专辑简介

by Joslyn Layne

Electric guitarist -- and, on this record, daxophonist -- René Lussier gathers this fun Montreal conglomerate to make a jamming, somewhat musique actuelle, jazz album. Nine brass, reed, and woodwind musicians are added to the guitar and rhythm section lineup. Despite the group's size, these clever musicians tightly sail through exotica ("Un Saumon") and experimental ("Oignon #3"), yet manage to keep it jazz all the while. The irreverent opening solo on "Epinette" sounds like a squeaking, scrilling pig balloon that someone keeps twisting (the responsible instrument remains unidentified). "Ligne Blanche" is a high-speed data stream, complete with bleeps and occasional punctuation, and from this rises polyrhythmic horn rounds. After all that energy, the first section of "Nuit et Silence 1-2-3" is the down-time -- the float -- that stretches until a tough, stripped-down-from-chunky beat kicks in. Lussier and company throw it eclectic, yet don't cross the line into utter wacky cartoon music. (Well, a little wacky; they manage to make jokes with the music, without making a joke of the music.) Call it smart and mischievous, it's too groovin' and sauve to be called "kitsch."