Lex French – In the World’s First Summer

I can’t think of a single thing that could have gone wrong with a line-up that reads like a list of some of Montreal’s finest jazz musicians, also among the finest in America, no less: Lex French on trumpet (already, we’re in the upper echelons), then François Bourassa on piano (need I say more?), Morgan Moore on double bass (The Dream) and Jim Doxas on drums (I’ve died and gone to heaven). 

Intuition confirmed: all is well, and even better. In the World’s First Summer is a tribute to Miles Davis’ second quintet, in particular on the album Miles Smiles. Even as a quartet, the spirit of Miles’ quintet is not lost. The incandescent energy of the more alert pieces, or the introspective poetry of a few ballads (splendid version of Bye Bye Blackbird), are magnified, concentrated, and even sublimated in a way that only an exceptional ensemble can do.

The polyphonic and polyrhythmic discursive structure is impeccable, perfect, and 100% coherent in its collective fusion of individualities yet left whole. 

Nothing is less than excellent on the album, but I was particularly taken by a few tracks. Manuel de Falla’s “Lullaby (Nana),” whose meticulous construction transforms the enchanting theme into a peak of ecstatic intensity at the sound of an inhabited, hallucinated trumpet, unloading its intoxication on an unshakeable piano pulse, like a hypnotic march to the scaffold, accompanied by the rhythm section. Powerful stuff.

Much can also be said about “Huancavelica,” an original composition in which Doxas’s drums appear like a bullfighter dancing and having fun with French’s animal with pistons. Bourassa’s piano and Moore’s double bass, take part in the choreography, which ends as you please (is the bull safe? did the bullfighter win?). And then, the highlight of the program, like a gust of wind sweeping everything in its path, an incendiary version of the Quebec traditional “V’là l’bon vent.” In a frenzy that smacks of free jazz and threatens to tip over into anarchy at every second, control is nonetheless maintained at full throttle by an overall cohesion that compels admiration. The well-known theme appears here and there, like a sacred hymn that serves as a reassuring buoy. I say reassuring, but in truth, the whirlwind of swell and raging spray is irresistible. One gives him (her) self over to it ecstatically, at the risk of drowning, but with bliss. My God, a true masterpiece!

Dare I say that this quartet is one of the best (in a very, very short list) currently active in the North American jazz world? Perhaps worldwide? I think I do…

In the World’s First Summer is probably the jazz album of the year. Not to be missed.

Lex French’s quartet will be at Upstairs, here in Montreal, on 17 January 2025 to play the album’s program. Save the date now.