![](https://couleursjazz.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Virginie-Daide.jpg)
The tenor saxophone has long been a predominantly male instrument.
From Coleman Hawkins (baptized “father of the tenor” following his historic recording of “Body and Soul” in 1939) to Norwegian Marius Neset and American James Brandon Lewis, not to mention the “hairy” tenors of the 40s and 50s, Johnny Griffin, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter… Lester Young’s heirs, such as Stan Getz, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and later Joe Lovano and Mark Turner, adopted an approach that was less about showing off biceps and more about cultivating a softer, less “virile” musicality. It’s in this vein that women tenor saxophonists have been appearing for a few decades now: Lotte Anker in Denmark, the German Ingrid Laubrock (now based in NYC) in a rather free idiom, Hanna Paulsberg in Norway and, here in France, Sophie Alour, Jeanne Michard and Virginie Daïdé.
For this new recording, Virginie has chosen to keep the same team as for her previous “Moods” (reviewed here a few months ago): a first-rate trio that fits her like a velvet glove. Indeed, whether it’s pianist Nicolas Dri, bassist Thomas Posner or Tony Rabeson (the quartet’s lively veteran, who needs no introduction) on drums — to whom she has entrusted one composition each, the rest of the repertoire being from her pen — Virginie Daïdé‘s three sidemen are totally devoted to an aesthetic that is both tender and fleshy, fluid and invigorating, that exudes the joy of playing and gives the listener an irrepressible desire to dance, to rejoice, to share this music with those around them.
And the title of this CD, “While We’re Strollin’” evokes a beautiful stroll through contrasting and enchanting soundscapes, and it’s no coincidence that this opus was recorded in the Recall studio of the excellent Philippe Gaillot in Pompignan (Gard), in the middle of the garrigues.
At a time when winter, in France, is rather chilly and gray, here’s a source of warmth and cheer that will bring the sun back into your ears for a modest sum and without increasing your carbon footprint, whether you live in a thermal sieve or a luxury home far from Los Angeles where the stars’ homes go up in smoke, which — frankly — we couldn’t care less about, because we’re more sensitive to what the inhabitants of Gaza, South Lebanon, Sudan or Mayotte, whose homes have been destroyed by war or a hurricane, have to endure.
And if Virginie Daïdé takes on more of a composer’s role here, it’s because her talents in this field have progressed considerably with each recording, and she can now assert herself as a saxophonist whose playing is both innovative and steeped in a tradition that she intelligently and sensitively extends, and as the author of themes that often sound like standards, with solidly built harmonic structures and serenely beautiful or swaying melodies.
Bravo, then, to a musician and her comrades with whom we’ll have to reckon from now on in the hexagonal jazzosphere, where she occupies a place of choice.
Line up:
Virginie Daïdé: tenor & soprano sax
Nicolas Dri: piano
Thomas Posner: double bass
Tony Rabeson: drums
While We’re Strollin’ is released by the label, « Du savon dans les yeux ». The release date is February 7, 2025.
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