The 1001 NUITS DU JAZZ retrace the different stages of the jazz epic in the historical setting of the Bal Blomet, 2 Thursdays a month, through 50 evening-concerts. Each evening is punctuated by short presentations of artists, standards, episodes or musicological notions that have marked the history of jazz.
JUST FOCUS was present for the evening of September 20, 2018 dedicated to the year 1959!
1959, The heroic year of jazz!
The year 1959 was an incredible turning point in the history of jazz. The genre is shaken up in its foundations, the codes are reversed. All the usual ingredients of jazz: the swing, the rhythm, the theme, are transformed. Crazy creative bubbling, bottling of masterpieces, blossoming of mythical and precursory pieces. New and strong concepts appear and profoundly change the way jazz musicians think about their practice.
Miles Davis, frees improvisation from the chord grid (Kind of Blue), Dave Brubeck experiments with unusual rhythms (Time Out), John Coltrane moves towards complex harmonic logics (Giant Steps).1959 was also the year of the publication of one of the very first free jazz albums, The Shape of Jazz to Come by Ornette Coleman where musicians improvise for the first time in a totally free style.
RAPHAEL IMBERT AND HIS GUESTS
Accompanied by pianist Johan Farjot, Raphaël Imbert illustrates in word and music, the anecdotes and highlights of this mythical year.With a timbrated voice and warm temperament, he makes jazz more accessible, decompartmentalizes the genre, and manages to privilege the spirit of entertainment, characteristic of traditional jazz concerts.
Spontaneous and funny, the saxophonist likes to nickname his musicians with the names of the instrumentalists of the sextet of Miles Davis (on the album Kind of Blue). Open to all musical encounters, Raphael Imbert is an artist with multiple collaborations. That evening, he invited Chistophe LeLoil (trumpet) and Thomas Savy (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet), two musicians with whom he played in the ECHOES sextet a few years earlier. The public also discovers young jazz talents: Elvire Jouve (drums), and Matis Regnault (double bass), both former students of the Centre des Musiques Didier Lockwood.
Hours fly by with Raphael Imbert and his guests! The viewer is captivated, curious, enthusiastic. We will remember beautiful moments of music and improvisation, a beautiful complicity between the musicians, an authentic, lively, joyful atmosphere, and faithful to the spirit of jazz!
Rita
Mathis Regnault Raphael Imbert, Christophe Leloil, Thomas Savy
Raphael Imbert
Photo credit: Edouard Baudouin
