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| Track list: 1. Sweet Mercy 2. Arroyo 3. More 4. Less 5. Siegfried 6. Bending New Corners 7. Betty 8. Minaret 9. Friendly Fire 10. And Running time: 61 minutes Released: 1999 |
I picked this up after discussions on an internet forum with a French jazz-lover; I think I had to order it, and the other album of Truffaz's that I bought at the same time, from Amazon.fr because it wasn't listed on the UK site. Oddly WMP had it listed as 2003 but in looking up the album details for the image and caption I find that is actually earlier than that, so change made! I remember that Truffaz is a trumpeter but not much more and I have not really paid any attention to his music in years so I am a little unsure of what I will find here.
I like the snappy titling - no pretentiously long-winded track names here - but do they gel with the music they refer to? Time to see.
We open with bass and drums before some electronic sounds and Truffaz's trumpet join in. This is late night sounds at mid-afternoon when until just now it has been a blazingly good day, blue skies and warming sun. Ah, shopping in suburban Athens this morning. I remember this a bit now - English vocals delivered as a low-key rap. Along with the intro this exhibits why I think genre-typing music is a fools game; jazz can be a sibling to almost anything on the spectrum. In truth, I am not certain the trumpet adds much to Sweet Mercy, and given it is Truffaz's name on the disc that's a disappointment. I rather like its lounging mood though.
Pace is picked up a bit as the track shifts, and the sound and the title of the second tune makes me think of Miles Davis and Sketches of Spain. I guess, to their chagrin, most jazz trumpeters get compared to Davis in some way. I haven't listened to Spain in a long time (I do have it) so I am not really in a position to compare the tracks; it probably sounds nothing like this in any way, but I am reminded of it all the same. There is some funky underlay on this track, which is a better overall integration of the quartet and far more appropriate for a nice southern European day. I am doing this listen on the penultimate day of my holiday in the lazy afternoon; it seemed right somehow - though really I should be conjuring up some nice images of rural England and Wales to use in my Albion game whilst snoozing on a chair outside. I might do that next!
No, I think there is something Davis-like about the playing here even if I cannot pin it to a specific track or album. Something about the smoothness of the notes kindling thoughts of Kind of Blue, perhaps? Not sure, but the moment is passed and More has a muted strangle over a very sparse arrangement, kinda creepy but in an interesting way. The structure relies more on the drums and its interplay with a more subtle bass, very light with minimal, quiet and considered placement around that from the trumpet and electronics. I like this a lot after the rather odd opening; there are still undertones of oddity around the core, mystic edges, like mist rising from marshy grass, obscuring something behind (nope - used that already!) but the piece as a whole overrides that with a late night drive vibe - lighted strips, top down. From More to Less; will it live up to its name? More felt pretty light and sparse in places so Less would have to be more if this really is going to have less to it... I know, that sentence makes no sense.
This really is a light drum and bass track for its first minute and more - I love stuff on that blurred boundary, with trumpet in place of husky vocals and a volume more befitting comfort than throwing shapes. Comfort is what I find a lot of jazz to be about - not taxing to listen to, great backing for just about any activity. I can never understand those myriad people who simply dismiss jazz as if it is all incomprehensible improvisation with no structure or organisation. It's just music and there is good and bad examples everywhere however you like to categorise your music. Keys have taken on a little more work now, and as a result we get a relaxing stroll of a piece. Again the trumpet is oddly quiet, sidelined, for a lot of the number. So far it has felt more of a group effort than a star with backing.
The title track brings back the rap, with a bit more pace and intent this time, the percussion driving it along, and everything else carried along with it. This is nice soft and warm background music and there is a really strong temptation to treat it as such - divert my attention to other things I mean, rather than keeping score here. Partly that is not having much immediately come to mind that I haven't said already, partly it is the natural wandering of a mind over the period of an hour or so and only a small part of it is genuinely influenced by the music itself if I am honest. Sun is back out now, and I kinda want to escape to enjoy it... but leaving things half done will get me nowhere.
Oh, that's a nice switch. A gentle horn-led ramble now, keys backing it up and the drums and bass, which have dominated many of the tracks are distinctly relegated to support on this occasion. The track, Betty, evokes memories and images of the past, an effect which is doubtless stronger because of its placement after several tracks that owe more to 90s electronica than to the previous 5 decades of jazz history. It is a short piece though, and soon replaced by a haunting trumpet opening Minaret, evoking a call to prayer perhaps. Stylistically this is less Miles Davis and more Nils Petter Molvær - to name another trumpeter that I am familiar with. The track - I would say tune, but there is not much of one, is built around this muted wail and a strong drum backing, an interesting pattern which at one point (and maybe more to come) is broken up by musicality breaking through. It's weird... I am not sure how I feel about the track, 6 minutes long and not very tuneful yet somehow compelling and able to maintain interest for the whole length.
Another switch up with Friendly Fire also harking back to more traditional structures. Call-response between the trumpet and keys, backed by the percussion and bass, and with a few words sprinkled in. It is a bit kitsch given everything else - not nearly as well executed as Betty - and I am rather relieved when it ends and And starts. The final track echoes Minaret with its haunting wail of an opening from Truffaz's instrument, then drums and bass kick in. This is a 10 minute effort so I hope that they bring the interest to keep it moving....
Uh-oh. Just as I type that around the 2.15 mark there's a "bong" sound (part of the recording) and it all goes quiet. Stupid dead air outro time? Seems likely as by 3.15 it is still silent. Sigh - and it was all going so well.
The sound comes back around the 5 minute mark, Trumpet calling plaintively, lost and alone until some key-chords join the call. It is a little shivery alone in the dark type moment - or it would be if it weren't so bright out, and I couldn't hear the sounds of my dad playing Civ IV in the other room. This secret track is a bit of a mess; it has now developed some life, but the rhythm is reminiscent of a bad 80s disco and the structures and tones around it aren't much better.
It is a really disappointing end to what had been a pleasantly good album to that point, if one where I am not sure you would identify the trumpeter as the band leader from the work did you not know it going in.
We open with bass and drums before some electronic sounds and Truffaz's trumpet join in. This is late night sounds at mid-afternoon when until just now it has been a blazingly good day, blue skies and warming sun. Ah, shopping in suburban Athens this morning. I remember this a bit now - English vocals delivered as a low-key rap. Along with the intro this exhibits why I think genre-typing music is a fools game; jazz can be a sibling to almost anything on the spectrum. In truth, I am not certain the trumpet adds much to Sweet Mercy, and given it is Truffaz's name on the disc that's a disappointment. I rather like its lounging mood though.
Pace is picked up a bit as the track shifts, and the sound and the title of the second tune makes me think of Miles Davis and Sketches of Spain. I guess, to their chagrin, most jazz trumpeters get compared to Davis in some way. I haven't listened to Spain in a long time (I do have it) so I am not really in a position to compare the tracks; it probably sounds nothing like this in any way, but I am reminded of it all the same. There is some funky underlay on this track, which is a better overall integration of the quartet and far more appropriate for a nice southern European day. I am doing this listen on the penultimate day of my holiday in the lazy afternoon; it seemed right somehow - though really I should be conjuring up some nice images of rural England and Wales to use in my Albion game whilst snoozing on a chair outside. I might do that next!
No, I think there is something Davis-like about the playing here even if I cannot pin it to a specific track or album. Something about the smoothness of the notes kindling thoughts of Kind of Blue, perhaps? Not sure, but the moment is passed and More has a muted strangle over a very sparse arrangement, kinda creepy but in an interesting way. The structure relies more on the drums and its interplay with a more subtle bass, very light with minimal, quiet and considered placement around that from the trumpet and electronics. I like this a lot after the rather odd opening; there are still undertones of oddity around the core, mystic edges, like mist rising from marshy grass, obscuring something behind (nope - used that already!) but the piece as a whole overrides that with a late night drive vibe - lighted strips, top down. From More to Less; will it live up to its name? More felt pretty light and sparse in places so Less would have to be more if this really is going to have less to it... I know, that sentence makes no sense.
This really is a light drum and bass track for its first minute and more - I love stuff on that blurred boundary, with trumpet in place of husky vocals and a volume more befitting comfort than throwing shapes. Comfort is what I find a lot of jazz to be about - not taxing to listen to, great backing for just about any activity. I can never understand those myriad people who simply dismiss jazz as if it is all incomprehensible improvisation with no structure or organisation. It's just music and there is good and bad examples everywhere however you like to categorise your music. Keys have taken on a little more work now, and as a result we get a relaxing stroll of a piece. Again the trumpet is oddly quiet, sidelined, for a lot of the number. So far it has felt more of a group effort than a star with backing.
The title track brings back the rap, with a bit more pace and intent this time, the percussion driving it along, and everything else carried along with it. This is nice soft and warm background music and there is a really strong temptation to treat it as such - divert my attention to other things I mean, rather than keeping score here. Partly that is not having much immediately come to mind that I haven't said already, partly it is the natural wandering of a mind over the period of an hour or so and only a small part of it is genuinely influenced by the music itself if I am honest. Sun is back out now, and I kinda want to escape to enjoy it... but leaving things half done will get me nowhere.
Oh, that's a nice switch. A gentle horn-led ramble now, keys backing it up and the drums and bass, which have dominated many of the tracks are distinctly relegated to support on this occasion. The track, Betty, evokes memories and images of the past, an effect which is doubtless stronger because of its placement after several tracks that owe more to 90s electronica than to the previous 5 decades of jazz history. It is a short piece though, and soon replaced by a haunting trumpet opening Minaret, evoking a call to prayer perhaps. Stylistically this is less Miles Davis and more Nils Petter Molvær - to name another trumpeter that I am familiar with. The track - I would say tune, but there is not much of one, is built around this muted wail and a strong drum backing, an interesting pattern which at one point (and maybe more to come) is broken up by musicality breaking through. It's weird... I am not sure how I feel about the track, 6 minutes long and not very tuneful yet somehow compelling and able to maintain interest for the whole length.
Another switch up with Friendly Fire also harking back to more traditional structures. Call-response between the trumpet and keys, backed by the percussion and bass, and with a few words sprinkled in. It is a bit kitsch given everything else - not nearly as well executed as Betty - and I am rather relieved when it ends and And starts. The final track echoes Minaret with its haunting wail of an opening from Truffaz's instrument, then drums and bass kick in. This is a 10 minute effort so I hope that they bring the interest to keep it moving....
Uh-oh. Just as I type that around the 2.15 mark there's a "bong" sound (part of the recording) and it all goes quiet. Stupid dead air outro time? Seems likely as by 3.15 it is still silent. Sigh - and it was all going so well.
The sound comes back around the 5 minute mark, Trumpet calling plaintively, lost and alone until some key-chords join the call. It is a little shivery alone in the dark type moment - or it would be if it weren't so bright out, and I couldn't hear the sounds of my dad playing Civ IV in the other room. This secret track is a bit of a mess; it has now developed some life, but the rhythm is reminiscent of a bad 80s disco and the structures and tones around it aren't much better.
It is a really disappointing end to what had been a pleasantly good album to that point, if one where I am not sure you would identify the trumpeter as the band leader from the work did you not know it going in.
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