Paris is a party,“ wrote Hemingway, ”a musical party, of course,“ and oboist Jean-Luc Oboman Fillon and accordionist Didier Ithursarry respond in chorus. Five years after ”Oboréades",
continues their singular duo in a sumptuous tribute to Paris, at once playful and profound, through its different districts and its great cultural and artistic diversity.
It's musical poetry, like Robert Doisneau's photos singing melodies to us, where under the urban cobblestones we discover a magnificent beach, full of music and fervor, to the rhythm of the capital's vibrations.
They love contrasts, black and white, swing and ballads, jazz and java, classical music and musette, the right bank and the left bank, and prefer to quote Baudelaire and his Spleen de Paris rather than Hemingway: "Whether you're still sleeping in the morning sheets, heavy, dark and cold, or strutting in the evening veils trimmed with fine gold, I love you, O infamous capital!
Paris, a land of contrasts, from winter dawn to summer sunset, from spleen to joie de vivre, from the hustle and bustle of rush-hour crowds to the nocturnal silence of deserted alleyways, Paris inspires artists. Following in the footsteps of poets, novelists, painters, photographers and film-makers, it's now the turn of musicians to enter this great creative whirlwind, projecting their impressions and feelings on this great city of culture.
In this case, two French jazzmen who already have a fine career behind them and who, in full maturity and possession of their means, unite their inspiration, virtuosity and great sensitivity in a project that is both impressionistic and expressionist, where emotion and feeling predominate. A perfect, quasi-telepathic musical understanding, commonly referred to as interaction, where the marriage of the timbres of oboe (or English horn) and accordion, united by vibration, breath and air, works marvelously, without the absence of a rhythm section ever being felt!
They met around the emblematic figure of Claude Barthélémy and began collaborating together in 2009. Their first album as a duo, Oboreades, was released in 2012 to great critical acclaim. The duo's compositions mingle with pieces from the repertoire of
Marcel Azzola, Hermeto Pascoal and Claude Barthelemy. Much in demand by both of them, whether for their personal projects (Echoes of Freedom and Plays Cole Porter for Jean-Luc Fillon and Kantuz, or the duo Lua
for Didier Ithursarry), or for their work as sideman (particularly for Didier, who, from Jean-Marie Machado's orchestra Danzas to Joce Mienniel's Art Sonic, multiplies encounters both in the studio and in concert), they have waited five years to continue their recording collaboration around a long-matured unifying project.
This Paris By Song is an initiatory, wandering journey through Paris, like a demonstration (in which the demands are purely aesthetic) from the Place de la République (first track) to the Place de la Bastille (eleventh and final track), via the Pont des Arts, the Moulin Rouge, Père Lachaise, the Grand Palais, the Palais Royal, Montmartre and Belleville.
A musical journey punctuated by the sounds of the city, where certain tracks without any indication of place in their titles are nonetheless evocative of a precise geolocation: Casa Pepe is a Spanish restaurant on rue Mouffetard, which was Paco de Lucia's favorite Paris stopover, and Rêve Bohémien, by Jo Privat, evokes the musette dances of rue de Lappe.
All the tracks on this album (penned by Jean-Luc Fillon, with the exception of the cover of Jo Privat and Moulin Rouge, composed by Didier Ithursarry) call for body movement: an energetic march (République), a chaotic stroll (Pont des Arts, Palais Royal) and dance, of course (the frenzy of Casa Pepe, the waltz of Rêve Bohémien, the klezmer ambience of Belleville).
A festive, danceable whirlwind, but also full of melancholy and poetry, mystery and contemplation, like Père Lachaise and its beautiful, haunting melody, paying homage to all the
great artists who lie there, and which returns at the end of the album as a hidden track, with the nostalgic echo of a player piano. All the colors of the world shine through here, in a music that wraps the pulse of new tango in the swirls of pure jazz. The accordionist dares to swing inflexibly and drive infernally, while Oboman's oboe regales us with a resolutely torrid chorus. The arrangements are meticulous, but with a feline suppleness... Elsewhere, odd rhythms and funky grooves come together.
The audience (including yours truly) is won over...
Xavier Prévost France-Musique
Jean-Luc Fillon, a.k.a. Oboman, is a boy with a lot of nerve... and a lot of daring! Not content with having brilliantly proved over the last few years that the oboe (or English horn, if you prefer) is not an instrument reserved for the baroque, but can create new sounds in jazz... you can't fail to be impressed by the musical quality of what these two offer. They play at a high, very high level...
The two men listen to each other, hear each other and understand each other admirably. Energy dominates the exchanges and the color of the sound; the harmonic paste derived from the marriage of oboe and accordion is downright convincing... the music is beautiful.
It's music that dances. Music filled with humanity and fraternity. The result of this duo, where listening and sharing dominate, is beautiful. Just beautiful. To be savored without moderation.
Jean-Marc Gelin Jazzmagazine
Didier Ithursarry
www.didierithursarry.com
"An astonishing accordionist"
- Michel Contat, Télérama
J-Luc Oboman Fillon
www.jeanlucfillon.com
"J-Luc Fillon is such a good oboe player that he is nicknamed Oboman"
- Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Télérama
