Bruno Angelini
Instant Sharings

Bruno Angelini piano
Régis Huby violin, tenor violin, electronics
Claude Tchamitchian double bass
Edward Perraud drums, percussion
Recorded June 16-18, 2014 and mixed November 10/11, 2014 at Studios La Buissonne by Gérard de Haro
Mastered by Nicolas Baillard at Studios La Buissonne
Release date: June 2, 2015

Pianist Bruno Angelini convenes his quartet with violinist Régis Huby, bassist Claude Tchamitchian, and drummer-percussionist Edward Perraud in this album of odes to what came before and songs for what has yet to be. Though the set list is largely made up of originals, it’s bookended by two versions of Paul Motian’s “Folk song for Rosie.” Each is a sun-kissed drizzle of cymbals in keeping with the composer’s preference for fluid color over solid form, and holds the other tunes in a loving embrace.

Wayne Shorter’s “Meridianne – A Wood Sylph” is another percussive wonder, giving away its secrets as if in slow motion and with an understated approach to beauty. The last outlier comes clothed in the melody of Steve Swallow’s “Some Echoes.” Its bowed strings align over pianistic arpeggios and other connective tissue: a musical illustration of synapses in a giant brain. It’s also a highlight for its melodic strength, robust yet airy arrangement, and harmonic finish.

As for Angelini’s tunes, they vitally hold their own against these cousins of creative spirit. Evocative not only for their cosmic scale, as in the quantum mechanics of “Solange” or the onomatopoetic “Be Vigilant” (the latter a stunner for its churning ocean of piano, drums, and echoing strings), but also for their titles (“Home by another way” and “Open land” personal favorites among them), these dreams within dreams pulls threads of cognizance from one subconscious beacon to another. “Romy” plucks said thread like a giant instrument, unleashing a theme song for the soul, before landing smoothly in the groove of “Immersion.” Walking a thin line between sleeping and waking, only to find that neither applies, it sheds its allegiances to chronology in favor of a more eternal language.

A standout in the La Buissonne catalog.