Saxophonist Pierre's Labbe's 1st release in 6 years, performing original compositions in a quartet with guitarist Bernard Falaise, drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli & bassist Clinton Ryder.
Label: Ambiances Jazz Catalog ID: AM 190 Squidco Product Code: 12165
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2009 Country: Canada Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve Recorded at Studio 270 between March and June 2009 by Robert Langlois.
"Finally, Pierre Labbe's back on CD, six years after Risque et pendule. From the sextet line-up featured on that first Ambiances Magnetiques opus, released as Ensemble Pierre Labbe, the sax/flute player only retained the services of guitarist Bernard Falaise (Miriodor, Klaxon Gueule, Les Projectionnistes). Bassist Clinton Ryder and drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli round up the group. On Manivelle [Crank], the quartet waltzes, turns, and tears up through nine Labbe originals. Though firmly anchored in jazz, his compositions shake free from jazz's diktats. In turn rock-in-opposition, musique actuelle, Arabic elements, fusion, hard-bop, free, and savagely rock, Labbe's music absorbs, synthesizes, and remaps all those influences. Ample themes are spread around, interspersed with large stretches of collective exploration, a fertile ground for these four sonic adventurers. "For many years now, I have been trying to make music both organic and spiritual. Music that transpires and inspires, music that grooves, whispers, and moves you. Atypical jazz feeding on opposites, a resolutely plural form of jazz," Labbe writes. You will easily notice the stunning guitar flights, the uncanny creativity of the drumming, the robust bass playing, and the lyrical phrasing of the saxophone. Yet, Labbe's melodies - at times sweet, at times jagged - might be what you'll remember best, as they bear the quality seal of a unique hybrid form of writing both closely related to his previous projects (Papa Boa, Les Projectionnistes, Ensemble Pierre Labbe) and reinvented by a gust of free jazz inspiration. The crank is turning indeed, synergistically."-François Couture