French Jazz Essentials

[coll]: FRENCH JAZZ ESSENTIALS
Bureau Export, 2005

This is a nice overview of the current jazz scene in France, assembled by an industry consortium (the Bureau Export) whose mission is to give French music exposure in other countries. The music here is all pretty mainstream, and generally quite good, yet most of these artists have been completely ignored by jazz radio stations in the U.S. (boo!) Let’s give ‘em some love!

Fo’s picks: 1, 5, 7, 8, 10-13

1. 5:26 – rolling modern bop, mellow but active, good sax & piano
2. 3:48 – dinner-jazzy female vocal with a touch of sass & a light Latin beat
3. 5:29 – perky modern bop ditty with strong bass, lilting sax
4. 4:18 – soul-jazz w/female vox (in English), a boogaloo strut, decent sax solo.
5. 4:06 – uptempo musette swing w/accordion lead, elec. guitar
6. 5:18 – piano trio: ballad intro, then Latinized uptempo. Rather bland.
7. 5:28 – Ellingtonian drag w/Yusef Lateef. Weary sax solo, shuffling rhythm.
8. 5:36 – angular modern bop: light piano, straight sax, heavy bass, active drums
9. 4:44 – simple melody for sax, a mellow mood, cute/silly organ solo in middle!
10. 4:35 – 60s-style improv, clarinet grinds over freewheeling drums & bass
11. 3:59 – Erik Truffaz world/hiphop fusion, Arabic vox, English rap, cool trumpet
12. 2:53 – modern gypsy swing, Spanish-style guitar duo, upbeat and flowing
13. 4:30 – more gypsy swing! Midtempo and jangly with thumping beat, sweet violin
14. 6:22 – trio ballad, bass in front, starts low-toned and quiet, then opens up
15. 7:12 – gentle solo piano intro, then mild ‘n’ mellow bop, heats up gradually
16. 1:24 – short, cute piano solo, very quiet. WARNING: might skip!

[Fo] 1/6/06