MICHAEL RIESSLER & SINGER PUR with VINCENT COURTOIS — Ahi Vita (2004) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

The boundary-crossing between classical music, jazz, and avant-garde results in an intellectually demanding and acoustically very appealing dialogue with Renaissance music. ACT
Tracklist :
1    O Dolorosa Gioia 4:58
Written-By – Carlo Gesualdo
2    Ahi Lingua, Ai Baci    7:28
Written-By – Michael Riessler
3    Amor    12:52
Written-By – Michael Riessler
4    Amor - Lamento Della Ninfa 4:52
Written-By – Claudio Monteverdi
5    Nasce La Pena Mia - Introduktion    2:04
6    Nasce La Pena Mia 3:45
Written-By – Alessandro Striggio / Michael Riessler
7    Pleurez Mes Yeux    3:51
Written-By – Michael Riessler
8    Pleurez Mes Yeux 3:21
Written-By – Dominique Phinot
9    Planxit    4:16
Written-By – Michael Riessler
10    Cursum    6:19
Written-By – Michael Riessler
11    Si Chi'Io Vorrei Morire 2:59
Written-By – Claudio Monteverdi
12    Lugebat    1:23
Written-By – Michael Riessler
13    Moro Lasso 3:34
Written-By – Carlo Gesualdo
14    Far Mi Deggio    5:54
Written-By – Michael Riessler
Credits :
Artwork [Cover] – Jerry Zeniuk
Baritone Vocals – Guido Heidloff
Bass Vocals – Marcus Schmidl
Cello – Vincent Courtois
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Producer – Michael Riessler
Soprano Vocals – Claudia Reinhard
Tenor Vocals – Andreas Hirtreiter, Klaus Wenk, Markus Zapp
Vocals – Singer Pur

LOUIS SCLAVIS QUINTET - L' Affrontement des Prétendants (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The latest ECM date by clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Louis Sclavis moves astray from his previous concept-oriented albums and toward musical settings that showcase his stunning new quintet. The only remaining member from his last band is bassist Bruno Chevillon. Once again, however, Sclavis gives listeners a puzzle to solve in the title: Who are these confrontational pretenders? Or, does the reference suggest that these very same pretenders are staking a claim to a throne or position of authority? Both cases may be self-referential given the absolute musical muscle on display here. The title track that opens the disc features a streaming trumpet workout by the all-but-unknown Jean Luc Capozzo. His playing comes from many sources, the most recent of which are Wadada Leo Smith and Lester Bowie, and the influence of African and Arab musical modalities that inform his melodic improvisations. His lyric line is complex, long, and knotty, bringing both harmonic and modal considerations to the fore. Rhythm in this band is also provocative, given that there is no pianist to muck things up. Cellist Vincent Courtois covers a lot of this territory, leaving both Chevillon and drummer François Merville to break time, cross it, and stretch by means of interactive methodologies and interpretive interval signatures that may or may not come from Western music. Elsewhere, such as on "Distances," a swinging post-bop melodic phrasing is intercut with Parisian salon music. One can hear the humor of Erik Satie cascading through Sclavis' clarinet solo and the rich, triple-time cowbell beats stuttered by Merville. The music is as perverse as it is virtuosi. But the true musical marvel that is this quintet is on the mammoth suite "Hommage à Lounès Matoub," a tribute to the late Algerian protest singer who was assassinated in 1998. The mournful opening measures are played with heartbreaking grace by Capozzo, and give way to the solo dirge by Courtois, which is tinted with a trace of rage at its fringes. Six minutes in, the rest of the band enters, again led by Capozzo soloing, becoming the slain singer's voice in the heart of the mix. The North African-percussion styles employed by Merville criss-cross and undulate; they seem to imitate frame and raku drums. The tempo and mood pick up about ten minutes in, and here the ensemble moves through complex harmonic and modal territory, leaving their previously flexible style for a manner of playing that hints at transcendence and even victory, a musical space that suggests that memory is what triumphs because it carries on where a person cannot. This is a jazz group that moves from Coltrane-like intensity (Sclavis' soprano solo in the "Hommage" quotes "India" in three places and Steve Lacy's "Blinks" in two others) to a musical expressionism that echoes both Boulez and Messiaen. Finally, there is the presence of Africa that looms so heavily in Sclavis' musical heart, due to the amount of time he spends there, that it cannot help but be expressed alongside the other music. These West African melodies that at first come in hints and phrases assert themselves in tonal capacities as well as in solos. In sum, it is as a quintet this band plays, as a musical unit that is seasoned and confident and in full possession of its strengths and musical empathies. So democratic and accomplished is this band that it sounds as if it has no leader, but only music to play. And that's as high a compliment as any reviewer can pay.
(This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa')
Tracklist :
1    L'affrontement des prétendants 8'41
(Louis Sclavis)
2    Distances 3'16
(Louis Sclavis, Vincent Courtois)
3    Contre contre 6'36
(Louis Sclavis)
4    Hors les murs 2'50
(Bruno Chevillon)
5    Possibles 5'20
(Louis Sclavis)
6    Hommage à Lounès Matoub 16'55
(Louis Sclavis)
7    Le temps d'après 8'02
(Louis Sclavis)
8    Maputo introduction 2'32
(Louis Sclavis)
9    Maputo 6'27
(Louis Sclavis)
10    La mémoire des mains 2'29
(Bruno Chevillon, François Merville, Louis Sclavis)
Credits :
Louis Sclavis - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone
Jean-Luc Cappozzo - Trumpet
Vincent Courtois - Cello
Bruno Chevillon - Double-Bass
François Merville - Drums       

LOUIS SCLAVIS - Napoli's Walls (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Louis Sclavis has for decades dazzled and provoked listeners with his literate, ambitious musical projects that examine not only the many dimensions and directions of the sonic spectrum, but also his Renaissance-like embrace of literature, foreign cultures, and now, visual art. With a new quartet collaborating with him -- only cellist Vincent Courtois is retained from his previous outing, L'Affrontement des Prétendants -- Sclavis turns his eyes, ears, and spirit toward an investigation of the paintings of the French artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest on Napoli's Walls. Pignon-Ernest, born in 1942, is a curious and wonderfully captivating artist, since he works not on canvas but on public surfaces. From 1987-1995 he worked in Naples, digging through a knotty, tragic history that involved both Oriental and Occidental cultures and the aftermath of volcanoes, disease, defeat at the hands of many armies, and the poetry of its people through it all. Sclavis (playing both clarinets and saxophones), Courtois (on cello), Médéric Collignon (on pocket trumpet, electronics, voices, and horn), and Danish guitarist Hasse Poulsen engage Pignon-Ernest head-on. They explore the various musical traditions of Naples, but also of the entire region through the language of the postmodern, as improvisation, formal composition, ethnomusicology, and an aesthetic that attempts to illustrate the visual aurally. This is accomplished by stitching together the region's popular and antiquated song forms (from folk to opera to madrigals), jazz (through a Mingus-like engagement with history and the dissemination of cultural mores), sophisticated and striated harmonic sensibilities, and a nuanced aesthetic of dissonance. There are ten selections on Napoli's Walls, all but one of them dedicated to a person or place and all of them warm and utterly engaged in time and place, whether the piece has humor in its articulation, such as on the title track or "Kennedy in Napoli," with its wondrous counterpoint, or is more elegiac as in "Divinaziona Moderna, Pt. 1" and "Guetteur d'Inaperçu." The classical thematics and structure of "Les Apparences," with its lilting cello line that counters the pocket trumpet in creating a theme to which Sclavis adds his trademark rounded tone on clarinet, is among the most striking moments on the set, especially as Poulsen's guitar breaks the dynamic and then shifts it into a meditative improvisation. Simply put, Napoli's Walls is an album that moves jazz from its rarefied 21st century ghetto and engages it in a different dimension, as it offers the visual as another song form and place of investigation for sonic inquiry as well as dissemination for antiquated and popular culture. And far from being merely academic, this record is full of sensual pleasure and an utterly accessible, often deeply moving articulation of a new musical language.
(This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa')
Tracklist :
1    Colleur de nuit 10'35
(Louis Sclavis)
2    Napoli’s Walls 7'21
(Louis Sclavis)
3    Mercè 3'07
(Louis Sclavis)
4    Kennedy in Napoli 6'25    
(Louis Sclavis)
5    Divinazione Moderna, part 1 3'38
(Louis Sclavis)
6    Divinazione Moderna, part 2 3'30
(Louis Sclavis)
7    Guetteur d’inaperçu 8'23
(Louis Sclavis)
8    Les apparences 4'44
(Louis Sclavis)
9    Porta segreta 5'03
(Vincent Courtois)
10    Il disegno smangiato d’un uomo 7'16
(Louis Sclavis)
Credits :
Louis Sclavis - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone
Vincent Courtois - Cello, Electronics
Médéric Collignon - Pocket Trumpet, Voices, Horn, Percussion, Electronics
Hasse Poulsen - Guitar  

LOUIS SCLAVIS : Dans La Nuit (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

As well as being France’s most highly-regarded contemporary jazz musician Louis Sclavis has a long history as a film composer, and this richly melodic album presents his original score for the restored version of a classic movie from the silent era. At the invitation of Bertrand Tavernier, Sclavis wrote new music to accompany Charles Vanel’s 1930 film, “Dans la nuit”. He assembled an exceptional band for this project, employing former colleague violinist Dominique Pifarély to interact with Vincent Courtois, cellist from the current Sclavis band. Drummer François Merville is featured on marimba as well as percussion, and the blend of sonorities is very special. “Dans la nuit” continues the great tradition of Music for Film on ECM. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Dia Dia 1'15
(Louis Sclavis)
2    Le travail 6'00
(Louis Sclavis)
3    Dans la nuit 3'39
(Louis Sclavis)
4    Fête foraine 4'57
(Louis Sclavis)
5    Retour de noce 2'17
(Louis Sclavis)
6    Mauvais rêve 1'41
(Louis Sclavis)
7    Amour et beauté 2'49
(Louis Sclavis)
8    L’accident part 1 3'35
(Louis Sclavis)
9    L’accident part 2 3'17
(Louis Sclavis)
10    Le miroir 4'43
(Jean-Louis Matinier, Dominique Pifarély, Vincent Courtois, Louis Sclavis, François Merville)
11    Dans la nuit 1'11
(Louis Sclavis)
12    La fuite 5'14
(Dominique Pifarély, François Merville, Louis Sclavis, Vincent Courtois, Jean-Louis Matinier)
13    La peur du noir 1'27
(Jean-Louis Matinier)
14    Les 2 visages 6'19
(Louis Sclavis)
15    Dia Dia 5'00
(Louis Sclavis)
16    Dans la nuit 1'29
(Louis Sclavis)
Credits :
Louis Sclavis - Clarinets
Dominique Pifarély - Violin
Vincent Courtois - Violoncello
François Merville - Drums, Marimba
Jean-Louis Matinier - Accordion