Georgelet-Zelnik-Chesnel Trio feat. Lhiver – Live for Gil

The 1964 Verve album The Individualism of Gil Evans is widely regarded as a masterpiece of jazz history.

Revisiting that repertoire today — celebrating the towering craft of arranger Gil Evans — was therefore both a playful undertaking and one fraught with risk. Yet when musicians possess genuine talent and the skill to express it, anything becomes possible.

The Georgelet/Zelnik/Chesnel Trio, joined by trombonist Thierry Lhiver, has risen to the challenge with aplomb, delivering a striking reinterpretation of pieces from that legendary collection, augmented by a rendition of “Miles Ahead,” drawn from the 1957 Columbia album that paired Miles Davis with Gil Evans.

They first capture Evans’s unusual sonic blends through arrangements cleverly adapted to the quartet’s compact format — notably recreating with poignant realism the dark atmosphere of “The Barbara Song” from Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera.

The program then opens into modal jazz territory, granting soloists wide expressive space, as heard in their takes on Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” and “Las Vegas Tango,” the latter lending its name to Laurent Cugny’s book on Gil Evans (P.O.L., 1989).

That freedom of expression is evident in Thierry Lhiver’s contributions: his phrasing, built on a keen sense of the right note and a richly nuanced tone, is integral to the ensemble’s interplay. His exchanges with François Chesnel reach high artistry, especially on “Trombone Song,” the pianist’s own dedication to him.

Anchored by Yoni Zelnik’s solid bass foundations and David Georgelet’s mercurial, coloristic drumming, these duets quickly evolve into four-way conversations that alone secure the recording’s success.

Originally conceived through a collaboration with musicians from the Orléans Conservatory, the project has naturally extended into a Masterclass initiative.

A revitalizing, contemporary reimagining of Gil Evans’s repertoire.