The Boperation quartet of Axel Dorner (trumpet), Pierre-Anotoine Badaroux (sax), Joel Grip (bass), and Antonin Gerbal (drums) apply modern playing techniques to the original compositions of bepop artists including Herbie Nichols, Jackie McLean, Fats Navarro, &c.
Label: Umlaut Records Catalog ID: umfr-02 Squidco Product Code: 17259
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2011 Country: Sweden / France / Germany Packaging: Digipack Recorded at Atelier Polonceau, Paris on March 7th, 2011.
"The idea with the project Boperation is to work and develop the music of bebop pianists. Why pianists? Mainly because of the natural complexity that is found in their compositions; the relations of harmony, melody, and the rhythm section which is in dual charge (drums and bass) of the rhythm as well as keeping a solid ear to the harmony, and the ongoing melodic development of the soloist. Peeping Tom's idea is to bring these somewhat forgotten treasures to light by re-working them - putting them in the actual daylight - and take them on a more of an abstract journey. The frst problem these compositions bump into is that there are no qualifed harmonic instruments in Peeping Tom (the lack of piano), so already at this point we fnd a new territory of imagination to dress-up these rare be-bop beauties in.
In the way Peeping Tom approach and treat their repertoire, a pedagogical side is also heard. The project Boperation makes people re-discover an extremely rich music full of surprises, the one of the bebop pianists, and let people understand that jazz is not dead, but alive and can be played just as dynamic and innovative as fun - something musicians of today needs to hear."-Umlaut