January 20th, 2011: Black Packers / Antoine Chessex / Arnaud Rivière

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What struck me at first was the way Arnaud Rivière made more use of every surface at hand, in a more controlled and smooth way, a step into something different than usual, even though it had been way too long for me to call his performance usual. Of course, just as I was being impressed by his newfound smoothness, he proceeded to jolt the mixing board to the floor. Shows how much I know. He did recover nicely from the mishap, I hope I wasn’t fooled and it wasn’t intentional. Accepting it as genuine, I think he got even more interesting, his use of the full real estate of that (too) small table was great, and just expanded his range. Though I remain fondest of what he does with the ol’ mixing board.

There was a sparse attendance indeed, but somehow Antoine Chessex seemed to feed from that and put the emptiness to work as it enhanced his sax’ reverberation. I think this guy has an impressive relationship with the sound of his instrument, and how it can fill a room. This time was more minimal, but even more memorable because of his intensity. Perfect control and total engagement. I’m beyond impressed. This guy seriously rules.

Black Packers is John Hegre and Jean-Philippe Gross. For a while I’ve only heard Gross’ more experimental/silent side, and it was a real treat to hear him lash out for a change. Hegre is more of a regular in that field. I don’t think this set was a game changer, but it was a very welcome burst of energy for me, with enough twists to make it interesting. Maybe not that much, but it was just what I needed to hear after such a long spell of Xmas dreadful boredom.

March 11th, 2010: Axel Dörner – Jean-Philippe Gross – Christine Sehnaoui / John Hegre / Uncle Woody Sullender & Seamus Cater / Matt Mottel

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Matt Mottel’s set was my favorite. Some plain piano, some piano with effects, some synth. The thing is he managed to keep all that consistent, so that I hardly noticed a change when he went from one to another. Sure, the sound was different, but he keep it flowing so well that there was no break. I thought it was not as fast paced as what he does with Talibam!, maybe a bit more about repeated patterns — I don’t know but at least I felt that structure more. But it still felt consistent with that. Somehow. At this point my best guess is he has a personal touch that shows through in all this. That’s no small achievement.

I don’t think I handled too well the necessary change of gear to Uncle Woody Sullender and Seamus Cater. I liked their music better when I heard it on the station. Another reason was the recent impressive use of the banjo from L’Ocelle Mare. Sullender wasn’t as far out of the mainstream. But still out of it, in a good way, and the set ended as I came to appreciate his take on that instrument. Cater was more immediately interesting to me, he goes further than I would expect with harmonicas. But I just wasn’t focused enough at first and I didn’t really get into the set until the last few songs.

Another direction with John Hegre. Loud throughout and percussive at times, his set had a welcome physical quality. On the other hand, I didn’t like the way the set unfolded. Or rather I couldn’t make sense of it. In other words I liked a lot of the sounds but not the way they were arranged. That’s a bit like how I now feel about Jazkamer too, come to think of it.

The last set featured Christine Sehnaoui — who I like a lot — playing with Jean-Philippe Gross and Axel Dörner. Overall, I’d say I liked Sehnaoui less than usual, Gross about as much as usual, and Dörner more than usual. Which is consistent with what I resented about the performance: they all sounded so close. At first I liked this blending and the way small things could come from any direction. But I just lost that thread at some point and couldn’t find my way back in.