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FFL 054CD
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Seven years of effervescent activity: few free jazz groups can be proud of such longevity, especially with a line-up as stable as that of Perception. Yes, there would be several guest musicians, including Kent Carter and Jean-Charles Capon, on the second album... Yes the "existential problems" of Siegfried Kessler would necessitate him being temporarily replaced by Manuel Villaroel... But for the most part, it was the core quartet of the first album which would tour Europe, through concerts from Belgium to Germany and including Norway where Perception represented France at the Molde festival. So, few personnel changes then, until towards the end, in 1975, after completing the third album, when drummer Jean-My Truong left and had to be replaced. First by Mino Cinelu, at the time in Opération Rhino and Moravagine, then by Jacques Thollot, already behind the cult albums 1971's Jeter la girafe à la mer (FFL 049LP) and 1975's Watch Devil Go. These changes did not alter the spirit of Perception, as both were able to integrate a group which nevertheless had such a strong identity. There was no recorded trace of Jacques Thollot's time in the group, until Live at Le Stadium came to the rescue. So, this live recording from 1977 is a precious archive, displaying unique and contrasting directions which had first begun to be explored in 1970, following the seminal Our Meanings And Our Feelings by Michel Portal. An archive then, which proves what we already knew, that there were few quartets in Europe at the time capable of reaching such a level, other than that formed on an occasional basis, around the same period, by Gerd Dudek, Joachim Kühn, Peter Warren, and Daniel Humair. Licensed by Perception. Includes six-page booklet with unpublished paintings by Yochko Seffer and an essay by Didier Levallet.
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FFL 053LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first time vinyl reissue of Perception's Mestari, originally released in 1973. To finally become oneself: that was the lesson, in the 1960-1970s, that European musicians attracted to improvisation had learned from American free-jazz. Following this idea, the musicians of Perception, whilst individually accompanying Mal Waldron, Slide Hampton, Johnny Griffin, or Hank Mobley when they played in Paris, decided early on to break free from what was going on across the Atlantic and seek their own authenticity. When Mestari, their third and final album, came out, Yochk'O Seffer, Siegfried Kessler, Didier Levallet, and Jean-My Truong had four years of questing and originality behind them developing their own individual language. A language in which the spontaneity of the improvisations did not exclude influences taken from European folk or classical traditions. Balanced, ethereal, and structured, Mestari was a return to the original core quartet; the previous album included numerous guest musicians (FFL 052LP). It opens infinite perspectives and is totally in phase with what was being produced in France at the same time by Cohelmec Ensemble and the Dharma Quintet.
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FFL 051LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever vinyl reissue of Perception's self-titled album, originally released in 1971. The story of Perception takes root in a series of chance meetings, which seem at first glance unlikely, between musicians from differing horizons, be they geographic or esthetic. Jazz Magazine was spot on with an article from the period entitled, "Perception, four conceptions", before detailing the origins of the musicians (Hungarian for saxophonist Yochk'O Seffer, German for pianist Siegfried Kessler, French for bassist Didier Levallet, Franco-Vietnamese for drummer Jean-My Truong). It then looked at their varying backgrounds (classical academic training for the first two, an improvised apprenticeship on the jazz scene for the third), in order to point out the seemingly contradictory and perhaps complementary directions which would unite in a singular identity. None of this, however, was clear from the start as the group began as a trio with a different saxophonist, before stabilizing to the first core quartet. Having been remarked on in 1970 by Gérard Terronès, who was already producer of the cult Alors! (Michel Portal), Célesphère (Burton Greene), and Basse Barre (Barre Phillips), Perception was thus given a timely opportunity to record their first album on his Futura Records label. This eponymous opus, illustrated with a drawing by Yochk'O Seffer, is the first of a fascinating trilogy. It puts the seal on those complementary contradictions with a lyrically incandescent free jazz, made up of startling interactions between complex harmonies and disjointed rhythms. Licensed from Futura / Marge. Remastered from the master tapes. Includes four-page booklet with unpublished photos and an essay by Didier Levallet.
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FFL 052LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever vinyl reissue of Perception & Friends, originally released in 1973. After their first album which came out in 1971 on Futura Records (FFL 051LP), Perception wanted to rapidly record a second, but Gérard Terronès did not want to produce another, especially so soon after the first. Therefore, the only solution was to produce it themselves. It is thus completely logical that it came out on the label of the Association for the Development of Improvised Music (A.D.M.I.) created by Didier Levallet with the aim of promoting creative music (on this subject, this was the same label that also produced the excellent Inter Fréquences (FFL 031LP) by the Free Jazz Workshop). As the album was entirely created from A-to-Z by Perception, they decided on a more ambitious project, exploring a wider palette of colors by augmenting the original quartet with additional instruments. So, it was with numerous guests including Teddy Lasry, Jean-Charles Capon, Kent Carter, and Jean-François Jenny-Clark, that Perception developed still further the apparently contradictory directions which were their specificity. This is further highlighted by the fact that Siegfried Kessler, largely absent on this recording, is temporarily replaced by Manuel Villaroel, a pianist from Chile with a completely different temperament (and, by-the-by, already the name behind the superb Terremoto with the Matchi-oul Septet). Contrary to the first album, which seems in comparison much more compact and united this second (and second-to last, not counting the live recordings), with the many different options proposed, would seem to predict the different directions that musicians from Perception would subsequently take. One track, by Yochk'O Seffer, who had already been part of Magma two years previously, looks forward to the more structured Neffesh Music, whilst, in the opposite direction, another track, by Didier Levallet, is more evocative of the future arrangements on Swing Strings System (1978). It is, to sum up, a nice paradox that all these different elements, from tightly written pieces to wild improvisation, work so well together and are one the key attributes of a group free like few others. Licensed by Perception. Remastered from the master tapes. Includes four-page booklet with unpublished photos and an essay by Didier Levallet.
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FFL 056CD
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Souffle Continu Records present a reissue of Baroque Jazz Trio's self-titled album, original released on Saravah in 1970. This CD also includes tracks from the 7" Orientasie/Largo originally released in 1970, and reissued by Souffle Continue Records. Mixing Baroque, free-jazz, and world music, the unique album of the Baroque Jazz Trio (which is in fact 3/5 of the Bach Modern Quintet) is a difficult-to-label sound object which is far from being typical of the psychedelic sounds associated with the early 1970s. Because, although fusion with Indian music (amongst others) and jazz (but also pop) was popular at the time, rarely had all this been mixed together with Baroque music. Even mentioning Jacques Loussier adapting Bach does not come close, as here, all barriers are broken down, with an audacity which begins with the highly original and extraordinary use of the harpsichord, an instrument which it is unusual to hear in such a context, even though indicated by the "baroque" in the title. Of course, jazz specialists will mention Johnny Guarnieri in the Gramercy Five with Artie Shaw, Martial Solal playing "Four Brothers" in 1965, or Lalo Schifrin in his homage to the Marquis de Sade? But no, none of these references really makes sense, as they pale in comparison to the wild adventures of Georges Rabol, probably closer to Call Cobbs with Albert Ayler, or, better still, Odile Bailleux in another remarkable French group, Armonicord, than anyone else. With George, the rhythm section is no less outstanding: Jean-Charles Capon, who, two years later would record the magnificent L'Univers-Solitude (FFL 046LP) on the same label, is a flying cello virtuoso, while Philippe Combelle, a great drummer rarely heard in such experimental circumstances, plays daringly mixed percussion. Also noteworthy is the presence of flutist, Michel Roques on one track, who was also behind a Saravah album, the splendid Chorus (FFL 048LP). In France, whether or not groups like Moravagine, Confluence, or Synchro Rhythmic Eclectic Language, working in similarly unusual areas, are taken into account, it is rare to find a group which, like the Baroque Jazz Trio, have been able to so blur the boundaries, especially by adding an exotic breath of fresh air inherited from the Third Stream. This record, alongside the album by Brigitte Fontaine with the Art Ensemble of Chicago made Pierre Barouh stand out as a pioneering producer and destroyer of stylistic frontiers.
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FFL 057EP
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Alongside Alfred Panou & the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Je Suis Un Sauvage (FFL 055EP), Baroque Jazz Trio's Orientasie/Largo is probably one of the hardest-to-find EPs on Saravah. Hitting #2 on Jazzman Records European Jazz 45s top 10 list, this is the finest fusion between free jazz, baroque music, and exotica with one of the most singular sound you can find on a jazz record. First time reissue. Remastered audio. Licensed from Saravah.
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FFL 056LP
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Souffle Continu Records present a reissue of Baroque Jazz Trio's self-titled album, original released on Saravah in 1970. Mixing Baroque, free-jazz, and world music, the unique album of the Baroque Jazz Trio (which is in fact 3/5 of the Bach Modern Quintet) is a difficult-to-label sound object which is far from being typical of the psychedelic sounds associated with the early 1970s. Because, although fusion with Indian music (amongst others) and jazz (but also pop) was popular at the time, rarely had all this been mixed together with Baroque music. Even mentioning Jacques Loussier adapting Bach does not come close, as here, all barriers are broken down, with an audacity which begins with the highly original and extraordinary use of the harpsichord, an instrument which it is unusual to hear in such a context, even though indicated by the "baroque" in the title. Of course, jazz specialists will mention Johnny Guarnieri in the Gramercy Five with Artie Shaw, Martial Solal playing "Four Brothers" in 1965, or Lalo Schifrin in his homage to the Marquis de Sade? But no, none of these references really makes sense, as they pale in comparison to the wild adventures of Georges Rabol, probably closer to Call Cobbs with Albert Ayler, or, better still, Odile Bailleux in another remarkable French group, Armonicord, than anyone else. With George, the rhythm section is no less outstanding: Jean-Charles Capon, who, two years later would record the magnificent L'Univers-Solitude (FFL 046LP) on the same label, is a flying cello virtuoso, while Philippe Combelle, a great drummer rarely heard in such experimental circumstances, plays daringly mixed percussion. Also noteworthy is the presence of flutist, Michel Roques on one track, who was also behind a Saravah album, the splendid Chorus (FFL 048LP). In France, whether or not groups like Moravagine, Confluence, or Synchro Rhythmic Eclectic Language, working in similarly unusual areas, are taken into account, it is rare to find a group which, like the Baroque Jazz Trio, have been able to so blur the boundaries, especially by adding an exotic breath of fresh air inherited from the Third Stream. This record, alongside the album by Brigitte Fontaine with the Art Ensemble of Chicago made Pierre Barouh stand out as a pioneering producer and destroyer of stylistic frontiers. Remastered audio. Licensed from Saravah.
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FFL 049LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever vinyl reissue of Jacques Thollot's Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Girafe À La Mer, originally released in 1971. While he was still just a young adolescent who had perfected his drum technique under the benevolent wing of Kenny Clarke, the Club Saint-Germain liked to present Jacques Thollot as a prodigy capable of holding his own with the famous jazz musicians who came through Paris. It was there that Eric Dolphy immediately noticed him, and from René Thomas to Walt Dickerson, everyone wanted to work with him. However, it was during the 1960s, first with Jef Gilson then François Tusques, Barney Wilen, Joachim Kühn, and Steve Lacy, that the decisive encounters occurred. Without forgetting that he joined, in 1968, one of Don Cherry's groups, went on tour with them and came back transformed. That being said, to present Jacques Thollot as an in-demand virtuoso who could adapt to any circumstances would be to ignore both his demanding compositions and his complete freedom from stylistic boundaries. Although he had already featured on some cult albums -- Our Meanings And Our Feelings by Michel Portal (1969), Monkey-Pockie-Boo by Sonny Sharrock (1970) -- the first album under his own name, recorded in 1971 for producer Gérard Terronès, who gave him free rein, would turn out to be an unexpected, unclassifiable and astounding work. Entitled Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Girafe À La Mer, ("when the sound gets high-pitched, throw the giraffe into the sea") it is an extraordinary sonic collage, created from discrete re-recordings and using just a handful of instruments including drums and piano. The result is a miracle, though the economy of means the production technique succeeds in putting the spotlight on the oddly elaborate compositions under an enigmatic but well-chosen title, borrowed from poet Henri Michaux. It puts into words the mysteries of a fragile melancholic universe which can be compared to another album by an iconoclastic drummer: The End Of An Ear by Robert Wyatt (1970). The difference being the highly personal elements which shine through the French musician's album, clearly drawn from listening intently to classics from Debussy, Ravel, and Barraqué (whom he knew), a seam which he would continue to mine on his equally excellent following albums Watch Devil Go (1975) and Cinq Hops (1978). Thollot recorded five albums under his own name during his lifetime, but those albums are marvelous. Licensed from Futura/Marge. 16-page booklet with unpublished photos an essay by Jean Rochard.
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7"
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FFL 055EP
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Repressed; originally released for RSD 2019. A single produced by the highly-revered Saravah label at the time, featuring the Art Ensemble of Chicago backing the poetry of the little-remembered Alfred Panou, is not as well-known as the label's other releases. Seen in the 1967 film Weekend by Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Panou who is of mixed Benin-Togolese origin, already had a career as an actor in political theater when, pushed by producer Pierre Barouh, he recorded two of his texts concerning Black Power. Panou's prose is one of the first, in its own way, to question the notion of black identity. The rowdy poly-instrumental jungle fantasy of the Art Ensemble of Chicago creates a musical counterpoint. First ever vinyl reissue.
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FFL 046LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever vinyl reissue of Jean-Charles Capon's L'Univers-Solitude, originally released in 1972. The cello, although considered a minority instrument in the history of jazz and improvisation, has carved itself a niche, both in the USA (Fred Katz, Calo Scott, Abdul Wadud, Diedre Murray, Peggy Lee) and in Europe (Tristan Honsinger, Maarten Altena, Denis Van Hecke, Ernst Reijseger). Alongside Didier Petit, Jean-Charles Capon is one of the French virtuosi on the instrument, and he began playing professionally at the beginning of the '60s before creating the Baroque Jazz Trio. His name was rapidly linked to different cult groups for who he became the guest star (Confluence, Perception, Speed Limit), but also with many more or less well-known (free) jazz musicians including David S. Ware with whom he recorded the impeccable duo From Silence To Music (1978), Philippe Maté, Michel Roques, André Jaume, or Joe McPhee (as part of Po Music). Jef Gilson helped get his career under way (they recorded together as far back as 1968) before Pierre Barouh, boss of Saravah records with who Jean-Charles Capon played alongside Brigitte Fontaine and Areski, offered him the opportunity to record his first album: L'Univers-Solitude. In the company of Swiss percussionist Pierre Favre, Jean-Charles Capon demonstrated, in all registers, a level of invention way beyond a traditional rhythmic and melodic background, with the fluid phrasing a perfect complement to his extended range. It is not for nothing that Jean-Charles Capon admires Duke Ellington, John Lewis, and Gabriel Fauré, as can be heard on his later highly personal versions of "Mood Indigo", "Django", and "Après Un Rêve". As for Pierre Favre, he is not there just to make up the numbers: his timbral research and combinations of complex rhythms offer the French cellist wonderful interaction throughout this remarkable album which had finally been given a dignified rerelease. The fluidity of the phrasing, timbral research, complex rhythmic combinations and rare sense of improvisation make this one of the best modern jazz recordings on the Saravah label in the 1970s. Licensed from Saravah. Gatefold sleeve; Obi strip; Edition of 500.
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FFL 048LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first every vinyl reissue of Michel Roques's Chorus, originally released in 1972. Although his albums are full of the same qualities as those of many other star saxophonists/flutists playing spiritual jazz, Frenchman Michel Roques is often classed as a "supporting artist" or a "musicians' musician", forever in the background, and often left out of the reference books. Adding to this lack of recognition is the fact that Michel Roques was seriously under-recorded: five albums as leader in a career of almost twenty years does not amount to much! Thankfully, in 1972, Pierre Barouh, boss of Saravah, records made up for the injustice by offering him the opportunity to record Chorus in studio, providing a continuity with the equally brilliant Safari made four years earlier (1969). An ambitious work, Chorus owes much to the unusual "augmented" rhythm section, the inner structure of which is none other than that used in the Parisian trio of pianist Mal Waldron at the end of the 1960s: namely Patrice Caratini on bass (completed by the cello of the amazing Jean-Charles Capon) and Franco Manzecchi on drums (seconded by the percussion of Humberto Canto). Another notable singularity is that Michel Roques had the excellent idea of excluding the piano, traditionally employed in this kind of context. This didn't prevent Chorus from being played on French TV in 1973 with a piano replacing the cello, and a different voice reciting the beat-style poems of Nicole Roques, that of actor Jacques Degor, occasional collaborator with Jef Gilson, but far less convincing than Bachir Touré, wisely chosen for this recording for his style inherited from Afro-American preachers and capable of holding his own with the wild improvisations. In its own way, Chorus is one of the key albums mixing free jazz and spoken word "à la française". It is also a militant concept album which has lost nothing of its political force. Licensed from Saravah. Gatefold sleeve; obi strip; Edition of 500.
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2LP
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FFL 050LP
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RSD 2019 release. Nicknamed the Primdufs, the group have a passion for the obsolete French "valse musette". But their take has nothing in common with the smutty chords of popular balls and singalongs in little town halls. This is "bal musette" with balls, it's genuine, virile, and authentic. Though these noble savages like rummaging around in 1920s Paris, they don't shy away from including rhythms from all over the planet, rhumba from Zaireto, gypsy jazz, Hindu waltzes or Argentine tango, blues, "paso doble" or "chanson réaliste". It all began in 1986, when Dominique Cravic, "ukukeke" champion and a renowned guitarist who learned from jazzmen like Lee Konitz or Larry Coryell and also played with Georges Moustaki and Henri Salvador, met a certain Robert Crumb. Yes, the legendary comic book author from the great days of the US psychedelic underground in the '70s, the creator of Fritz the Cat (1972) and Mr Natural in person, the same man who also created the cover for Cheap Thrills (1968) by Janis Joplin. Crumb plays banjo and mandolin, collects 78s of blues, jazz and musette. The two cronies then composed their own made-to-measure orchestra, alongside many famous names including accordionist Daniel Colin, clarinetist Bertrand Auger, saxophonist Daniel Huck, bassist Jean-Philippe Viret or singer Claire Elzière (sorry, it's impossible to name them all). This great group has recorded four albums since 1986 (all with sleeves drawn by Crumb), some including guest stars such as Pierre Barouh, Jean-Jacques Milteau, Allain Leprest, Sanseverino or Olivia Ruiz. For thirty years, the Primitifs du Futur have carried the torch of musette to the four corners of the earth, from fiestas to festivals, and today release a double vinyl, entitled Résumé Des Épisodes Précédents which brings together the best of their adventures. It is a refreshing and heartening cocktail of "world tribal musette", as they call it, which, in these electro digital times, has a rejuvenating effect, a magic swing potion. Double-LP with 20-page booklet with all Crumb previous artworks for the band's albums plus unseen photos. Edition of 1500; No repress.
"The Primitifs Du Futur travel on sound waves back in time to the early twentieth century and make the world seem like a far better place than it ever actually was. I can't get the band's music off my turntable or out of my head. Accordion, mandolin, harmonica, saxophone, musical saw, and beautiful haunting melodies--what's not to love? Even their sad songs make me happy." --Art Spiegelman
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FFL 047LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever vinyl reissue of Philippe Maté/Daniel Vallancien, originally released in 1972. Although discrete, the career of saxophonist Philippe Maté includes nonetheless several indispensable albums: be it with the Acting Trio, Jean Guérin (Tacet), or Jef Gilson (Workshop), his collaborations in a big band or quartet with Lawrence "Butch" Morris, his presence in the Saxophone Quartet and also on the brilliant 1972 album L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouche by Jean-Claude Vannier (BMS 001CD, FKR 001X-LP). As for the man in the background: Daniel Vallancien, a sound engineer rarely featured on the sleeves; the collection Actuel on the BYG label owes much to him (he is at the controls behind Anthony Braxton, Don Cherry, Sonny Sharrock, or Steve Lacy), and the same goes for Saravah for who he notably recorded Areski, Brigitte Fontaine, Maurice Lemaître, or the Cohelmec Ensemble. Not bad for starters! What is more, Daniel Vallancien is one of a prestigious group of French recording engineers with open ears and often themselves musicians, even if only occasionally for some, including Bruno Menny, Daniel Deshays, or Jean-Marc Foussat, who have all recorded remarkable albums as leaders. Behind this collaboration was the idea of creating music which was free, direct, and spontaneous, while having also a minimum of advance planning. Music, according to the brief liner notes desirous to "remove itself from long and patient laboratory experiments". So, there can be found here none of the sophisticated tools associated with electroacoustic research, but mainly a recording mixer console, which, in the hands of Daniel Vallancien acts directly on the original instrumental sound in real time, modifying and multiplying it while respecting the natural flow. Be it Paul Méfano, Betsy Jolas, Gérard Grisey, or Jacques Lejeune, many contemporary composers working in France have, at one time or another, included the saxophone in their work. Nothing can compare to the singularity of the dialogue between Philippe Maté and Daniel Vallancien, which they themselves describe as being "serious, sarcastic or humorous", with, here and there, "disturbing sounds". Words, however, even those used by the protagonists themselves, are insufficient to describe such a sonic object, difficult to identify and, it has to be said, extraordinary. Licensed from Saravah. Gatefold sleeve; Obi strip; Edition of 500.
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FFL 029LP
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Souffle Continu present a reissue of Camizole's self-titled album, recorded in 1977. Is freedom worth more than mastery, construction and achievement? In replying yes, the utopians of Camizole clear show which side they are on. For them, musical creation must be as spontaneous as possible. To achieve this, it is better to put egos to one side to concentrate on collective experimentation, to be tried and tested in front of a live audience. Playing the card of unlimited and unhindered improvisation is Camizole's crédo, having decided to get a taste of the urgent game-playing already established by the Nihilist Spasm Band and the Living Theatre research of Julian Beck and Judith Malina. At the time, that is to say when punk was exploding, this concept, itself inherited from the May 68 events, made an impact on Chris Cutler of Henry Cow, but also Lindsay Cooper, who invited Camizole member Françoise Crublé to join the Feminist Improvising Group. Also, the Tapioca label run by Jean Georgakarakos (co-founder of BYG Records), considered producing an album, from a live recording made at the Théâtre de Chartres in November 1977. Unfortunately the label rapidly ceased all activities and the recording was left in a drawer, which was a real shame. Today, after extracts and other live bits and pieces came out via Spalax at the end of the 1990s, an integral double album is finally being released (for the first time on vinyl) to do justice to the collective created by Jacky Dupéty, and which included, amongst others Dominique Grimaud (Vidéo-Aventures), Chris Chanet (Etron Fou Leloublan, Urban Sax), Xavier Jouvelet (Lol Coxhill), and Bernard Filipetti (Art & Technique). Better late than never! Obi strip, eight page booklet. Edition of 500.
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FFL 042LP
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Souffle Continu presents a reissue of Nu Creative Methods' Nu Jungle Dances, originally released in 1978. When the second Nu Creative Methods album was released, New And Rediscovered Musical Instruments (1975) by Max Eastley and David Toop had already been available for almost three years. Without being able to say that there was a direct, real-time influence, the direction taken by the British and French duos was however the same, combining research and tradition in a quest for a new imaginary folklore. The name chosen by the pair was anything but innocent, linking them to both the track "Nu Creative Love" by Don Cherry (from Symphony For Improvisers(1966)) and the book My Creative Method (1949) by Francis Ponge. Because the first outlines the route of a free jazz the boundaries of which have constantly been demolished and through which Pierre Bastien and Bernard Pruvost traced their own path, while the second, an anarchist creating a bomb with the irrational as gunpowder, is close to providing an intellectual method. Close, because even this is undermined by other essential routes taken by Nu Creative Methods. The Oulipo, for example, encouraged all sorts of creativity; or perhaps pataphysics, according to which a banal saucepan is equivalent to the Mona Lisa! To get closer to the source of their imagination, the following names would have to be added to the list, Locus Solus (1914) by Raymond Roussel, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Harry Partch, New Phonic Art and Zwei Mann Orchester (1971-3) by Maurizio Kagel. That shows, in broad strokes, the creative wheels in motion behind Nu Creative Methods and Nu Jungle Dances offers a taste of the pathways offered by chance, following improvisations using instruments from the five continents. By proceeding thus, that is to say entering an esthetic zone where popular and esoteric music come together at last, an infinite palette of sounds opens up, offering fantastic perspectives. Between free jazz and ancestral music, Nu Jungle Dances makes it happen without pretense but with a rare and luminous extravagance, but also with the willingness to take on board unexpected surprises, and with a natural charm combating for the craft of sound creation. First ever vinyl reissue of this French underground treasure. Edition of 500 with four page booklet and obi strip.
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FFL 030LP
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Souffle Continu presents Camizole + Lard Free, unreleased 1978 recordings from both groups performing as a collaborative. The ranks of Camizole included some of the most essential personalities of the French underground, notably Dominique Grimaud (Vidéo-Aventures), Chris Chanet (Etron Fou Leloublan), and Bernard Filipetti (Art & Technique). Their idea of music, if we look further than the pair Dominique Grimaud and Bernard Filipetti, and a style of music influenced by Klaus Schulze, is inspired by the liberty of free jazz. This is nonetheless modified by a cathartic approach close to the esthetic preoccupations of Julian Beck and Judith Malina's Living Theatre. The result is a musical happening, where the important thing is to improvise in the urgency of the moment in front of a not-always receptive public. Before exploring constructed repetitive forms which would be perfected by Urban Sax, Lard Free were more in the domain of noise improvisation, or even a kind of jazz rock similar to that of Soft Machine, as can be heard on a late retrospective album, from which the track "À chacun son Boulez" emerged. There was logically great complicity between Camizole and Lard Free, which would lead to the two groups finally merging. This was the case for four concerts in May before the two groups disbanded in order to finally get to grips with the free rock in the style of Faust that they liked so much. As an ode to anarchy, a record now bears witness to those communal experiences. Edition of 500 with obi strip.
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FFL 044LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Jean Cohen-Solal's Flûtes Libres, originally released in 1972. In a dreamlike fictive and windswept Brittany, hippy pirates and wild women more or less inspired by Gérard de Nerval fight it out in a theater, the magic of which brings to mind Cocteau, and where musical improvisation has an important role: this is Noroît, a cursed film which was never released in cinemas at the time (1976), directed by the great Jacques Rivette, where Jean-Cohen-Solal, his brother Robert and Daniel Ponsard can be seen and heard playing. The scene is every bit as inventive as that featuring the Art Ensemble Of Chicago in Les Stances à Sophie (1971). The same magic and invention can be found on this first album by Jean Cohen-Solal: Flûtes Libres. A magic which can be keenly felt on "Quelqu'un", a long contemplative mantra which takes up the whole of the B side and which anticipates the future collaboration in the mysterious universe of Jacques Rivette. Jean Cohen-Solal studied flute from all angles, and became one of the great French virtuosi, along with Michel Edelin who at the time was with Triode. This was a period (1972) when flutists were very popular with the public, most of whom had been influenced by Roland Kirk, including Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Whereas Jean Cohen-Solal tells a different story, richer and centered on the instrument itself, using the magic (yes, that again) of overdubs. Perhaps Paul Horn rather than Roland Kirk could be an influence but stripped of a classical background which was too audible and a tendency for easy listening. In fact, in terms of comparison, "open music" by Bob Downes would be the closest to the electroacoustic experiments of Jean Cohen-Solal, who, by the way, was also close to the GRM and Bernard Parmegiani for whom he occasionally provided sound sources. These are the qualities which probably explain why Flûtes Libres figures (and justifiably) on the famous Nurse With Wound list. Licensed from Jean Cohen-Solal. Includes eight-page booklet. Highlighter yellow vinyl; Obi strip; Edition of 700.
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FFL 045LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Jean Cohen-Solal's Captain Tarthopom, originally released in 1973. "Nothing can stop a flutist. We can do whatever we want, whatever we feel. My flute, is a mirror of myself. I express feelings more easily with the flute than with language." This is what Jean Cohen-Solal said on the cover of his first album released in 1972, Flûtes Libres (FFL 044LP), renowned for its adventurous overdubbing of alto, piccolo, and bass flutes, in treble or in C and ocarina. Mentioned on the famous Nurse With Wound list, the path followed by Jean Cohen-Solal included many exciting adventures in the 1970s, from his participation in the cult animation series Les Shadoks where his voice can be heard alongside the actor Claude Piéplu, to his proximity to the GRM where he worked alongside Bernard Parmegiani, François Bayle, Luc Ferrari, Guy Reibel, and Béatrice Ferreyra, or his involvement in progressive music with Captain Tarthopom, an album very much in the same style as that featured in Europe on the Vertigo label, but in an instrumental form, and even more audacious, without turning its back on the same classical influences as everyone else. It is impossible to pin a label on Jean Cohen-Solal, he is the equal of his Anglo-Saxon counterparts Bob Downes, Harold McNair, Jon Field (Jade Warrior), and Jeremy Steig, just to mention the most creative of the bunch. His affinity with strings, already heard in his work with Serge Franklin (author of the ineffable Free Sitar) on Flûtes Libres, is perfectly echoed here by the work of Jean-Claude Deblais, himself author of one of the little-known summits of sound illustration and French underground music: Le Miroir Du Fantastique (1977). Licensed from Jean Cohen-Solal. Includes eight-page booklet. Clear vinyl; Obi strip; Edition of 700.
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FFL 043CD
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Areski's Un Beau Matin, originally released in 1970. Only those who read all the credits on record liner notes will know the full details: Areski is of course Brigitte Fontaine's partner in life, but also her creative alter ego, and the composer of the music of most of her songs. Even though it was his wife Brigitte and not him who wrote the lyrics, Areski is a poet in his own right. Furthermore, he is polyvalent: composing, arranging, singing, improvising, playing every possible instrument, and even acting. Areski, to sum up, is the perfect mix of the tradition of Munir Bashir with the European "sophistication" of someone like Jean-Claude Vannier, one foot permanently in Versailles (where he was born) and the maghreb. Areski, is left bank French songs without the stylistic effects, revised and updated through contact with Arab-Andalusian music. He is a Living Theatre style happening with a dose of cosmic free jazz; surrealist poetry viewed through the prism of Kabyle culture... Areski honed his talent observing the stars of traditional chaâbi, testing it out in bars and dives before meeting, during military service, the singer Jacques Higelin with whom he would record his first cult album (1969), and who would present him to his wife-to-be, Brigitte Fontaine. Between 1969 and 1980, with Fontaine, Areski would contribute an essential chapter to French underground music including classics such as Comme à la radio (with the Art Ensemble of Chicago) (1969), Je ne connais pas cet homme (1973), L'Incendie (1973), Le Bonheur (1975), and Vous et nous (1977). For all that, Areski has never really tried to have a career under his own name, in spite of the wonderful Un Beau Matin first published in 1970, and which it is high time to (re)discover. Those already in the know will not be surprised to see, especially, Jean-Charles Capon, author of the inspired L'Univers-solitude (1972), Brigitte Fontaine of course, or Daniel Vallancien, author of a no-less inspired duo with saxophonist Philippe Maté. All contributing to an acerbic poetic universe, concerned but never militant, and open to worldwide influences long before they became a fashion. Inspired, poetic, in a word essential: Un Beau Matin is one of the best albums of the French underground produced by Pierre Barouh on his label Saravah. CD version includes a four-page booklet; obi strip.
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FFL 043LP
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LP version. Comes on clear vinyl; obi strip; Edition of 1000. Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Areski's Un Beau Matin, originally released in 1970. Only those who read all the credits on record liner notes will know the full details: Areski is of course Brigitte Fontaine's partner in life, but also her creative alter ego, and the composer of the music of most of her songs. Even though it was his wife Brigitte and not him who wrote the lyrics, Areski is a poet in his own right. Furthermore, he is polyvalent: composing, arranging, singing, improvising, playing every possible instrument, and even acting. Areski, to sum up, is the perfect mix of the tradition of Munir Bashir with the European "sophistication" of someone like Jean-Claude Vannier, one foot permanently in Versailles (where he was born) and the maghreb. Areski, is left bank French songs without the stylistic effects, revised and updated through contact with Arab-Andalusian music. He is a Living Theatre style happening with a dose of cosmic free jazz; surrealist poetry viewed through the prism of Kabyle culture... Areski honed his talent observing the stars of traditional chaâbi, testing it out in bars and dives before meeting, during military service, the singer Jacques Higelin with whom he would record his first cult album (1969), and who would present him to his wife-to-be, Brigitte Fontaine. Between 1969 and 1980, with Fontaine, Areski would contribute an essential chapter to French underground music including classics such as Comme à la radio (with the Art Ensemble of Chicago) (1969), Je ne connais pas cet homme (1973), L'Incendie (1973), Le Bonheur (1975), and Vous et nous (1977). For all that, Areski has never really tried to have a career under his own name, in spite of the wonderful Un Beau Matin first published in 1970, and which it is high time to (re)discover. Those already in the know will not be surprised to see, especially, Jean-Charles Capon, author of the inspired L'Univers-solitude (1972), Brigitte Fontaine of course, or Daniel Vallancien, author of a no-less inspired duo with saxophonist Philippe Maté. All contributing to an acerbic poetic universe, concerned but never militant, and open to worldwide influences long before they became a fashion. Inspired, poetic, in a word essential: Un Beau Matin is one of the best albums of the French underground produced by Pierre Barouh on his label Saravah.
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FFL 040LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Dharma Quintet's End Starting, originally released in 1971. For Gérard Marais, guitarist with Dharma (the quintet), from this third album -- in fact he replaced Gérard Coppéré, one of the two saxophonists present on the first album (FFL 038LP, 1970) -- Albert Ayler's instruction to play your own music was the detonator. This did not fall on deaf ears, and was particularly appropriate as it would have been difficult, even for a musician attracted to free jazz, to make something of his own from the esthetic and political direction taken by Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, or Sun Ra. What could be summarized as ethnic differences. The quest was to find one's own music, whatever the more or less apparent roots. For, at the beginning of the 1970s, Gérard Marais and his comrades in the Dharma Quintet were overwhelmed by electric period Miles Davis. Not the band with Pete Cosey, which was still gestating, but the one fascinated by electronic keyboards and the famous Fender Rhodes which added so much to the atmosphere of In A Silent Way (1969). From the beginning of Dharma, but without ever copying anyone, Patricio Villarroel played the role of Chick Corea with Miles Davis. While Gérard Marais, whose fulgurate playing added another dynamic to the group, was at the level of John McLaughlin, or Sonny Sharrock at the same period. Another important soloist, alto saxophonist Jeff Sicard was as inventive as Byard Lancaster, Noah Howard, Gary Bartz, Marion Brown, or Sonny Simmons. Questioned by a critic, years after the group split, Gérard Marais insisted on it being an idea born of the seventies, which seemed the only creative way to enable written music and improvisation to coexist. This was a philosophy that he would continue to develop within Michel Portal's group, on Splendid Yzlment (1972), but also in a great duo with Joseph Dejean (of Full Moon Ensemble), and yet again in a trio led by drummer Stu Martin, with two guitars the other being Claude Barthélemy. The Dharma Quintet, made their mark, appearing under the letter "D", between Dedalus and Dies Irae, on the list of major influences created in 1979 by Nurse With Wound. Licensed from Dharma. Obi strip; 12-page booklet; Edition of 700.
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FFL 039LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Dharma Trio's Snoopy's Time, originally released in 1970. Dharma as they were simply known, at the time when they were still playing, englobed all the incarnations of the group, trio, quartet (essentially as a live band), and quintet built around the stable core of pianist and bassist Patricio Villarroel and Michel Gladieux. Snoopy's Time is their second album, concentrated on the rhythm section including the ever-faithful Jacques Mahieux on drums, and recorded three months after Mr Robinson (FFL 038LP), the first album, made as a quintet including Jef Sicard and Gérard Coppéré, both at the time saxophonists with Claude Delcloo's Full Moon Ensemble. It is the most classic album in their discography, marked by the influence on Patricio Villarroel of the electric explorations of Miles Davis's pianists from 1968, that is to say Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, and Keith Jarrett. Indeed, the use of echo, reverb and saturation by Patricio Villarroel is similar to that of his famous counterparts. It would be a year later in France, but with a sound all his own, that Siegfried Kessler would undertake similar experiments playing with Perception, a group similar in spirit to Dharma. Specialists may also evoke Paul Bley, notably on Scorpio (1973) and Sweet Earth Flying (1974), or even Richard Beirach with Dave Liebman on Drum Ode (1975), but these albums came out a few years after the innovative Snoopy's Time, surprisingly released in 1970. Even amongst all the instrumental funky music of the time, it is rare to find such a communicative energy, magnified all the more by the subtle use of effects and an innate sense of groove. Licensed from Dharma Obi strip; 12-page booklet; Edition of 700.
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FFL 041LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Dharma's Archipel, originally released in 1973. "Do your own music!" was Albert Ayler's advice, received loud and clear in France. Cohelmec Ensemble, Workshop de Lyon, and the Dharma Quintet, three groups close in spirit, which would each illustrate, in their own way, a local principle: to get some distance from American free jazz. As far as Dharma is concerned, the community-based approach was put in place to escape from any academism. This may draw comparisons with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, but they were also influenced by Gong. The events of May '68 were fresh, and protest was still in the air: no leadership structure was possible, and personnel could change with each recording (on Archipel, a new drummer makes an appearance; however, there is no recorded trace of the group with Jean Querlier and François Méchali). Like its predecessor End Starting (FFL 040LP), Archipel is a constructed album, mixing free rock and European free jazz in a series of collective explosions based on abrupt and contrasting improvisations. For much of the time, piano, guitar, and saxophone intertwine over intense rhythms, with everything and anything being electrified. Retrospectively, such remarkable timbral combinations, evoking sometimes the freer passages of Cinemascope by Joachim Kühn with Toto Blanke (1974), make the demise of Dharma in 1974, even more regrettable. Their modernity has nothing to envy of the later advances of Paul Bley with guitar (Pat Metheny, John Scofield), or of OM on 1977's Rautionaha, Patricio Villarroel's electric piano adding a nonetheless surprisingly singular touch to Dharma. This is without mentioning a kind of incisive violence when things sped up, which was unique to the Dharma Quintet, or a sound as dense as that of On The Corner by Miles Davis (1972), or Stark Reality, John Abercrombie's group from around the same period. Who else could seem approximately close to the Dharma Quintet at the same time... Emergency, a quintet which had played and recorded in France. Masabumi Kikuchi in Japan also deserves a mention. Along with the Cohelmec Ensemble, the Workshop de Lyon, the Full Moon Ensemble, Perception, Armonicord, or the Michel Portal Unit, the Dharma Quintet stand out as one of the most important examples of free jazz as it was played in France at the beginning of the 1970s. Licensed from Dharma. Obi strip; 12-page booklet; Edition of 700.
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FFL 038LP
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Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Dharma Quintet's Mr Robinson, originally released in 1970. In an interview with Jazz Magazine in the early 1970s, Dharma, as a collective voice, outlined their method: "we try to reach, within free jazz, the same sort of rhythmic cohesion as in bop, a cohesion based not exactly on tempo, but something which feels like tempo. A kind of underlying pulse." Evidence of these ideas can be heard immediately on listening to Mr Robinson, the first album by the Dharma Quintet, for whom community living seemed obvious, in order to add to the aforementioned cohesion. Through this, the group members played together on a daily basis, trying out things which were worked on day in, day out. They also listened to a lot of records, with of course a preference for free jazz, but not forgetting Miles Davis in his electric period, notably for the keyboards of Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. To which should be added esthetical-political concerns based on a refusal of hierarchy, and a desire to escape from a restrictive academic approach... It was within this framework that Jef Sicard and Gérard Coppéré (saxophones, flute, bass clarinet), Patricio Villarroel (electric and acoustic piano), Michel Gladieux (bass), and Jacques Mahieux (drums) formed the first version of a collective united by structured intentions. The result is a beneficial cohesion, and moments of great beauty born of a collective excitement and giving rise to ambiances which seemed almost possessed. The use of modes could seem to link Mr Robinson to the spiritual jazz of the past but that is without taking into account the fact that the benevolent spirit of Eric Dolphy seems to watch over this album. In France, a similar desire for cohesion could be found in the Cohelmec Ensemble, who had parallel preoccupations, to the point where their bassist, François Méchali, ended up by joining Dharma. As a quintet, with however some personnel changes, Dharma recorded three albums (one as a trio, under the name of Dharma Trio), which are all of fundamental importance (Dharma also accompanied the songs of Jean-Marie Vivier and Colette Magny). Individually, the members would record with musicians passing through (notably Anthony Ortega, Dave Burrell) and participated in other key groups including Machi Oul and Full Moon Ensemble. Licensed from Dharma. Obi strip; Includes 12-page booklet; Edition of 700.
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FFL 035LP
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Souffle Continu Records present a reissue of Heldon's Heldon . 6 . Interface, originally released in 1977. The idea in the mind of Richard Pinhas, the driving force behind Heldon, was to produce music "as cold as a huge block of ice" a vertiginous experience, of course influenced by the King Crimson trilogy, from Larks' Tongues In Aspic (1973) to Red (1974), except that Heldon represents an electrified version, leading to a perfect rapport between thought and emotion, perhaps going even further. It's Only Rock'n'Roll (1975), the appropriately-named third album, is in its own way -- already -- a turning point in Heldon's oeuvre, witness the acid and corrosive "Zind Destruction (Bouillie Blues)". Once the next one was released (Agneta Nilsson, 1976), just after Disjuncta, the first French independent label, had been sold to Urus by Richard Pinhas in order to buy the aforementioned Moog 3 from the Beatles, the music became even more uncompromising. The group delved, like King Crimson, into a kind of trilogy, the middle of which was Interface in 1977, a year after Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale (FFL 034LP) which was, thus, the first part. At this period the group's music, as Gérard N'Guyen wrote in the fanzine Atem, was like "a guided tour through the ruins of a civilisation." In the middle of the punk wave, the universe of Heldon indeed became more threatening and heavy, echoing the novel by Norman Spinrad from which the group took their name, The Iron Dream (1972). This was also the point at which Heldon became a genuine group, centered around Patrick Gauthier (synthesizers), Didier Batard (bass), and François Auger (drums), which allowed Richard Pinhas to focus on the real motivation behind this audacious undertaking. Like its predecessor Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, and then 1979's Stand By (FFL 036LP) which followed, Interface, the second album of the "trilogy" recorded at studios Davout, represents a sonic culmination, even a climax, its violence coming from the machines and delving into notions of repetition and scansion, prefiguring a lot of the music that was to follow, whether it be electro and industrial or post-rock and noise. It goes without saying: seminal and always innovative! High quality mastering from Richard Pinhas's original masters; Licensed from Richard Pinhas. Obi strip; matte printing. Swamp green vinyl; Edition of 700.
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