Kultur, Nach(t)kritik
Thank you for rocking so hard!
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Irina war wieder für uns in der Unterfahrt: Auf der Bühne trompetet der legendäre Truffaz.
These days it’s quite unusual to experience music that is universally perceived as legendary in the comfort of your favorite (jazz) bar.
I imagine (and I envy) those people who got to see Chet Baker, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Chick Korea, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Ella, Billie, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Thelonius Monk and most of their brilliant colleagues playing right in front of them – playing just for them; they must have felt very special for seizing that day. All these names I’ve previously mentioned have recorded for Blue Note on occasion and some of them were among the label’s leading artists. Erik Truffaz has also signed with the French-owned Blue Note Records (EMI) in 1996 and he truly lives up to the legacy of past and present jazz masters.
Erik Truffaz seems to understand jazz on so many different levels – he’s created a tasty melting pot of rhythms, beats and even rhymes by brewing drum’n’bass, rock&roll, hip hop, pop, breakbeat and funk into his pure, organic, soulful jazz. When you listen to his albums you can clearly picture the various sources of inspiration he orchestrates – you can even make out how his/the quartet’s musical preferences changed from the mid nineties to the present day. What is most impressive is the fact that although he’s the bearer of the Truffaz flag/name, the music is not only his. It’s a complex coming together of many talented musicians, who all get their turn to play and to show us what marvels they can do.
The Erik Truffaz Quartet performing in Unterfahrt last Saturday had a new member on drums, Alberto Malo, of whom I couldn’t find any info on the net, except for him having recorded with Francoise Hardy and being an occasional member of Nya’s band. (Nya is a visionary rap/funk/soul MC who worked with Truffaz on 3 different albums.) Alberto is a brand new addition to the quartet and probably a fan of Poni Hoax, since he was rocking one of their t-shirts, but what I like most about him is the fact that he’s a very, very smooth jazz cat, unrivaled (in my eyes) on that bass drum.
The bass (and sometimes banjo) player, Marcello Giuliani, is the only member (besides Truffaz) of the initial quartet, and a proud owner of great timing skills, a cool sense of restraint and sick, funky grooves. I’m a fan for life. I’ve kept Benoît Corboz for last because he was definitely the star of the show. He recently replaced Patrick Müller on the electric keyboards and brought his “rigged Hammond organ and his Rhodes piano into the studio” (according to RFI Musique). He does a magnificent job playing both the piano and his two keyboards – I’ve never seen such energetic enthusiasm and passion in my life. I hope the video does him justice.
And then there is, of course, Erik Truffaz. His blond, longish hair and his kind smile, as well as his on-stage continuous praising of his team make him even more likeable in person. He looks and acts exactly as his music sounds. He patiently waits for the other instrumentalists to finish their solos and just enjoys the music he’s hearing. Then he suddenly lifts his trumpet and bam, a wave of pure awe is released in the room.
The Swiss-born trumpeter is well known for both a melancholy, almost dreamlike sound, present on most of the tracks of the quartet’s latest album, ‘In Between’, or more hyped-up tunes, such as a few pieces from ‘The Walk of the Giant Turtle’. He integrated both types of composition in Saturday’s concert and he also made sure that not one of the pieces they played sounded anything like the previous. I can bet anyone Truffaz can never get boring, not even to a listener with ADD.
For their encore they invited a rising star of the Swiss singer-songwriter scene, Anna Aaron, a girl with quirky lyrics and an even quirkier attitude, whose compositions are yet lacking the profoundness of her voice. She was most probably replacing Sophie Hunger, as she did sing the vocals to the slow, introspective ‘Let Me Go’, which is the brand new hit of the album. Overall they played 5 songs during the encore but I wished they had played a hundred more.
Erik Truffaz Quartet, thank you so much for rocking so hard, electrifying us and blowing us away. Please come back soon.
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