Julien Lourau - Saigon Quartet (2009)

Saxophonist Julian Lourau was born and bred in Marseilles where he still lives. He grew up listening to a wide range of influential saxophone players among them Sonny Rollins, Sidney Bechet, Steve Lacy, Julius Hemphill and Stanley Turrentine. Stylistically they’re a diverse bunch that perhaps come together in Wayne Shorter, still Lourau’s primary influence. Certainly elements of Shorter’s style can be heard in Lourau’s own playing and the Frenchman cites Shorter’s classic “Speak No Evil” as the model for his own work.

Since coming to prominence in the early 90’s Lourau has worked with the groups Trash Corporation and Groove gang and has toured with Marc Ducret, Henri Texier, Abbey Lincoln, Vincent Courtois, Magic Malik, Jeff Sharrell and Ari Hoenig. He is a regular collaborator with Paris based pianist Bojan Z whose album with his own Tetraband “Humus” is reviewed elsewhere on this site.

“Quartet Saigon” features another of Lourau’s keyboard partners the pianist Laurent Coq. The two have worked together for twenty years and divide the compositional credits equally on “Quartet Saigon” with five tunes each. The closing track is a version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “A House Is Not A Home” that slots in perfectly with the mood of the rest of the album. The quartet take their name from the city in which they first played in 2007. The New York based Thomas Bramerie (double bass) and Otis Brown III (drums) complete the line up and the group has toured extensively since it’s beginnings. The album was recorded in December 2008 and is a good summation of the group’s abilities. Much of the music features Lourau’s probing but frequently lyrical soprano as on his own “Diaspora” which opens the record. There are plenty of interesting musical ideas on this album with Coq making a particularly strong contribution. This is exciting, convincing contemporary quartet jazz. ~Ian Mann