Raphaël Imbert - Music Is My Hope (2018) [CD Rip]

Album after album, Raphaël Imbert is writing a long and peerless musical novel. With Music Is My Hope, the saxophonist tackles jazz by different routes. Including by way of spirituality, and the spirit of the blues. With different voices hailing from far-flung places, Imbert is building bridges between the genres, the better to underline the deep cross-pollination that exists within the south of the USA. This time, Imbert invites Marion Rampal, Aurore Imbert, Manu Barthélémy and Big Ron Hunter to sing reflections and revolts, the holy and the political alike. Above all, this celebration of a history and a heritage never comes off as saccharine. Everything here is alive! Even when Raphaël Imbert and his accomplices cover Joni Mitchell's The Circle Game or a spiritual as famous as Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel. A straight-shooting offering which even takes in an Occitan rendition of Vaqui lo polit mes de mai… All this lively, highly-symbolic material is magnified by the saxophonist's grand design, which he worked up with his virtuoso musical wingmen: Pierre-François Blanchard on keyboards, Jean-Luc Di Fraya on drums, Pierre Durand and Thomas Weirich on guitars. There can be some chaotic moments here or there, like in a fight; and other moments have the solemnity of a confession. But however they play it, it is always spirited. Magnificent.