L' Affrontement des Prétendants

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Clarinets are still out of fashion in American jazz, despite recent quality revival efforts from Don Byron, Ken Peplowski, Chris Speed, and a few others. Too much work with that tight fingering, and tuning in twelfths! Clarinets are much less rare in Europe, and are smack in the French tradition. It's no wonder that Louis Sclavis plays clarinet, bass clarinet, and some soprano sax in his quintet with trumpet, cello, bass, and drums. Melody lines on this date show influences of North Africa and the Middle East, using Eastern modes in lively dance steps and odd meters. This exploratory album has symmetrical architecture, like an Islamic mosque's prayer niche, with long, fast, dancelike numbers separated by shorter moody, smoky meditations mostly featuring bass clarinet, cello, and/or bass. Eight shorter pieces surround a central concert-length (17 minutes) composition, "Hommage à Lounès Matoub"--an Algerian freedom-fighter who was executed--with opening trumpet fanfares and cello meditation ceding to a slow, slinky dance and eventually a faster one, featuring furious soprano sax. Sclavis moves closest to the blues on the piece that follows, "Le temps d'après," a ruminative, fascinating duet for bass clarinet and the bass of Bruno Chevillon (his sole band mate from his 1996 tribute to Renaissance composer Jean-Philippe Rameau). Sclavis occasionally demonstrates distinctive intimations of Eric Dolphy's bass clarinet vernacular, particularly on driving sections of "Maputo." --Fred Bouchard

L' Affrontement des Prétendants,Louis Sclavis,Ecm Records,Avant-Garde Jazz,Chamber Jazz,France,Jazz,Jazz Music,Modern Creative,Pop

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