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Parisians and suburbanites have had many opportunities to see and hear Daniel Humair in different contexts between late 2024 and early 2025.

Either with Louis Sclavis and Benjamin Moussay at Hélène Aziza’s 19 rue Paul Fort (a venue not well known enough for my taste, but always a sell-out given the quality of its programming) or at Le Triton with the present quartet – which recorded at the club in Les Lilas. This group is an extension of two of the veteran drummer’s formations: the trio with saxophonist Vincent Lê Quang and bassist Stéphane Kerecki (who released the excellent “Drum Thing” in 2020, with trumpeter Yoann Loustalot guesting on a few tracks) and another trio called Helveticus (see review here) where Humair reunites with two Swiss compatriots: trombonist Samuel Blaser and bassist Heiri Kaenzig.

On this new recording, Daniel is surrounded by cadets with whom he is very familiar, with each of the protagonists participating in the composition of the pieces, the rest of the repertoire being written by Joachim Kühn, Franco Ambrosetti and British composer Stanley Myers.

What’s immediately noticeable in this program, which reads like a menu – since it begins with a brief “Amuse-Bouche” and closes with a no less short “Pousse-café” – is that the drummer-leader’s notorious gourmandism is not limited to food (he has collaborated with several Michelin-starred chefs) but also concerns the sounds of instruments, starting with his own: the drums.

Humair is a great melodist on his set, using drums and cymbals as an accomplished colorist who knows how to vary nuances and dynamics in a unique and immediately recognizable way. This affinity naturally leads him to surround himself with musicians who, like him, have a taste for sound, and who have developed a personal style of playing on their “axe”, a palette of sounds we never tire of savouring.

Stéphane Kerecki is one of Europe’s leading bassists, and his signature style can be heard in all the contexts in which he performs. Vincent Lê Quang is one of France’s most eminent saxophonists.

As for Samuel Blaser, he is quite simply one of the most prominent trombonists of his generation, worldwide. Together, they form a first-rate quartet, sailing beautifully between swaying melodies, tonic or dreamy, and more abstract themes, where their appetite for free jazz is devoid of any intellectual approach.

Their pleasure in playing is infectious, and the listener is easily swept along, from track to track, on a journey full of surprises and little nuggets of sound, where the magnificent interweaving of timbres is a feast for the ears. At over eighty years of age, Humair shows no signs of fatigue, and his desire to play is constantly stimulated by younger musicians whom he knows how to choose with taste, just as the latter take pleasure in participating, with such an open-minded and dynamic elder, in a project for which we can only advise couleursjazz readers to go and discover them live.

There’s no chance they’ll be disappointed: what these four major musicians offer is the very best in jazz today.

Line up:

Daniel Humair: drums

Vincent Lê Quang: saxophone

Samuel Blaser: trombone

Stéphane Kerecki: double bass

Prismes à l’Eau was released by Le Triton on November 8, 2024

©Photo Header Bastien Deschamps 

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