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Rhythm built on a strong bass
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Mezcal Jazz Unit concert held the audience in thrall despite a stuffy auditorium
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According to the bassist-bandleader Dave Holland, the start of a bass solo is taken by the audience as a signal to go off on a toilet break. I'd make that the uninitiated listeners, for the true jazz buff knows the worth of not only a bass solo, but also all the accompaniment work a bassist does.
Emmanuel de Gouvelle, electric bass guitarist (who plays the role of the bassist in much contemporary jazz) and leader of Mezcal Jazz Unit (MJU), did everything a bassist does with skill and verve when MJU performed for Bangalore's jazz fans at the Alliance Française late last week. With his intros he set up the melodies and rhythms of the pieces the band played. He backed the solos of Jean-Marie Frédéric on electric guitar and Christophe Azéma on alto and baritone saxophones, often playing contrapuntal solo improvisations behind them. And for good measure he took the spotlight for solo improvisations of his own. Needless to say, nobody rushed out for a toilet break.
Azéma and Frédéric took the lead between them on the themes. All the while of course de Gouvelle was playing his rhythmic riffs in the background or sometimes joining them on the main theme. Azéma and Frédéric also had large shares in the solo improvisations, although as I've already said de Gouvelle had plenty to do in that department too.
The whole thing was anchored by the drumming of Vivian Pérès, on whom too the spotlight fell during the frequent solos, usually towards the end of each number, he took. Surprisingly for someone who came to jazz from rock, Pérès exhibited a fairly light touch, using the cymbals as much as he did the various drums and never setting up a heavy beat. Even during his solos, when he let fly at all parts of his drum kit, he was spectacular or at most a little showy rather than overly loud.
MJU played five or six pieces (including the encore), each receiving some 15 minutes or so of extended treatment, as they deserved if all four members of the quartet were to take solos. Alas! de Gouvelle's announcements, made bilingually in French and English, gave out the names of the numbers performed only in French, so I couldn't catch them, except for the slow one, "Un Peu Triste mais pas Trop" ("A Little Sad but not Too Much"). The preceding number, which he claimed with some justification was inspired by Carnatic music, was a treat (like all of them, but more so!).
The number before that, based on Arab music from North Africa, was just as much of a delight. The only number on which Azéma played put aside his alto sax for the baritone, it had him playing a catchy intro based on a short, rhythmic, repeated phrase. If his tone on the alto was pleasing, on the baritone it was positively captivating. De Gouvelle and Frédéric both used their electric instruments with restraint, eschewing the kind of electronic gimmickry that was popular in the heyday of jazz-rock fusion.
Unusually for a jazz event in Bangalore, this concert started just 10 minutes late. Characterised by melody, rhythm and innovative solo improvisation, it held the audience in thrall for about 90 minutes. And this despite the heat resulting from insufficient ventilation of an auditorium that looks like its renovation, when completed, will include air-conditioning, but when will that completion be?
JAZZEBEL
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Metro Plus
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