Manuel Hermia - Long Tales and Short Stories (2010)

Through a series of open compositions (long tales) and spontaneous collective improvisations (short stories), a small door is opened onto the rich and mysterious world of shared spontaneity. The jazz that is called “free” remains essential to me, like a breath of fresh air, a taste of freedom, a sincere salute to the only thing that truly exists: the present.

Here, it takes forms that differ from those with which it is usually associated: the melody glides like a river following its course and the landscape is revealed like changing states of mind. But the result still remains the fruit of shared freedom, in other words attention to oneself and one another as well as the encounter between the imaginary and the real. This is how, in my eyes, the rough shape of this liberating music sketches an ideal of communication between people.

“Long Tales and Short Stories”, is the album title of the trio of Manuel Hermia (sax, flute, bansuri), Manolo Cabras (double bass) and João Lobo (drums, percussion). And it is a question of stories that the trio has to offer. Whether long or short, they are fascinating. Portraits, sketches, short stories and fables with their own personalities. There is gentleness, hypnotic fascination, truculence, liveliness, trances and experiments… It seems to be totally eclectic – disparate even. But it’s not. The cohesion of this album and group lies in just one word: freedom.

The freedom to simply play, to colour music, to throw loads of emotions into the arena, to juggle rhythms and harmonies, to take risks without ever falling into the pit of inaccessibility. Manu Hermia has accustomed us to eclectics through different projects with hints of rock (Slang), Africa (he played with Mamady Keita, Dobet Gnahoré), the Arabic world (with Majid Bekkas), India (Dhruba Ghosh), Brazil (Joao Braga), Spain (Nono Garcia)… With Manolo Cabras and João Lobo, he makes up a trio that weaves a genuine three-way conversation. Cabras’ obsessive and hypnotic bass and Lobo’s inventive and sensual layer of percussion lay the foundations on the Hermia’s simple, beautiful and harmonious melodies can grow, sometimes evolving into free, unbridled arabesques. It is both fragile and powerful, like a prayer. (JCV)

« Manu Hermia, is an excellent multi-instrumentalist/flautist that easily goes from a post-Coltranian vein to more airy atmospheres. He is flanked, like two killer bodyguards, by Manolo Cabras on bass (remember this name) and Joao Lobo, a wolf/fox/tiger/panther/leopard on drums… The palette of perversions that exist in this world is as infinite as the range of sound, rhythms, nuances and colours that Joao extracts from his kit. » Thierry Quenum, JAZZ MAGAZINE

« What makes this trio such a joy is the ease with which they master sounds and harmonies. It all blends with surprising suppleness. » JAZZQUES

« Whether they are long or short, the stories told by this trio are thrilling. You listen to them with all the more attention as you are surprised at each track. » LE SOIR