Louis
Sclavis (clarinet), Gilles Coronado (guitar), Benjamin Moussay
(piano, keyboard), Keyvan Chemirani (percussion).
(Review
by Hugh)
Silk
and Salt Melodies is Louis
Sclavis' tenth album for ECM. He has previously collaborated with
Gilles Coronado and Benjamin Moussay on his last album Sources.
On this new album, which was
recorded in a studio near Avignon in March 2014, the trio are joined
by Iranian classical percussionist, Keyvan Chemirani who brings a new
dimension to their sound world. Chemirani has played in many
different formats from classical Iranian music to working with
musicians from India, Greece, Turkey and Spain.
The
title Silk and Salt indicates
Sclavis' desire “for this work to take an imaginary, nomadic
Central Asian route, but also to address the idea of emigration in
world history”. This album journeys away from and back to jazz
with travelling rhythms and melodies predominating. All the
compositions on the album are by Louis Sclavis.
Our
journey commences with Le parfum de l'exil and
we progress via L'homme sud;
L'autre rive; Sel
et soie; Dance for
horses; Des feux
lointains; Cortege;
Dust and dogs, ending
with the short and sweet (at just over a minute) Prato
plage.
It
is difficult to pick out any particular track as they are very much
in a continuum. Salt and Silk Melodies
is what, in the 1970s, would have been called a 'concept
album'. Sclavis has a beautiful tone on the clarinet and there is
some highly dynamic group interaction with his fellow musicians, all
of whom are featured prominently at different stages during this
musical journey.
This album can only loosely be
termed “jazz” - there certainly elements of the music in here,
but there is a melange of many musical forms. However, one thing is
for certain, this is definitely music we are hearing and the
virtuosity of the four members of the quartet will be appreciated by
anyone with half a musical ear.
Silk
and Salt Melodies was released in the UK on 25August. ECM Catalogue
Number 378 6537.
Hugh.
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