A classic trio with a modern, easygoing jazz feel, Papillon Social Club is made up of Cassandre Henry on piano, Sam Paquette on double bass and Christophe Rosset-Balcer on drums. Their debut album, Dur de la feuille (a Quebec expression meaning ‘’hard of hearing’’), presents a sound somewhere between studious jazz and groovy pop instrumentation. Listening to the album reminded me of my first listen to Trio Jérôme Beaulieu, many moons ago. An easy through-listen, in one go, and then you do it again. Hats off to Charles-Antoine Frandelion for adding the cymbalum, a fantastic Eastern European percussion instrument, here and there. As far as I’m concerned, there can never be enough cymbalum.
This is youngster jazz, in the distant wake of the famous E.S.T. trio (as a style, not so young anymore, I know), and marks a fine debut for this young ensemble.
