Christophe Monniot & Didier Ithursarry - Hymnes à l'amour (2018) Hi-Res

Hymnes à l’amour is a new recording by the ONJ-National Jazz Orchestra’s Christophe Monniot, an instinctive saxophonist of fanciful lyricism, and Didier Ithursarry, a Basque accordionist who plays with power and feeling, and also an ONJ alumnus, having been a member of Claude Barthélemy’s ONJ from 2002 to 2005.

The pair share an understanding developed over several years of playing together as “Station Mir,” their trio with viola player Guillaume Roy; today, with Hymnes à l’amour, Monniot and Ithursarry now explore the art of the duo with amazing virtuosity and creativity.

This first album by the two is an invitation to sample these “hymns to love”, and the material contains not only original compositions but also some exceptional readings of emblematic pieces — penned by Pascual Marquina Narro, Tony Murena or Duke Ellington — where the music echoes the duo’s deep affection for popular and traditional genres.

In the course of this genuine conversation, by turns lively, emotional, poetic, and filled with tenderness and strong colours, these duettists, in a setting that resembles a lush acoustic forest, accentuate the freedom and pulse of jazz; and they evoke all the energy and joy of popular music genres while exploring sophisticated forms in the contemporary domain.

To paraphrase Jacques Brel (he was referring to songs) — “It doesn’t have to be a waltz for you to dance to it…”