La Buissonne

Jean-François Jenny-Clark: Solo (RJA 397002)

| Tyran Grillo

Cover

Jean-François Jenny-Clark
Solo

Jean-François Jenny-Clark double bass
Recorded live on August 9, 1994 at Theâtre des Halles, Avignon (Festival Bass 94)
Sound recording: Gérard de Haro
Mastering: Gilles Olivesi at Studios La Buissonne
Coordination: Manuela Vincendeau
Produced by Gérard de Haro and RJA for La Buissonne
Release date: August 9, 1994

Solo documents a live performance from 1994 by Jean-François Jenny-Clark (1944-1998), one of the most talented bassists of his generation, who eagle-eyed ECM listeners will recognize from Paul Motian’s Le Voyage and Kenny Wheeler’s around 6, among others. Consisting only of two tracks, this archival treasure closes the irises of our ears around an intimate exposition of his artistry. Well-versed across idioms, Jenny-Clark was just as comfortable playing the music of Pierre Boulez as he was backing Don Cherry or Keith Jarrett, and his eclectic influences seep from every pore.

The lion’s share of the album is taken up by the pragmatically titled “Concert.” Throughout its 38 minutes of unwavering invention, Jenny-Clark crochets a chain of interconnected scenes at the soul level. His approach to the double bass is always from the inside out, as if diving into its waters to places where light normally doesn’t reach and emerging with unknown creatures of the deep. And while his willingness to surrender to whatever impulse taps his shoulder was always apparent, on this recording it is particularly foregrounded. He is cohesive at his most abstract, unchained at his grooviest, pliant and sincere against the unaccompanied backdrop that gives him contrast. Breathing in an elliptical atmosphere of regard, his body seems to fold into itself with every change of direction. Traction is never far away: there is always a sense of purpose and of having traveled somewhere. Even when digging into more percussive textures, we know that melodic denouements are close ahead, and that we are privileged to stand in one place as he unrolls a spontaneous scroll for our regard. Following this is a 5-minute epilogue called “Rappel” (Reminder). A chain of association in its own right, it is a quiet cultivation of whispering tides, each the supply to its own heart, beating onto shore.

A masterful swan song from one of Europe’s late greats that oozes with personality and muscular lyricism. We are there.

Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez: Vents & marées (RJA 397001)

| Tyran Grillo

Cover

Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez
Vents & marées

Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez piano
Recorded on February 22, 2000 and January 9, 2003 at Studios La Buissonne by Gérard de Haro
Mastered by Gilles Olivesi and Thomas Verdeaux at Studios La Buissonne
Release date: May 30, 2003

Vents & marées (Winds & tides) is the flagship release from the La Buissonne label, named for the studio of Gérard de Haro, famed engineer of many recent ECM productions and a soulful seeker of sound (ECM now distributes the label on its website). Appropriate, then, that de Haro should begin with the quintessential studio instrument: the solo piano. At the hands of Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez, its keys glisten like photographs just old enough to show patina but fresh enough to reflect the light just so under the lamp of interpretation.

The program shuffles together four distinctly different decks in a stack of magical proportions. A selection of standards stands out for its poise. An air of suspension permeates every molecule of “I Wish I Knew,” which Simonoviez plays as if unbound to time or place. “My Favorite Things” comes across with especial tenderness, and finds him enhancing the subtle balance of melancholy and joy that make the song so coniferous. And the way he shifts from reverie to glorious reality and back again throughout the course of “If I Should Lose You” is nothing short of exquisite.

Two John Coltrane tunes, “Naïma” and “Lonnie’s Lament,” showcase not only fearlessly self-reflective playing but also soulful engineering. Two dips into Bernard Herrmann’s film score to Fahrenheit 451, “The Bedroom” and “The Road,” are equally visual and flow with the precision of method actors who embody the power of every moment.

But the most substantive deck of all is comprised of Simonoviez’s own writing, which spans geographies and climates in a most organic way. The personal vibes of “Lumières (Pour Duke)” put in mind a bird flying for no other reason than to enjoy the sensation. The high clusters of “Tacha” fall like snow into happy memories, while “See” brings gentle urgency to the fore. “Winds & Tides” is the thesis statement and drips like candlewax into the abyss of time. Its gestures are palpable. Finally, “Paix” embraces us with thick harmonies and rolling waves.

As can be expected by anyone who has kept tabs on de Haro’s behind-the-scenes presence at ECM, the sound quality is impeccable—spacious without whelming, distant yet close enough to touch, and emotional without ever feeling ungenuine. Let this new journey begin, continue, and leave its mark.