François Jeanneau - The Straight Horn (2025)

Throughout its history, jazz has lent itself to all sorts of configurations, ranging from solos, to trios, quartets, and larger or smaller ensembles. A duo can be a combination with drums, double bass, guitar, a wind instrument, or a voice. One of my favorites is the piano duo, or the art of conversation in its purest form. One need only recall the complicity and inventiveness of "Weather Bird," recorded in 1928 by Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines. It hasn't been much better since, but that's no reason to forbid it. I've practiced it often, at various times, with Michel Graillier, Ran Blake, Alain Jean-Marie, Uli Lenz, Africa Mkhize, and more.

With Emil Spányi, the duo is a formula we've been practicing for a long time, in Places as diverse as Paris, Lausanne, Meilhan, or Larochemillay… the pretext is often the beautiful themes of Billy Strayhorn, Lush Life of course, but also Lotus Blossom, UMMG… It quickly became clear to us that we had to make a recording. This was done in Lausanne on the piano of our dear friend Jean-Claude Rochat. The pleasure of music is a pleasure that we must share. Emil and I hope you experience it fully when listening to our duo.
Why The Straight Horn? It's simply a phonetic connection between Strayhorn and straight horn, a name often given to the soprano saxophone.---François Jeanneau