Leila Martial & Valentin Ceccaldi - Le Jardin Des Délices (CD)

Release Date: 10/20/23

Leïla Martial, the uncrowned present queen of French vocal jazz plays in duo with the extraordinary cellist, Valentin Ceccaldi.

Leïla Martial is the uncrowned queen of French vocal jazz - if you can call jazz that combines theatrical and circus elements with the traditional music of nomadic pygmies, Inuits and gypsies, electronic and psychedelic influences with improvisational, experimental contemporary jazz. The mélange of Jardin des délices is as much everything else as it is jazz; what is certain is that Leïla Martial and Valentin Ceccaldi's new album opens up a fascinating imaginary universe.
'Leïla Martial is more than a singer. She is a creator of emotions and a visual artist of the voice', wrote Jazz Magazine. With astonishing vocal skills and boundless creativity, she uses a myriad of means to communicate her message: her voice caresses, hurts, makes us laugh or imitates the sounds of nature. Leïla began studying jazz as a child, but she hesitated for a long time between music, theatre and dance, both of which still feature in many of her productions. In 2009, she became the first singer to win the best soloist prize at the Concours de la Défense. In 2014, her quartet was selected to take part in Jazz Migration, and she was the only singer to perform at the 10th anniversary gala concert of the programme. Her most prominent group, Baa Box, has also performed at Opus Jazz Club. Her musical partner Valentin Ceccaldi has become famous particularly in bands co-founded with his brother Théo Ceccaldi, such as the African trance-jazz group Kutu, and has also recorded for BMC Records as a member of qÖÖlp and L'Arbre Rouge.
Leïla and Valentin's duo FiL has been working intermittently for several years, but it was only during the pandemic that they found the opportunity to produce new material. The liberating power of improvisation and the strange experience of the fusion of genres have led them to create a dialogue between musical languages, regions and different chapters of music history through their arrangements. Unlike Leïla's solo project Jubilä, which tends towards performance, this album focuses purely on the musical experience. Out of six songs on the album, only Jardin des délices - not a coincidental reference to the famous painting by Hieronymus Bosch - is the duo's own composition. Three tracks are arrangements of classical arias and a Réunion folk song, while another is by Barbara, attesting to Leïla's multi-faceted identity. However, the arrangements and vocal acrobatics here are not intended to preserve tradition, but rather to create a fresh musical world from the existing building blocks, at once serious and light, tender and powerful, graceful and bold.

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