice "Le Monde de Kota". In a very small bar in Paris, and at St Aignan during the 2006 festival.
It's one of my favourite band. They are very creative and never boring me.
Yessss, they're the best !!!!
And I'd like to write english as they play good music.
Pourquoi un blog en anglais !?
Bordel !!!
Bises à toi...
Christophe