Forgas Band Phenomena - L’Oreille Électrique (2018)

For over 40 years, Parisian composer and drummer Patrick Forgas has been working and creating a distinctive take on progressive jazz/rock, and he has been leading Forgas Band Phenomena for over 20 years. We are really happy and pleased to once again be working with this eclectic, electric fusion / progressive rock band on their sixth release and fourth for Cuneiform.

The ensemble’s many long time fans certainly know what to expect, as the group’s base of ‘Canterbury sound’ stylings in a orchestrally arranged setting with jazz solos continues here, stronger and with even more maturity than ever.

Helping to contribute to the great confidence in the performances is the fact that the majority of the band has been stable and rehearsing for over a decade, with only two changes made in the last few years. In 2013, new guitarist Pierre Schmidt made his debut with FBP in a 20-minute live in the studio segment filmed for the Romantic Warriors 3 - Canterbury Tales documentary. Work on new material was halted when Forgas suffered a health setback (vestibular neuritis) which inspired the album’s title.

Another personnel change occurred in 2015 when the band’s long-standing bassist Kengo Mochizuki had to return to his native Japan. Thankfully, an ideal replacement came in the shape of Gérard Prévost, a legend on the French progressive and fusion scene through his work with the likes of Zao, David Rose and Rahmann alongside appearances on albums by Heldon, Jean-Philippe Goude and Forgas’s own 1977 album Cocktail! Rehearsals then resumed until the new line-up was finally ready to enter the studio in late 2017.

L’Oreille Électrique can be safely recommended to any fan of exhilarating, electric jazz!