Jazz

Although she was born, clutching a bandoneon, in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine, Louise Jallu plies her career in the service of the music of the low-lying Buenos Aires: the powerful Tango. In defying sexist and geographical taboos, although France has a soft spot for Argentine expression, her approach is holistic and luminous. In particular, she built her encompassing love on the back of the intoxicating work of Astor Piazzolla, the great revolutionary of this ecstatic form of musical expression, a lover of classical music who broadened its horizons and blazed it a path to modernity and freedom. At the head of her brilliant quartet, rounded out by Mathias Lévy (violin and guitar), Marc Benham (piano) and Alexandre Perrot (double bass), Louise Jallu pays tribute to the master on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of his birth. A tribute that matches the stature of its subject, it is respectfully inventive. For proof, just listen to the unexpected revival of the classic Libertango. Or indeed see the presence of Gustavo Beytelmann, Piazzolla pianist from the 70s who caresses the ebony and ivory on half of the covers gathered here. Like Piazzolla himself, Jallu flirts with the spirit of jazz, taking risks, while favouring swing and an atmosphere of passion. On Oblivion, a composition from the later part of the big beast's life, she invites one of the most daring bugle players of the French jazz scene, Médéric Collignon. Even in the Porteño district of San Telmo that saw the birth of tango, Piazzolla 2021 should command much admiration. Louise Jallu brings a very contemporary and personal dimension, coloured by her origins. She co-wrote the arrangements with the director of the Gennevilliers Conservatory, Bernard Cavanna, a contemporary pianist and composer, a companion of Henri Dutilleux and Georges Aperghis, who certainly encouraged revolutionary aspirations in his former student. © Benjamin MiNiMuM/Qobuz