A Weird One

Cuimean

So I was bumming around my local Tower Records over the weekend, and a CD cover caught my eye. It was part of a series of re-issues of '60's and '70's free jazz. I'd seen some Archie Shepp stuff from the same series, but I was unfamiliar with this particular group: Emergency. I'm not a huge fan of free jazz and I have to admit I picked up the CD (entitled "Homage to Peace") intending to get a chuckle out of some silly song titles or liner notes. The back showed a picture of the group: scruffy dudes with big beards and moustaches. Then I looked at the personnel and was amazed to see that their guitarist was none other than Boulou Ferre.

I ended up buying the CD out of curiosity, and for free jazz, it's not half bad. Sure, there's a lot of skronking and skittering, but there's also a real sense of ebb and flow that gives the album a sense of structure. And what about Boulou? Well, it's not gypsy jazz, that's for damn sure. He's wailing on an electric guitar and going nuts with a wah-wah pedal. But there are one or two moments when he peals off impeccably picked, really fast runs that show off his straight jazz chops (if not the influence of Matelot and Django).

Knowing now that Boulou, arguably one of the most creative players on the scene today, had straight bop and free jazz / fusion in his past makes me think of the fusion background of Bireli, another of today's most highly regarded players. It seems like forays into other musical worlds have helped both of them bring something unique back to their take on Django's music.

- Rod

MichaelHorowitz

Wow..I've never heard about that period of Boulou's career. Doesn't surprise me, especially when you look at how he was dressing back then:



Too bad he lost all that hair!

'm

jero

Details of that particular album -- which was only just reissued around a month ago -- can be found on the Verve Records site:

http://www.vervejazz.com/product.aspx?o ... pid=11227#

Has anyone heard Boulou's "Corporation Gypsy Orchestra" album? Is it in the same vein?

Funny that both Bireli and Boulou's forays into fusion seem to have waned with the onset of hairloss. Could baldness be the secret key to an efficient rest stroke? Bottles of Nair and Veet shall no doubt start finding their way into gig bags everywhere!

J

stubla

jero wrote:

Has anyone heard Boulou's "Corporation Gypsy Orchestra" album? Is it in the same vein?


J

Joseph
The Corporation lp is more like 70's 'Coryell' style fusion--its not great;though there is one nice ballad at the end.
Boulou's lp with Gunther Hampel is more interesting-still free but on acoustic it shows his avant-garde classical influence
I still hear all that stuff in Boulou's playing..that freeness...that 'everything is possible' attitude.
Stu

jero

Boulou's lp with Gunther Hampel is more interesting-still free but on acoustic it shows his avant-garde classical influence
I still hear all that stuff in Boulou's playing..that freeness...that 'everything is possible' attitude.

Stu,

I totally agree. Just this morning I was listening to "Relax and Enjoy" for the first time in a long while -- I entirely forget how outrageously, off-the-wall funky "Celui Qui Doit Venir" is. It reminded me quite a bit of some early recordings I have by the String Trio of New York. It's that sense of adventurousness -- and playfulness -- that, for me, makes Boulou's playing so consistently enjoyable to listen to.

Best,
J

nwilkins

that is a great tune and a great album