ANDRÉ JAUME – Musique Pour 8: L'Oc (1 LP + 1 Single) / 1982

Label: hat ART – hat ART 1989/90

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album + Vinyl, 7", Single

Country: Switzerland / Released: 1982

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded on October 1 and 2, 1981, at Foundation Artist' House Boswil/Switzerland.

Photography – Henk Kahlé

Producer – Pia & Werner X. Uehlinger

Recorded By – Peter Pfister

A1 - Blue Note . . . . . . . . . . 4:21

         tenor sax – André Jaume

A2 - Barqueroute . . . . . . . . . . 5:51

         flugelhorn – Jean-François Canape

         tenor sax – André Jaume / trombone – Yves Robert

A3 - L'Oc . . . . . . . . . . 6:47

         bass – François Mechali

         cello – Heiner Thym, Michael Overhage

B1 - Theme For Joe . . . . . . . . . . 4:42

         flute – André Jaume

B2 - Cézanne . . . . . . . . . . 5:03

         bass – François Mechali

         flugelhorn – Jean-François Canape / tenor Sax – André Jaume

B3 - Ballade . . . . . . . . . . 5:43

         cello – Michael Overhage

         flugelhorn – Jean-François Canape / tenor sax – André Jaume

Single 45 RPM:

C  -  Clin D’œil . . . . . . . . . . 4:32

         bass – François Mechali / tenor sax – André Jaume

D  -  Fanfare . . . . . . . . . . 4:22

         percussion – Gérard Siracusa

+

2 bonus tracks: Musique Pour 8: L'Oc

(CD-1990) / hat ART – hat ART CD 6058

E (bonus track) - St. Jean . . . . . . . . . . 5:56

F (bonus track) - Zazize . . . . . . . . . . 7:25

André Jaume – tenor sax, flute, composed

Yves Robert – trombone

Jacques Veillé – bass trombone

Jean-François Canape – trumpet, flugelhorn

François Mechali – bass

Heiner Thym – cello

Michael Overhage – cello

Gerard Siracusa – percussion, drums

André Jaume's Musique Pour 8 is as ambitious a work as he has ever attempted. For octet, he has chosen to explore the relationships of the group to the individual, harmony to dissonance, timbre to meter, ensemble charts to free improvisation -- and all the colors of the musical palette. Using a group he culled together based on his fancy rather than any previous playing relationships creates a prismatic approach to Jaume's compositions. Unlike most of the Europeans, his work (especially in the avant-garde) refuses to dismiss itself from traditions musical and otherwise: Jaume's obsessions with visual art and poetry are evidenced here not as support mechanisms, but as inspirations. His "Ballade" touches on the melancholy of the Mallarme poem of the same name; "Cezanne" engages timbre -- especially in his tenor solo and in Canape's flügelhorn moment -- in a manner that highlights the vibrational nature of color and texture, much like the painter's flattened yet nonetheless shimmering canvasses. And musically, in "L'Oc," listeners can hear the tension and restraint evident in composer Darius Milhaud's later work for strings -- especially his last quartet. The influences of arrangers and texturalists such as Stan Kenton and Jimmy Giuffre can also be heard in "Blue Note" and "Theme for Joe." Jaume makes such a case for his own composition on this album that it's difficult to fault him. His titles are as free and open as his bandleading, allowing the individual musicians to ink the page indelibly with their own stamps. Jaume is truly one of the great European artists who, like Franz Koglmann, understands the importance not only of tradition, but of nuance and elegance, in the presentation of anything -- whether it be groundbreaking improvisation or beautifully composed vignettes and themes. Musique Pour 8: L'Oc is a treasure from an underappreciated master of form, style, and content.

Review by Thom Jurek

If you find it, buy this album!