Bolling Meridien - FA5042
Claude Bolling Big Bang
LIVE AT THE MÉRIDIEN - PARIS
Performance : Excellent
Recording : Very good
French pianist Claude Bolling has written and recorded enough jazzy suites to fill a large restaurant dessert cart, but it is said that he has a particular fondness for big bands. Several Bolling big-band albums have been released in Europe, but “Live at the Méridien” is the first to make it to these shores. Smooth as custard and with just enough spice to tickle the hardened jazz palate, this program of Bolling originals has a sound that reflects big bands past – there are streaks of old Herman Herds and even Charlie Barnet – yet it all sounds thoroughly modern. More innovation-loving ears will prefer Toshiko Akiyoshi’s charts, but there is room in jazz for both, and I certainly prefer this Bolling to the pastry chef who turns out all those suites.
C.A. The Washington Post
Trois heures d’un bonheur enthousiasmant, revigorant, réconfortant, roboratif, complet, cela vaut tout de même la peine qu’on en parle, même si cela outrepasse un peu les frontières de cette chronique...
Et je viens de passer de tels moments de joie à l’hôtel Méridien, que je n’ai pas le courage de ne point vous inciter à les partager.
Car c’est Claude Bolling qui, avec son big-band de seize musiciens, nous comble, pendant deux fois une heure et demie, de somptuosités sonores d’une étonnante richesse. Nous retrouvons des titres récents, tous composés de main de maître par un Claude Bolling qui, au piano, est comme toujours stupéfiant de présence, de souplesse et d’invention.
Ce qui m’a le plus frappé dans cet orchestre, c’est que les musiciens savent tous allier une précision hallucinante à une fantaisie et à une liberté de chaque instant.
Et tout cela se déroule dans un climat d’émulation permanente, en même temps que dans une joie communicative.
Pierre Petit - Le Figaro - 1991
1. Jazzomania 6’00
2. Le piège 7’00
3. Geneviève 8’10
4. Africaine 5’16
5. Le cœur a ses raisons 6’26
6. Barbuflux 6’08
7. Coup de chapeau 5’13
8. Lagaffe* 5’15
All compositions by Claude Bolling (*Claude Bolling/André Villèger)
Jean Aldegon, Claude Tissendier (8)*, André Villèger (1,2,3,5), Marcel Canillard (6),
Pierre Schirrer (6,8) (Saxophones, Flutes)/Maurice Thomas, Jean-Pierre Ramirez, Jean-Claude Verstraete,
Michel Delakian, Fernand Verstraete (1,6) (Trumpets)/Charles Verstraete (7), Benny Vasseur (1,3), François Guin, Emile Vilain (Trombones)/Jean-Paul Charlap (4) (Guitar)/Jean-François Rougé (Bass)/
Jean-Luc Dayan (Drums)/Claude Bolling (Piano)
*Numbers refer to band on which musician is soloist.
Recording : Davout mobile sound unit/Engineer : Claude Ermelin - Produced by Claude Bolling
Claude Bolling has always had a passion for Big Bands. With this first Big Bang album to be released in the United States – five have already been released in France! – jazz fans in New York, Los Angeles, Boston or Chicago will discover a new and quite unexpected side to the man they thought of primarily as the successful composer/pianist of those “Baroque Jazz” Suites recorded with some of the world’s best classical musicians : flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, guitarist Alexandre Lagoya, violonist Pinchas Zukerman, trumpetist Maurice André, the English Chamber Orchestra and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Bolling’s Suites have literally turned the classical recording business upside down : Consider the fact that his “Suite for Flute for Jazz Piano Trio” has been on Billboard’s charts for over 450 weeks!
But Claude Bolling’s true passion, the one that has been the driving force behind a fantastic career devoted entirely to music, has always been and still is jazz. Real jazz, great jazz, the best jazz, the jazz of the likes off Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Earl Hines and Duke Ellington.
As early as 1960 Bolling had formed his first Big Band which was totally suffused with Ellingtonian colors and flavors. It has even been said that the Duke was left speechless with admiration more than once while listening to this “Frenchy Jazz Band” that sounded so “jungle-like”. As for the band that you will discover on this album, recorded live at the Jazz Patio of the Méridien Hotel – one of the top jazz spots in Paris, managed in a masterly manner by the popular Moustache – it has been in existence for ten years and brings together the capital’s best soloists. The group has participated in all the major European festivals.
Powerful, swinging, inspired, Claude Bolling’s Big Band plays the smooth, refined or striking compositions of its leader with fire and brilliance. A marvelous swinging machine reminding us that the Big Band era is not dead.
Philippe Adler
Considered one of the best Radio and TV Producers specializing in jazz and pop music, Philippe Adler has long worked for RTL and the news magazine L’Express.
Just like good wine..!
This oenological reference looks here like a symbol! At the time Europe is discovering big bands era again, conductors become avare of the difficulty to know making them age. New Beaujolais, every year regarded expensively by advertising, never will be equivalent to a great Bourgogne or a Bordeaux. The same applies to a big band, as good wine does it, improve aging.
The CLAUDE BOLLING BIG BAND is the most famous one in France! Is it only because it’s the oldest? No, it’s the hitest simply, with all due respect to kill-joy of every side!
What about the formula? The jolly purety of a music continually renewed (eight new compositions in this live record) dipping into the purest jazz the great Masters’one : Duke, Count and the others, first rate soloists (André Villeger take the lion’s share!) and a conductor who knows perfectly what he wants and get it easily for, it’s not new, what is quite understandable is clearly said..!
Dominique BURUCOA
Translation by Amelia Duarte
Comme le bon vin..!
La référence oenologique a ici valeur de symbole! A l’heure où l’Europe semble redécouvrir l’ère des big bands, les chefs d’orchestre prennent conscience qu’il est difficile de savoir les faire vieillir! Le Beaujolais nouveau, salué chaque année à grands frais de publicité, ne vaudra jamais un grand Bourgogne ou un Bordeaux. Il en va de même pour un big band qui, comme le bon vin, s’améliore en vieillissant!
Le CLAUDE BOLLING BIG BAND est le plus célèbre grand orchestre de jazz en France! Uniquement parce qu’il est le plus ancien? Non, tout simplement parce que c’est celui qui a le plus de succès, n’en déplaise aux trouble-fêtes de tous bords!
La recette? La joviale fraîcheur d’une musique sans cesse renouvelée (huit nouvelles compositions dans ce disque “live”) qui puise à la source du jazz le plus pur, celle des grands Maîtres : Duke, Count et les autres, des solistes de premier ordre (André Villeger se taille la part du lion!) et un chef d’orchestre qui sait parfaitement ce qu’il veut et l’obtient car, et ce n’est pas nouveau, “ce qui se conçoit bien s’énonce clairement”..!
Dominique BURUCOA
