Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven - Out of Focus (2015)

A musician that is almost impossible to define, Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven has developed a singular style that draws on different musical genres: the classical and contemporary repertoires, jazz, improvisation, chanson française, electro, as well as his work for theatre, dance and silent movies.

The new solo album is called “Out of Focus”. The analogy is with photography, of course, referring to music whose outlines are not those we think, whose background tells a completely different story.

The tracks are approached as though they were a pretext for a musical and contemplative excursion. There is an unfinished feel to many of the melodies, harmonies that are stripped back, grooves that slowly melt into silence...

Alongside improvisations and covers of Jobim and Mancini, Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven offers up – like a confession – an introspective, rarefied style. Elements of his classical background are as clear as all the musical adventures he has shared with major players from Belgian and international jazzmen.

"Lending yourself to solo playing creates conditions that are ideal for taking stock of things, for summing up, for taking a look over the shoulder, for horizons that move along with us. Being alone also means going without these marvellous collaborations that bring us out of ourselves, that bring us precisely where we would never have gotten alone." (Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven)