Vibraphonist, percussionist, drummer, composer, and teacher, Jean-Michel Davis has cultivated a career at the crossroads of jazz, popular music, and contemporary composition for several decades. His playing, combining freedom of phrasing with a taste for diverse timbres, makes him a unique voice in the French musical landscape. Born in Paris in 1956, he studied drums with Dante Agostini, then in 1971 crossed paths with Christian Vander (Magma), with whom he furthered his studies. In 1975, he went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where Ed Saindon introduced him to the world of jazz vibraphone. From 1980 to 1984, he lived in New York and San Francisco, immersed in the American music scene, and then studied classical percussion with Guy-Joël Cipriani of the Paris Opera at the Montreuil Conservatory. In the 1990s, he joined Les Primitifs du Futur, while simultaneously developing his own projects (Novelty Fox, Ethereal Vibes, etc.). In 2022, he founded his quintet with Frédéric Loiseau (guitar), Patrick Villanueva (piano, accordion), Raphaël Schwab (double bass), and Julien Charlet (drums), and recorded the album This n'That (Frémeaux & Associés) with them. Too Blue was built like a chorus: unexpected encounters, detours, and improvisations, captured in the moment. During the quintet's concert at the Salle du Citoyen in Lognes (Printemps du Jazz, March 18, 2023), sound engineer Simon Auffret spontaneously offered to record the performance. A few months later, he recorded them again during the concert at the Espace Michel-Simon in Noisy-le-Grand (December 7, 2023). Brought together after the fact, these two recordings constitute Jean-Michel Davis's first live album as lead. Hilary Kliros's artwork provides the key: Humpty Dumpty, broken and then reassembled, perfectly illustrates this album and how a group's repertoire takes shape before a series of concerts. The program includes two pieces by Victor Feldman, three original compositions, and a piece by pianist Patrick Villanueva: contrasting worlds, brought together without seeking artificial unity. This is the quintet's signature sound: the timbre of the vibraphone, the marimba, and the other instruments, combined with the musicians' energy, weaves the connection and gives form to this ensemble, which is both composite and coherent.