Pierrick Pédron (Alto); Thomas
Bramerie (Bass); Franck Agulhon (Drums). + Mederic Collignon (trumpet); Thomas
De Pourquery (vocals); Ghamri Boubaker (Algerian
Flute).
(Review by
Steve Horowitz).
Many jazz artists have paid homage to popular
music Herbie Hancock’s River - The Joni
Letters (Joni Mitchell) and Bill
Frisell ‘s All We Are Saying a John
Lennon tribute are just two that spring
to mind. To this growing cannon of work a most unlikely contender can be added.
Pierrick Pédron’s previous album Kubic’s
Monk was a tribute to the great
Thelonious, his latest album Kubic’s Cure is a
tribute to 80’s goth rock icons The Cure. I must confess to being
a big fan of Robert Smith’s legendary band so it is not without
prejudice that I come to this album .
This album is driven by Bramerie’s thumping bass and Agulhon’s pounding drums whilst Pédron plays his alto
over the top of the rhythm section. Most of the The Cure’s most famous tracks are covered starting with The Forest and then moving onto In Your House which has some great backing
vocals from guest Pourquery. The
Caterpillar follows and then my own personal favourite Cure track In
Between Days which is interpreted very differently here. The best song on
the album for me A Reflection has a truly eastern
feel augmented by the Algerian instrumentation of Boubaker. The Eastern theme is continued
with what on face value appears to be a rather dodgy title Killing An Arab but in fact this song is referring to a passage in
the Albert Camus novel ‘The Stranger’
. Just
Like Heaven / Close to me and a great version of Lullaby bring us to the final track on the album. Sadly, it is not
Love Cats or Let’s Go To Bed but given these omissions what could be more
appropriate than Boys Don’t Cry.
I would be interested on hearing what people new
to The Cure would make of this album. Personally, with a few notable
exceptions, it fails to capture the melancholic, hypnotic, haunting feel of the
original band but nevertheless it is an interesting and enjoyable take on one
of Britain
Steve
H.
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