Jean Bardy – Au Café Des Anges @ Sunside, Paris 12/12/25

Bassist and composer Jean Bardy returns to the jazz scene with a new album entitled « At the Cafe of Angels ».

A jazz album, certainly, but, as Jean Bardy points out, with some winks to his early rock and folk influences. Indeed, Eric Löhrer‘s electric guitar and Guillaume Naud‘s organ demonstrate this on several tracks. Emil Spanyi on piano and Andrea Michelutti on drums complete this top-notch quartet.

The quartet expands to a quintet on two tracks, with accordionist Marc Berthoumieux making a guest appearance.

Of the ten tracks, seven are compositions by Jean Bardy. Among the three standards covered by the quartet, there is Steve Goodman’s famous City of New Orleans (a song made famous in France by Joe Dassin’s “Salut les Amoureux“). This is a classically crafted album in its arrangements, very precise in its performance, stylistically pure, with great musical cohesion. It’s a truly delightful listening experience.

A successful album is one where the musical pleasure is shared between the musicians and the listeners; this is certainly the case with this album. Warm welcome, subtle emotions, knowing smiles, it’s truly a comfortable place to be in this Café des Anges — the kind of “café” you gladly return to.

And finally, and this is no small thing, on two tracks, Marc Berthoumieux adds his sensitive touch, with a sound that goes straight to the heart.

The recording is of very good quality and well-balanced.