Volume 28 Issue 4 | February - March 2023

More attuned to expected improvisation is
the quintet of pianist Cécile Cappozzo on
Hymne d’automne (Ayler aylCD 179 ayler.
com), six tracks which blend into one
another to make a suite. With the rare ability
to compose tunes that are both dulcet and
daring – often on the same track –
Cappozzo’s themes are interpreted by tenor
saxophonist Guillaume Bellanger, bassist
Patrice Grente, drummer Etienne Ziemniak and her father, trumpeter
Jean-Luc Cappozzo. Not that there’s any nepotism or favouritism here.
The elder Cappozzo, who in the past has collaborated with other pioneering
French improvisers like Daunik Lazro, is versatile enough to efficiently
put his daughter’s ideas into action. Often, as on the title track,
the two Cappozzos outline a skeleton theme consisting of single-note
keyboard clips and portamento brass grace notes only to have the rest of
the band interject flamboyant dissonance in the form of reed slides into
flattement and blunt pops and smacks from the bassist and drummer.
As the exposition turns energetic, Jean-Luc Cappozzo joins the fray with
emphasized triplets and flutters in counterpoint to Bellanger’s strained
mid-range split tones until guitar-like strums from Grente return the
performance to a reflective narrative. This strategy continues
throughout, culminating with the concluding Hymne d’automne
(reprise). In that case, rapid drum paradiddles and breaks introduce the
meeting of the trumpeter’s triplet peeps with the saxophonist’s slap
tonguing and reed bites. Finally, a calming piano portion doubled by
bass string pumps moves the players to a moderated sequence that also
reprises the title track’s reflective beginning. Don’t assume that Cécile
Cappozzo is deferring to the elders, however. On the extended Dance
what elsewhere is emphasized as processional comping almost immediately
turns into a kaleidoscope of arching piano chords and dense key
clips. Eventually she propels the narrative to a stop-time swing feel,
toughened by drum breaks. In the horn responses, including downward
flowing reed multiphonics and half-valve growls, her lyrical glissandi
mean the tune retains a relaxed Sunday-in-the-park feeling despite the
dissonance sprayed around its resolution.
Just as French chefs added new ingredients to
create nouvelle cuisine and other forwardlooking
fare, so a group like Die
Hochstapler does so with its music on
Within (Umlaut TSCD3 umlautrecords.com).
The reason for the German name, translated
as The Impostors, is that Italian bassist
Antonio Borghini and German drummer/
vibist Hannes Lingens live in Berlin where
these two instant compositions were recorded. Meanwhile, the front
line of alto saxophonist Pierre Borel and Louis Laurain, who contributes
trumpet, bird calls and vocal sounds, are as French as Camembert.
Although the lineup is consistent with contemporary jazz groups, the
POMO mélange the quartet creates bounces along echoing Free Jazz,
classic jazz, jazz-rock, bebop and touches of swing at various tempos
without losing the linear thread. Often moving in and out of focus, each
member is spotlighted. For instance, Borghini, responsible for bouncy,
andante tracking throughout, has a string thumb pop and walking bass
line feature on Part 2 backed by aviary cackles from the horns. On the
same piece Lingens uses backbeats, ruffs and rim shots to harmonize
with the others, who begin the piece with rhythmic hand clapping and
later intensify the bop quotes from soloists. Leaving his aviary excursions
to a minimum, Laurain usually expresses himself with half-valve
intensity or ornate triplets, with quotes as likely to reference Dixieland
warhorse When The Saints… as Ornette Coleman’s Focus on Sanity.
Usually though his elevated peeps and plunger tones move in a linear
fashion and dovetail into Borel’s reed expression. This is particularly
notable during Part 1, when following a continuous drone of sax honks
and brass triplets, the two slow the pace and for 60 seconds, minutely
examine every tone variable possible. As for Borel, whether it’s speedy
bebop riffs or hearty Jazz-Rock-like quotes, his flutter tonguing, honks
and altissimo smears always lock into the overall groove, even if he has
to project and thicken tongue slaps to prod bird-call squeaks into
cohesion. It may have German and Italian spicing but overall Within
becomes a perfect French dish.
So too does Dernier Tango (Jazzdor Series 13
jazzdor.com). Yet while the repast is the
product of only two cooks, alto/baritone
saxophonist Christophe Monniot and
guitarist Marc Ducret, there are enough
local and international ingredients during
its 12 tracks for musical nourishment.
Eschewing the controversial eroticism of
Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 film, the two still project a bouncy dance
beat, not only on the title track, but on other numbers where syncopation
lightens the performance. Ducret’s this-side-of-metal harsh
flanges and jagged runs are emphasized on tunes such as Chant/Son
and Back Train with various motifs in the exposition. Meantime,
Monniot, who at one point was a member of l’Orchestre National de
Jazz, knows exactly how to accentuate the compositions, either with
broken chord vibrations from the alto or scooping continuum from
the baritone sax. He does both in sequence on many tracks, preserving
the storytelling in counterpoint to the guitarist’s up and down clangs
and flanges. Most of the time however, as demonstrated on the introductory
Yes Igor and the brief concluding La Lettre du Caire, his intersectional
reed vamps and flattement travel in lockstep with guitar
fuzztones and hardened strums. In these cases and elsewhere the
result is a moderated ending. Quiet connection is often ascendent as
well. The best illustration of this is on A Sign of Mood, where Ducret’s
folksy frailing on 12-string guitar is decelerated in tempo by reed
scoops, leading to a melding of sonic strands.
With the varieties of jazz and improvised music now as numerous
as there are types of wine, it’s impossible to delineate one particular
French style. One thing is certain however: a dependence on North
American idioms is part of the past.
thewholenote.com February & March, 2023 | 69