MARTIAL SOLAL & DAVE LIEBMAN - Masters in Paris
Sunnyside SSC1551
Martial Solal (piano); Dave Liebman (saxophones)
Recorded live at Radio France Studio 104 on October 29, 2016
Time runs by at speed when you listen to two masters embellishing or taking apart the beautiful standards. One of the real pleasures of listening to people playing standards is that you can hear exactly what they are doing so that you can enjoy and judge their inventiveness.
The longevity of Solal is impressive; he did the music for one of the key films of the French New Wave ‘Breathless’. He has worked with Johnny Griffin, Lee Konitz, Django Reinhardt, Hampton Hawes. More to the point of this album, he worked with Sidney Bechet, the soprano saxophone maestro.
Liebman has arrived at the meeting via a completely different route; he has played with Miles Davis, at his most revolutionary, Richie Beirach in a duo and Elvin Jones.
There is no clash, Solal’s style was set long ago and the elements of it are here in profusion: the wit, the Intelligence, the technique, the invention, the recomposition, the reharmonisation, the use of the whole keyboard. Liebman plays both tenor and soprano; the soprano harmonizes best with the dazzling pianistics.
How do you compare this with past duos: the meeting in Paris benefits from their greater familiarity? The meetings with Konitz were more abstract. The duo with Griffin showed some incompatibility. The duo with Bechet took place when Solal was much younger and probably in awe of the bullying braying Bechet.
This recording took place a couple of months after their other album ‘Masters in Bordeaux’. The recording in Paris is superb, it adds life to the ambience, from the first notes of ‘A Night in Tunisia’. Liebman rides on top of the pianistics, the tenor soars as well as exploring the depths of the horn. Neither man strays far from the theme. Solal’s solo is idiosyncratic, he has played this theme across the years, it is familiar from his solo recitals and he always contrives to make it new. Solal even dupes the audience into applauding before the end, well before the duo takes it out triumphantly. The real ending causes the audience to express themselves with the laughter of admiration.
Surprise is an essential element of Solal’s work. His ingenuity and elusiveness make it difficult for a partner. His oblique approach, his fragmented use of themes is designed to challenge. Liebman has confessed that at times in their first meetings he felt overwhelmed. It was probably like having a conversation with someone who is not only more articulate but salts his conversation with satire, jokes, irony and strange twists and new directions.
‘Small One’ is Liebman’s’ composition, written to celebrate the child of a friend. It is the piece, a kind of lullaby, that keeps a sensitive balance between the two musicians. In ‘Summertime’ Solal gives Liebman free rein to explore the timbre of the soprano, Solal accompanies by pecking and hunting across the keyboard. On ‘Stella By Starlight’ Solal explores the lower reaches of the piano and the power of the recording and the percussiveness of the playing shakes the speakers.
One of the most remarkable moments in the album occurs towards the end of Solal’s composition ‘Coming Yesterday’. At about 6.00 minutes into the final track both men take off seemingly into different directions. Liebman explores the far upper reaches of the soprano while Solal plays like a gallic Cecil Taylor. It is both exciting, unnerving and a tribute to their confidence in each other.
Why Solal is not celebrated and honoured across the jazz world and recognised as the supreme musician that he is, is one of the great jazz mysteries. There is a grandeur about his playing and a splendor about this continuing collaboration. This is an album that will be treasured and played across many decades.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Sunnyside SSC1551
Martial Solal (piano); Dave Liebman (saxophones)
Recorded live at Radio France Studio 104 on October 29, 2016
Time runs by at speed when you listen to two masters embellishing or taking apart the beautiful standards. One of the real pleasures of listening to people playing standards is that you can hear exactly what they are doing so that you can enjoy and judge their inventiveness.
The longevity of Solal is impressive; he did the music for one of the key films of the French New Wave ‘Breathless’. He has worked with Johnny Griffin, Lee Konitz, Django Reinhardt, Hampton Hawes. More to the point of this album, he worked with Sidney Bechet, the soprano saxophone maestro.
Liebman has arrived at the meeting via a completely different route; he has played with Miles Davis, at his most revolutionary, Richie Beirach in a duo and Elvin Jones.
There is no clash, Solal’s style was set long ago and the elements of it are here in profusion: the wit, the Intelligence, the technique, the invention, the recomposition, the reharmonisation, the use of the whole keyboard. Liebman plays both tenor and soprano; the soprano harmonizes best with the dazzling pianistics.
How do you compare this with past duos: the meeting in Paris benefits from their greater familiarity? The meetings with Konitz were more abstract. The duo with Griffin showed some incompatibility. The duo with Bechet took place when Solal was much younger and probably in awe of the bullying braying Bechet.
This recording took place a couple of months after their other album ‘Masters in Bordeaux’. The recording in Paris is superb, it adds life to the ambience, from the first notes of ‘A Night in Tunisia’. Liebman rides on top of the pianistics, the tenor soars as well as exploring the depths of the horn. Neither man strays far from the theme. Solal’s solo is idiosyncratic, he has played this theme across the years, it is familiar from his solo recitals and he always contrives to make it new. Solal even dupes the audience into applauding before the end, well before the duo takes it out triumphantly. The real ending causes the audience to express themselves with the laughter of admiration.
Surprise is an essential element of Solal’s work. His ingenuity and elusiveness make it difficult for a partner. His oblique approach, his fragmented use of themes is designed to challenge. Liebman has confessed that at times in their first meetings he felt overwhelmed. It was probably like having a conversation with someone who is not only more articulate but salts his conversation with satire, jokes, irony and strange twists and new directions.
‘Small One’ is Liebman’s’ composition, written to celebrate the child of a friend. It is the piece, a kind of lullaby, that keeps a sensitive balance between the two musicians. In ‘Summertime’ Solal gives Liebman free rein to explore the timbre of the soprano, Solal accompanies by pecking and hunting across the keyboard. On ‘Stella By Starlight’ Solal explores the lower reaches of the piano and the power of the recording and the percussiveness of the playing shakes the speakers.
One of the most remarkable moments in the album occurs towards the end of Solal’s composition ‘Coming Yesterday’. At about 6.00 minutes into the final track both men take off seemingly into different directions. Liebman explores the far upper reaches of the soprano while Solal plays like a gallic Cecil Taylor. It is both exciting, unnerving and a tribute to their confidence in each other.
Why Solal is not celebrated and honoured across the jazz world and recognised as the supreme musician that he is, is one of the great jazz mysteries. There is a grandeur about his playing and a splendor about this continuing collaboration. This is an album that will be treasured and played across many decades.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
