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Thread: AAJ Review: Louis Sclavis, Asian Fields Variations

  1. #1

    AAJ Review: Louis Sclavis, Asian Fields Variations



    My review of Louis Sclavis' Asian Fields Variations, today at All About Jazz.

    Few artists on the ECM roster reinvent themselves as regularly - and with such consistent success - as Louis Sclavis. While it is true that the French clarinetist (and occasional soprano/baritone saxophonist) often draws (and re-draws) from a gradually expanding pool of musicians, there are few label mates who have released as many albums as Sclavis, where the lineups literally change with each and every album. In fact, the closest he's come to repeating the same lineup back-to-back has been with his most recent, evocatively titled Silk and Salt Melodies (2014), which fleshes the same Atlas Trio responsible for 2012's Sources - Sclavis, guitarist Gilles Coronado and keyboardist Benjamin Moussay - into a more propulsive quartet with the addition of percussionist Keyvan Chemirani.

    But considerable time has passed since Sclavis last released an ECM album with fellow Frenchmen Vincent Courtois (2003's Napoli's Walls, whose quartet the clarinetist brought to Canada's renowned Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville for a terrific performance the following year) and Dominique Pifarély, who last appeared with Sclavis on 2002's equally superb soundtrack recording, Dans La Nuit.

    That film score represents, in fact, the one and only time, prior to Asian Fields Variations, that Sclavis recruited both cellist Courtois and violinist Pifarély together for the same ECM session. That said, with its generally more scripted environs (composed almost entirely by the clarinetist) and a quintet lineup also featuring percussionist François Merville and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier, Dans La Nuit is a totally different beast compared to Asian Fields Variations' more intimate and, perhaps more importantly, intended egalitarian approach which, in addition to one fully improvised miniature (the layered and angularly constructed "Digression"), features five Sclavis compositions alongside three contributions from Courtois and two by Pifarély.

    Continue reading here...
    John Kelman
    Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
    Freelance writer/photographer

  2. #2
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
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    Nice, in-depth review - as always.

  3. #3
    He's so good. I'll have to check this out.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by mozo-pg View Post
    Nice, in-depth review - as always.
    Thanks, man. You know that, coming from you, it means a lot.
    John Kelman
    Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
    Freelance writer/photographer

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