MARTIAL SOLAL & DAVE LIEBMAN - Masters in Bordeaux
Sunnyside Records SSC 1489
Martial Solal (piano); Dave Liebman (saxophones)
Recorded 4 August 2016 at Chateau Guiraud, Sauternes
Martial Solal is one of the greatest jazz pianists. Now in his nineties he is as inventive mischievous and creative as ever. His range of experiences is rich: duos with Bechet, Konitz, Hampton Hawes, Toots Thielemans, Johnny Griffin, Grappelli; film music with Jean Luc Godard. The central characteristic of Solal’s playing is intelligence. Unlike Tatum he does not introduce grand sweeps across the keyboard, rococo variations. Unlike Peterson, he does not try to dazzle with cascades of notes. Solal sounds as though everything is thought through harmonically. Solal takes a theme and eviscerates it looking for the central core. Once found, he then builds a new construction. Because he works with known themes from composers like Jerome Kern and Cole Porter, you can hear clearly what he is adding to the original. The pleasure of following his mind as he embellishes, elaborates, re-creates, teases and unfurls his ideas is absorbing.
Dave Liebman, from a different generation, twenty years younger than Solal, came out of different experiences. He was part of the maelstrom that Miles Davis unleashed in the early seventies. He wailed in front of the Elvin Jones group riding those rolling rhythms.
‘All the Things You Are’ begins the exploration with the two musicians playing as though talking like old friends, sometimes agreeing, reminiscing, occasionally contradicting, emphasising, joking, competing, finishing off the other’s ideas. Liebman uses tenor and soprano. It is tenor on ‘Night and Day’ as well as ‘What is This Thing Called Love?’ His opening solo with stabbing darting quick-fire notes on that track is unaccompanied at first. He returns to soprano for Solar. Liebman’s tenor playing has a sentimental pleading expressive quality unlike the lemony acidity of his soprano. The range of techniques deployed by Liebman could indicate that he has been influenced by the older man? I have never heard Liebman play quite like he does here.
2016 was the first time that the two men had played together. There were a few dates before the recording. The whole album was done with the minimum of fuss, no second takes. This is simply great jazz, set down with confidence in the way that only great musicians can achieve. Sheer pleasure! If you want to know what mature improvisers at their peak sound like, here it is. So, early in 2018, this looks as though it will definitely be a record of the year.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Sunnyside Records SSC 1489
Martial Solal (piano); Dave Liebman (saxophones)
Recorded 4 August 2016 at Chateau Guiraud, Sauternes
Martial Solal is one of the greatest jazz pianists. Now in his nineties he is as inventive mischievous and creative as ever. His range of experiences is rich: duos with Bechet, Konitz, Hampton Hawes, Toots Thielemans, Johnny Griffin, Grappelli; film music with Jean Luc Godard. The central characteristic of Solal’s playing is intelligence. Unlike Tatum he does not introduce grand sweeps across the keyboard, rococo variations. Unlike Peterson, he does not try to dazzle with cascades of notes. Solal sounds as though everything is thought through harmonically. Solal takes a theme and eviscerates it looking for the central core. Once found, he then builds a new construction. Because he works with known themes from composers like Jerome Kern and Cole Porter, you can hear clearly what he is adding to the original. The pleasure of following his mind as he embellishes, elaborates, re-creates, teases and unfurls his ideas is absorbing.
Dave Liebman, from a different generation, twenty years younger than Solal, came out of different experiences. He was part of the maelstrom that Miles Davis unleashed in the early seventies. He wailed in front of the Elvin Jones group riding those rolling rhythms.
‘All the Things You Are’ begins the exploration with the two musicians playing as though talking like old friends, sometimes agreeing, reminiscing, occasionally contradicting, emphasising, joking, competing, finishing off the other’s ideas. Liebman uses tenor and soprano. It is tenor on ‘Night and Day’ as well as ‘What is This Thing Called Love?’ His opening solo with stabbing darting quick-fire notes on that track is unaccompanied at first. He returns to soprano for Solar. Liebman’s tenor playing has a sentimental pleading expressive quality unlike the lemony acidity of his soprano. The range of techniques deployed by Liebman could indicate that he has been influenced by the older man? I have never heard Liebman play quite like he does here.
2016 was the first time that the two men had played together. There were a few dates before the recording. The whole album was done with the minimum of fuss, no second takes. This is simply great jazz, set down with confidence in the way that only great musicians can achieve. Sheer pleasure! If you want to know what mature improvisers at their peak sound like, here it is. So, early in 2018, this looks as though it will definitely be a record of the year.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
