Emile Parisien - Louise (CD)

Release Date: 01/28/22

“The best new thing that has happened in European jazz for a long time” (Le Monde), Emile Parisien has formed a top-flight American-European sextet for 'Louise'.

“The best new thing that has happened in European jazz for a long time” (Le Monde), for his new album “Louise” Emile Parisien has assembled a group of musicians who bridge the two sides of the Atlantic. The saxophonist has set out to combine the essence of jazz with his own purposes; so what shines through here are both his kaleidoscopic imagination and his appetite for breaking down barriers. With Theo Croker, Nasheet Waits and Joe Martin three American musicians are in the group, all of them friends whom he has got to know over time. Their eagerness to engage in fruitful conversations with a trio consisting of Parisien himself and two of his closest colleagues from France is miraculous. All kinds of nuances and a confluence of influences are to be heard here. We find variations of pace from skittering syncopations to the softly majestic. Textures are meticulously calibrated, with a broad palette of instrumental colours both in the original compositions and in a burning cover of Joe Zawinul’s “Madagascar”. This collective endeavour leaves plenty of room for individual inventiveness, yet there is a happy balance between the different personalities as well. Emile Parisien, always hyperalert, knows when to step back and to leave the initiative to his partners, but will then re-enter authoritatively and be the catalyst who completely re-energise them. “Louise” is just magnificent in its twists and turns, and in the way it celebrates the sheer joy of the groove. We have taken a path towards intoxicating freedom with a team of artists in complete balance both individually and collectively. Through its subtle amalgamation of diffidence and affirmation, this pellucid music tells us the truth about life.