Eric Brochard, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Edward Perraud - [on]

Eric Brochard: double bass
Jean-Luc Guionnet: alto saxophone
Edward Perraud: drums, percussion

La rencontre du contrebassiste Eric Brochard, du batteur Edward Perraud et du saxophoniste – encore récemment entendu sur Propagations – Jean-Luc Guionnet, en deux actes : Lithe et Néolithe, qui se succèdent sur [on].

Là, aviser un paquet de gestes bruts, affirmant le parti pris d’une pratique radicale de l’improvisation : qui extirpe ses visions de l’instant à coups de notes qu’on arrache : grincements de contrebasse et plaintes longues d’alto, progressions incommodes de guitare et confections de drones inquiets bien qu’en voie de développement.

Et puis, Guionnet glisse et dérive, impose à son instrument un parcours circulaire ; Brochard répète une note, relent décidé de corde lâche ; Perraud tourmente ses cymbales déjà convulsives. Lithe et Néolithe, qui se succèdent sur [on], et qui l’imposent avec adresse. (from lesondugrisli)

Ce trio livre deux improvisations de 23 et 25 minutes où chacun tire de son instrument l’antithèse de sa sonorité conventionnelle. Une batterie coloriste et non rythmique, un saxophone qui évacue la mélodie et les intervalles tempérés, une contrebasse abrasive et percussive... Cymbales griffées, rayées, sons de cloches, claquements d’anches, nappes de basse, voire d’infra-basses et cordes frappées à l’archet ; bruits de fond qui émergent ; bruits de surface qui sombrent. Pas deux démonstrations : deux invitations/incitations/provocations.

Ceux pour qui « l’impro libre, c’est tout le temps la même chose » feraient bien d’écouter l’une après l’autre les deux plages : « Lithe » et « Néolithe ». Il faudra qu’ils trouvent autre chose à dire, ensuite. (from CitizenJazz)

2002 [ON] (In Situ) rapidshare/mediafire

Return of the New Thing - Crescendo

Dan Warburton: piano, violin
Jean-Luc Guionnet: alto & soprano saxophones
François Fuchs: bass
Edward Perraud: percussion

Far from being a subversive play on words verging on paradox, Return of the New Thing is a reminder that tough, uncompromising music was not invented yesterday, but has a history spanning over 40 years.

One should appreciate the honesty and sense of humour shown by those behind the name - Fuchs, Guionnet, Perraud and (its author) Warburton - who, in this somewhat subversive manner, pay homage to tradition. On the other hand, there arise a number of doubts : can music burdened with so much tradition, as played by ROTNT, be fresh and honest ? Have the ideas of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler and many others not become outdated or passé ? Does it make sense to refer to them ?

Upon listening to Crescendo these doubts are gradually dispelled. The quartet plays music that can still be appreciated. Music that can simultaneously irritate and fascinate, exhaust and thrill, amaze but also confuse ; music that affects both intellect and emotions. Particularly noteworthy is the freedom and precision - seemingly opposing qualities - with which the members of ROTNT develop their parts. One may feel surprise that free jazz (with which the term "new thing" was synonymous) can be so disciplined and exceptionally lucid, so precisely executed. Both as soloists and accompanists the musicians maintain an exceptionally tight grip on the clarity of their expression, and in the process of saturating it with detail they fully control the dynamics and timbre of their sound, whilst never forgetting the form and structure of the recording as a whole. The album contains only two fairly lengthy tracks, which can presumably be regarded a the product of so called "structured improvisation" - i.e. free expression based on certain elements agreed in advance. If I am mistaken in this - I am not familiar with the background of the recording - and the material is improvised in its entirety, the musicians deserve even greater praise.

In the quartet’s performance one can hear not only that its members are familiar with the history of jazz, but also that they are capable of transforming and personalising this history. It is presumably significant that Crescendo is jazz played by musicians who do not play jazz on a day-to-day basis (Jean-Louis Guionnet divides his time between electro-acoustic, improvised and organ music, François Fuchs customarily concerns himself with improvisation, while Dan Warburton and Edward Perraud possess a "serious" musical education and have quite thoroughly explored the world of non-conventional sounds, touching on rock, classical and various types of improvised music). Hence, their language becomes a product of the "free” idiom, traceable directly to the classics (e.g. Coleman, Shepp, Ayler and Mengelberg), as well as personal experiences connected with other areas of musical practice. Obviously, in line with its name, the music of ROTNT is dominated by the former, but tasty interjections lend it a certain amount of peculiar charm. (from DIAPAZON)

Tadeusz Kosiek (Translated by Rafał Eile)

2005 CRESCENDO (Not Two Records) rapidshare/mediafire

Return of the New Thing - Alchemy

Dan Warburton: piano, violin
Jean-Luc Guionnet: alto & soprano saxophones
François Fuchs: bass
Edward Perraud: percussion

This quartet mines some open spaces with commitment but the results aren't really all that involving. This is due in no small part to the fact that their focus seems to ebb and flow. This results in music that's at some moments diffuse, and at others full of the kind of all-out intensity that's mostly rhetoric and little substance.

The three track titles refer only to the duration of each piece in minutes and seconds. That nominal approach applies to the music itself. "29.09" has entered a passage of squall by the time the sixth minute is reached and the result sounds like four musicians in search of an idea. Drummer Edward Perraud injects some levity into proceedings when he's not approaching his drums as though they deserved assault and battery, but his band mates seem intent on whipping up some kind of ecstatic storm the like of which is hit and miss in terms of impact. By the time the eleventh minute has rolled around that mood has dissolved and it's in such quieter passages that the music comes to life. Jean-Luc Guionnet stutters into his alto sax and the group imperative is clearly something other than sound for its own sake.

More or less the same aesthetic apply to "24.41," the opening of which finds the group looking into subtle, shaded dynamics. The result is compelling music with the very lack of volume contributing considerably to that end. By the eleventh minute however whatever mood they've managed to established has been slowly usurped by the evidently collective desire to thrash, although Francois Fuchs's bass holds to a darker, less nihilistic dynamic in its midst. The music seems to be on the verge of implosion at this point and it's to the group's credit that they hold the thing together.

Dan Warburton's piano sounds not unlike McCoy Tyner on "17.22," and indeed the spirit of the Coltrane quartet is summoned up in no uncertain terms for a time, albeit with the perhaps inevitable lack of that group's singular integral dynamic. Diffusion comes soon enough anyway, with the music losing out to sustained assault. (from AAJ)

2008 ALCHEMY (Not Two Records)

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Return of the New Thing

Dan Warburton: piano, violin
Jean-Luc Guionnet: alto saxophone
François Fuchs: bass
Edward Perraud: drums

The "New Thing" refers, of course, to the avant-garde jazz scene of the early '60s, when free jazz was, in fact, a "new thing." The fact that at the end of the 20th century the style epitomized by the "New Thing" continues to flourish is a testimony to the rich and deep resources of the music and the individual musicians. The manifestation of the "New Thing" (or its "Return") found on this recording is produced entirely by a French-based quartet whose individual members, though clearly accomplished, are largely unknown in the world of new music (at least on this side of the Atlantic). No matter. What they have produced is a highly creative document of some very exciting, even thrilling, improvisations that combine sophisticated compositional skills with excellent free jazz that weaves in and out of rivers and hills. The conventional instrumentation of alto sax, piano, bass, and percussion is misleading, as the members of the quartet create a unique collective sound. While they are capable of energizing fury, they are also adept at producing challenging collages of soft sounds. (from AMG)

1999 RETURN OF THE NEW THING (LEO RECORDS)
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