Flash Pig - Year of the Pig (2019) Hi Res

For the four members of the Flash Pig Quartet, 2019 will have a special meaning. It is during this year that they will blow the candles of the tenth anniversary of the creation of the band, with as a gift their third album, "Year of the Pig".

More intimate, freer than their previous two opuses, the disc opens on a long sequence where taking the time seems to be the watchword. As a symbol, each part of this suite takes its name from an unknown and rare animal, one of whose main characteristics is slowness. So goes Flash Pig: get off the beaten track, explore other territories but always taking the time to discover, build, and take the listener with them ... If slowness dominates this sequel, the last three pieces of the disc For their part, they can see other characteristics of the quartet: the thirst for freedom on the one hand, and above all the concern for the melody.

"Year of the Pig" will not be the first record in the history of jazz whose name is inspired by this Chinese astrology. If his symbolic lineage to the contemporary jazz trio Fly and his album "Year of the Snake" (ECM, 2012) is palpable, it is however with another album that the kinship ties seem most obvious: "In the Year of the Dragon "(JMT, 1989) of the trio composed of Geri Allen, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. Three musicians that the group Flash Pig will have also disappeared during his first ten years of existence, and whose music, on the contrary, continues to reappear through his work.

Maxime and Adrien Sanchez, respectively pianist and saxophonist, decided to form a trio in 2005 with drummer Gautier Garrigue. In 2008 the twins join the jazz class of the CNSM in Paris and meet bassist Florent Nisse. The trio then becomes a quartet, and is called Flash Pig. The group's repertoire, mainly based on Maxime's compositions, allows the quartet to develop an open, uninhibited and constantly evolving jazz.

After the group's first concerts, Flash Pig distinguished itself in 2009 by winning the first prize at the international jazz competition of Siofok (Hungary), then in 2010 by winning the second group prize at the Sunside Trophies. In 2014, after having regularly performed in concert throughout France, Flash Pig released his first album: "Remain Still" (More Loin Music). In 2015, Flash Pig is presented by Radio France at the Euroradio Jazz Competition, a competition that the quartet wins, which allows it to perform at the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival.