Eric Le Lann - Life on Mars (2015)

What a pleasure to find Eric Le Lann with a large disk, and a group that suits him perfectly! Pianist Paul Lay, not content with being one of the most interesting musicians of his generation, is also an exceptional sideman: it is involved in groups such person, bringing the subtlety of the attendant, the creative fever of the improviser and musical knowledge without ostentation but a confusing evidence. Bassist Sylvain Romano, is a pillar of jazz strict obedience, and he knows to advance music, casually, without apparent brightness, but with irresistible force. And Donald Kontomanou confirmed its high class; he also knows how to stimulate, and more if necessary, to live this music whose vitality is the credo. And this constant movement of stubborn sway, whatever the tempo, Eric Le Lann blasts us with his melancholy. Trumpet timbre sometimes like a bugle, with the roundness of all longings. The themes for most of trumpeter, has this quality of being melodically obvious, even when they operate on winding harmonies. And the pianist will give heart to joy when to drive these harmonies on other roads. An anthology of blues, intense expressiveness, precedes a profane dance, borrowed from Debussy (Deux Danses for harp and strings) and slightly transposed. Sweet melancholy, always. Comes standard (Everytime We Say Goodbye) in the same vein, and again Eric wonders in this poisonous sweetness to which one can not resist. Then it's a recovery, languid, composition that opened the disc, and it will still indulge in that devouring nostalgia, until the moment when the pulse carries the theme to another sphere. A waltz played once in duo with Michel Graillier (Twins Waltz), and which evoked the binoculars which he is the father, lead us to the concluding beach: Life on Mars by David Bowie. The set is taking deliciously dark; it's a bit the reign of chiaroscuro, where the shadow gives rise to unprecedented brightness: great record, really. Thank you Eric!