The evening of July 26th would see Yannick Rieu launch his latest album, Symbiosis, at Dièse Onze. Accompanied on stage and on the record by strong players younger than himself, (a tested practice seen in the careers of Art Blakey and Miles Davis), the musical interactions between players did, in fact, seem to border on a type of symbiosis elevating the music and the experience of listening to it.
Compositionally, Rieu explains in the liner notes of the album, that the songs of Symbiosis were inspired by the music of Brahms, which has always moved him. Rieu has sought, however, to invoke the spirit of Brahms without necessarily restricting himself to the harmonic and formal vocabulary one would expect from such an exercise. As a result, I must admit that I discerned only a tenuous resemblance; and I suspect this is only because I was told beforehand of the goal to channel the German romantic.
Regardless, the playing, (and composing), was done at a very high level with Johnathan Cayer, Rémi-Jean Leblanc, and Louis-Vincent Hamel all contributing their skills to the music of the veteran saxophonist. Some highlights include Leblanc’s impressive dexterity on his bass; the solid comping of Cayer’s locked hands voicings; the powerful tone of Rieu; and the dynamic drumming of Hamel who, with micro movements in his wrists and fingers, was able to achieve patterns bordering on Drum & Bass at times. All this was conducive to an appreciative crowd that filled the club nearly to capacity. I would therefore say that Rieu’s latest launch of modern jazz inspired by romantic music went as well as could be expected.
