Elie Martin-Charriere (drums);
Theo N'Guyen (saxophone); Martin Ferreyos (guitar); Roman Maresz (keyboards);
Juan Villarrael (bass).
(Reviews by JC)
When Bob Dylan sang
'I lived with them on Montague Street/A
basement down the stairs/There was music in the cafes at night/And revolution
in the air' on Blood on the Tracks in
1975 he was probably talking about New Orleans but the same could be said about
Paris in 2020.
The opportunity to
spend a little time there was too good to miss even though the apartment was
not in the basement but on the 3eme etage.
However, there certainly was revolution in the air as the street the apartment
was on was the main route from the Bastille to Place de la Republic and the scene
of numerous marches.
Thousands of very
angry public service workers would regularly take over both sides of the road
throwing firecrackers and setting bins alight, watched by hundreds of seriously
threatening riot police. It was very obvious that French workers are not going
to allow Macron to reduce their pensions without a major fight.
As strikes meant the
metro was off and there was no sign of le bus numero vingt-sept, it was shank's
pony to get out and find the music in the cafes. This was no hardship though, as
everybody knows walking around Paris is fabulous, even when dodging the various
demonstrations - school kids, students, firemen, farmers on tractors and even
ballet dancers outside the Royal Opera house. But the biggest risk to life and
limb was the extra traffic in the cycle lanes where people had purloined any
kind of wheeled transport they could get to move around: pedal bikes and
electric bikes, push scooters and the latest electric versions, skateboards and
hover boards and even police on roller skates.
Thankfully your erstwhile
correspondent made it unscathed to Rue de Lombards which has no less than three
different jazz clubs within soloing distance of each other - four, if you
include the fact that Sunrise Sunset is two clubs in one; jazz upstairs and a
funkier place down below - and I noticed that even the Irish pub on the street
was advertising regular music sessions.
I was headed for Le
Baiser Sale club ('the salty kiss' seems to be the polite translation) which
the weekly Paris jazz guide had listed the category 'contemporary' beside the
group leader's non-gender specific name (to English-speaking eyes anyway), Elie
Martin-Charriere. A singer maybe? piano
player? No, it turned out to be a young (male) drummer with a group presenting
a tribute to The Tony Williams Lifetime.
Tony Williams formed the group in 1969, a mere 50 years ago - that's my kind of
contemporary - and Martin-Charriere was born two years before Williams died - that's
my kind of tribute artist.
I'm not
over-familiar with the specific Lifetime oeuvre but I know the general
jazz-rock fusion style and Martin-Charriere and his equally young guns powered
into the music with real ferocity testing their already impressive techniques
with some very fast playing. Martin Ferreyos on guitar demonstrated no little
ability and much of the speed of the early McLaughlin and Juan Villarreal was
very solid on bass but maybe lacked a little of the Joker-like grinning evil
menace that Jack Bruce brought to both his demeanour and his playing. On
keyboards Roman Maresz played some fine solos and leader Martin-Charriere performed
with real assurance powering the band forward. Out front and centre, possibly
the youngest member of the group, Theo N'Guyen, played some blistering sax with
that easy confidence of youth. They produced a great sound. There was a small
but appreciative audience of mainly young people at the gig and I wondered
afterwards how many would now want to check out some Lifetime albums. I know I
do.
Christophe Brunard (guitar); Julien Brunard (guitar/violin).
However, Paris to
me always means the Hot Club de France of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli
as it was the first LP I ever bought. Therefore my next foray found me in a
place called MONK La Taverne de Cluny on the Left Bank (no relation to our
Ouseburn venue as far as I know). Here Christophe Brunard and his son, Julien
have a regular weekly gig in the bar ('gypsy' was the style indicator in my
music guide). For the first set both were playing guitars, with Brunard jr.
taking most of the main solos and he was an excellent musician rooted in the
Hot Club style with fast, rippling, inventive solos but clearly showing a knowledge
of later guitar developments. Brunard snr. provided much of the rhythmic
chordal drive with added walking bass lines for good measure but also showing
he was no slouch when it came to his turn to be out front.
In the second set Julien
switched to violin to give a real touch of Reinhardt/Grappelli vibe and if
anything he was even more accomplished on this instrument. He played with great
technique and considerable emotional intensity. Again, the pair complemented
each other beautifully and played (unsurprisingly) with a great deal of
empathic musical understanding.
Although no titles
were given in any language except 'musical' I was sure I recognised many of the
pieces but as l'homme dit 'I never forget a tune but I've no idea what its name
is'.
One thing I spotted
about Julien is that he was wearing a tie-pin, a feature I have noticed with a
number of jazz musicians, and in my experience a sign of a musician who pays
close attention to both musical and sartorial details. Certainly true in this
case.
Then it was back
out in the night and a chance to participate in the adventure known as a late
night Paris taxi drive, not because of demonstrations, but due to a number of
reckless road-crossing revellers who had no idea how close they were to a possible
life-changing experience (and I don't mean musical) as we zoomed past.
JC
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