Bley, Carla - Lost Chords find Paolo Fresu, The
Jazzman, Choc du mois
Classica-Répertoire, L'événement jazz du mois"This is a record alive with patient intelligence. Carla Bley's newish quartet, the Lost Chords, is a reduction of her more commonly known Big Band, and here it's in no hurry; it just saunters gloriously through her original music. ...
Mr. Sheppard and Mr. Fresu sound right together, meshing their lines and improvisations, making elegant compound colors. But they don't detach from the band. They serve a larger mood and purpose, one that extends from Thelonious Monk's ballads and some of Steve Lacy's most beautiful and temperate later music. It's serene, urbane and full of its own secrets."
(The New York Times)
"While trying to write new music for The Lost Chords, I kept hearing a trumpet. It wasn't the usual trumpet sound I hear when I write for Big Band. It was elegant and eloquent. Earthy yet ethereal. Suddenly I could hear this beautiful sound leaking out of Andy' Sheppard's headphones. I realized it was Paolo Fresu." Carla Bley did the obvious thing, inviting the Italian trumpeter to join her group for a recording at Gérard de Haro's Studios La Buisonne near Avignon, and on the European tour to mark its release.
Paolo Fresu, trumpet, flugelhorn
Andy Sheppard, soprano and tenor saxophones
Carla Bley, piano
Steve Swallow, bass
Billy Drummond, drums
Recorded May 2007