STORIE VERE

The first Lion Orchestra was formed in the 1980s by Garrett List and students who had taken his improvisation class. It is with his blessing that the Lion Orchestra is now seeking out new adventures. On this debut album, The Lion Orchestra revisits titles of shows from the Collective, with the desire to make listeners and spectators dance, sing, and smile with timeless hits. “The Collective lives like a troupe of artists, some of whom have been there from the beginning, hailing from all disciplines- jazz, rock, poetry, dance theater- all gathering around a shared aesthetic… As for the title of this album, Urban Connections, it directly refers to the Liege festival of the same name supported by the city which allowed us to create a freely Sous les paves in 2012, Odyssee 14 in 2014, and L’Orchestre du Lion in 2016.”

For his new album Supersonic Flora, composer Walter Hus revisited some of the key works of his career and turned them into brand new spectacular solo piano pieces. The music on the album ranges from Walter Hus' most radical and minimalist inspired compositions from the eighties, through more rounded and melodically oriented music from the nineties to a freshly written jazzy piece in memory of a friend. All of his music was originally written for multiplayer combinations like string quartets or orchestras and had never been intended to be played using only ten fingers. He writes: "I see Supersonic Flora as mainly a present to myself. For long I had been projecting an entirely new recital programme based on my ensemble works from the past. I made a selection of pieces I particularly liked; pieces I wanted to be in physical contact with; pieces that were playable and would sound great on the piano. This proved to be not so easy. I had to do some serious rewriting as most of the original music had strong contrapuntal tendencies. The combination of a network of multiple interweaving voices with a steady ongoing rhythm made it quite complex to recreate the same music in the scope of two hands on the piano!"

Serge Lazarevitch lived in the USA where he studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston with Mick Goodrick, Mike Gibbs, John La Porta. During this American period he met Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Bill Frisell. Back in Europe in 1979, he settled down in Belgium and was part of the jazz Belgian scene along with Philip Catherine, Jacques Pelzer, Steve Houben, Charles Loos. This new recording is the logical continuation of the previous one 'Cats are welcome', an album which made with press as well as the public. Turning from the trio to the quartet with sax, Serge lazarevitch explores still further through his own compositions and those by his favorite composers, here O. Coleman, into the musical universe he likes.

Intuitions

St�phane Mercier's Quintet is made of Belgian top players, in which the communion between the past and the present reconciles the old and the new. The album is a summary of Mercier's jazz journey through Europe and America, deeply rooted in friendship, admiration and exciting music. St�phane Mercier is a Balgian saxophonist who has recorded an impressive six albums as a bandleader. After studying at Berklee College of Music during the nineties, he settled for seven years in New York City where he developed his career and signed for one of the most important jazz indie labels: Fresh Sound/New Talent. After the distribution of his first album, he moved to Paris for two years before returning to his home country of Belgium. He currently lives in Brussels, still internationally playing with bands ranging from intimate duos to big bands.

Today, the jazz fan can look back on one hundred years of jazz history, the first recordings reaching back to 1917 with the original Dixieland Jazz Band. In jazz, some profit and some play, giving into creative reexploration, a movement that began in the 80s with neo-boppers. Here, the five members of Soul Voyage opted for a certain simplicity, avoiding the acrobatic melodies of bebop. Soul jazz, as they see it, looked for the freshness and efficiency found in gospel and blues as opposed to the hard bop of the fifties. It's greatest period, from 1960 until 1975, featured such musicians as the Hammond B3 king Jimmy Smith, Horace Silver, Lonnie Liston Smith, Lou Donaldson, John Patton, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Grant Green and the Adderly Brothers among others. Soul Voyage have known each other for quite a while, Michel Mainil and Antoine Cirri on one side and Olivier Poumay and Vincent Romain on the other. It simply took the addition of the not quite 30 year old Maxine Moynaerts to create a warm and nostalgic music destined for those who remember this period of jazz history. It is, however, not simply a copy/paste, for the compositions are originals.

Didier Laloy is back with a new album and a new creation: Belem & The MeKanics, a meeting between his famous Belem duo (with cellist Kathy Adam) and the mechanized instruments of the contemporary composer Walter Hus. After having toured Europe with Belem, Didier Laloy met composer Walter Hus (co-founder in the 1980s avant-garde group Maximilaist whose LP was one of the first references of the Igloo label) and achieved one of his dreams: to play with musical mechanized instruments while extending the adventure of the duo. Laloy reinvents the universe of the duo in contact with the creative madness of Walter Hus and his ‘Decap’ mechanical instruments, a complete 15-piece orchestra that consists of acoustic organs, accordions and autonomous percussion instruments controlled by a computer and music software to generate an acoustic, organic sound. Let yourself be carried away by this unusual music, somewhere between popular, contemporary music and a soundtrack with echoes of Fellini. At times a sweet milky way of sounds, sometimes vaguely philharmonic while bursting into the four corners of our imaginations, Belem & The MeKanics is an extraordinary experience that immerses the listener in a majestic sound whirlpool!

The Magnificent Seven of the Belgian jazz scene led by the guitar hero Guillaume Vierset come back with their second album. Around strong and well-built melodies, the LG Jazz Collective delivers a more complex and mature album, thanks to the presence of two new recruits. With several awards to their name and a widely-acclaimed first album, LG Jazz collective presents their new release, "Strange Deal" Once again, guitarist Guillaume Vierset is behind all the compositions and arrangements. He is accompanied by trumpetist Jean-Paul Estievenart, tenor sax player Steven Delannoye, double-bass player Felix Zurstrassen and drummer Antoine Pierre. Alex Koo now replaces Ignor Gehenot on piano and Rob Banken is the septet's new alto sax player. Strange Deal does not orbit around the guitar alone. On the contrary, Guillaume pulls all he can from the characteristics and variables of his musician partners to produce a strong and dynamic group sound. The link with the jazz tradition is still there, as is the project's acoustic feel. This is because the LG Jazz Collective does not need electronic subterfuges. The dynamics are mostly based on strong, well-constructed melodies. The group is organic and builds it's music according to it's own rules, to which each adds their own touch.

From the first notes, ''Control Swift'' grooves. The punch rhythm is driven by drummer Jean-Marc Robin's sharp playing. The sax lines wrap themselves around electric guitar riffs whose organic and slightly acidic sound sometimes evoke a few ghosts, such as the late Larry Coryell. Once in orbit, the groove can relax in ''There Will Be'' - a feline workout to which the leader gives a blue sheen by bending the strings. This expressive style steeped in soul can be heard several times on the release. Fir on ''Le Chien'', a piece that swings like a Pink Panther on the prowl thanks to Johannes Mueller's giddy sax solo followed by a theme they all play together. Then on ''Blues for Jean'', which shows to the whole world the grip that the blues has on this music - even if it is a blues a la John Scofield, tortured by phrasing with a distinctive outline that creates a saturated sound and raw inflexions through ap alette of perfectly mastered effects. A big fan of big melodies, Lamy has also composed some pieces that are perfect for singing. The melancholic accents of ''A-C'', for example, are delicately colored by floating chords and beautiful clusters of notes that gracefully twist and turn before coming to a dream-like end. ''Erase'', meanwhile, is like a trip in zero gravity featuring a bass solo from Gautier Laurent that lies across moving layers of guitar which in turn opens its wings and takes off. This eclectic repertoire is wrapped up with a bonus treat: ''D Blues'' is unbridled hard-bop swing, almost like a concession to the classical jazz into which the guitarist and sax-player like to sink their teeth, whipping the theme and firing off torrents of solos.

The Martin Salemi trio offers us a trip through the history of jazz. His first album “Short Stories” is a collection of stylish compositions that alternate between ballads, swing, asymmetrical grooves and rolling rhythms. A few references can be heard from the first measures of Confidence: pianist Nathalie Loriers and above all Enrico Pieranunzi, due to the light touch and his precious way of combining jazz and classical music into something as light and velvety as a summer breeze. But then, right in the middle of the tune, the pianist suddenly heads in another direction, picking up the tempo and welcoming in the fun of swing, running off long suites of improvised notes with the ease of a Keith Jarrett before finally coming, like magic, back to the nonchalance of the opening theme. The rest of the repertoire proves one thing- Martin Salemi is not a man of one style. From Lenni Tristano, whose singularity and exceptional agility are evoked on “Lennie’s Pennies” to the rolling rhythms of “Regina” whose percussive chord-based introduction could be a nod to the bluesy exoticism of the great Horace Silver, we travel easily through he history of jazz.

Since their first gig as a duo in the early 1980's, the musical complicity between Steve Houben and Charles Loos has never wavered. 35 years after recording the ''Comptines'' album, the jazz classics collection of Igloo is reissuing it, completed by new recorded versions. On the nine miniatures, the two accomplices support each other and trade licks in a relaxed atmosphere. Loos was already playing with his distinctive, slightly precious, tone. With subtlety, he hemmed the waves of pure, precise sax improvisations, in turns alto, soprano and tenor. Their music fully fit into the new chamber jazz style that had appeared in the previous decade via ECM and to which many European jazzmen aspired. Emblematic of this approach, ''Valse de Nuit'' creates a dreamy, starlit sensation. Time stands still, with the subconscience constantly gliding from wellbeing burdened with funny or intriguing titles such as ''Ca C'est Mechant'', the music remains graceful, elegant, nostalgic, modest and aware of its deep classical roots, wrapped in a veil that is somewhere between solemn and dreamy, which is also that of the release as a whole. This was the first step of a tandem that would subsequently have a rich career, playing on several occasions as a duo or in other configurations, including trios with flautist Ali Ryerson and singer Maurane, and the Thais String Quartet.

In addition to having a name that is now inseparable from the singer David Linx, under his own name pianist Diederik Wissels is also the creator of music that is both sensitive and refined in the tradition of European jazz tinted with classical music. After the superb “Tender is the Night,” “Streams,” “Song of You,” “The Hillock Sonstress,” and “From This Day Forward,” this new album probes once again- although in different ways- the mysteries of atmospheric themes drawn from soft-focus melancholy. The pianist’s sparse, light notes, whose touch remains luminous, slowly reveal an introspective world that is peopled by his two sparring partners. First, Nicolas Kummert whose contained sax-playing vibrates in tune with soundscapes from Saturn haunted by Scandinavian mist. Then Thibault Dille, whose lyrical accordion creates waves of melody lines while lavishing warm and decisive rainbow colors over the beautiful miniatures. On “Release” and “Dreamcatcher,” singer Emily Allison vocalizes and adds airy worlds that open the music onto a disturbing dream-like world of light and shade. This is music carved by clear, intuitive, intimate, moving and powerfully climatic arrangements; music of few notes but a thousand poetic shades. Through its insidious power, it manages to easily impose a very personal charm.

When two incredible artists cross paths along the road of life it is destined for nothing short of true art to emerge. Raphaelle Brochet and Philippe Aerts are two such people. They blur the lines when it comes to conventional use of their instruments, focusing on creating a sound scape of experiences rather than just a song. Their music is a cocktail of Carnatic pieces, Bulgarian folk songs, shades of Bebop, Jazz, and undertones of various Arabic styles. They move flawlessly from one genre to another like water through the cracks, creating stories as they move through a world of sound. Join them as they take you on a journey through a world of colors, tradition, rhythm and of course, Jazz. Raphaelle Brochet has spent her time shuttling between India and the United States, where she studied with Smt Sarada Thota and Balraj Balasubrahmanyan for 12 years until she felt she had achieved a certain level of mastery over her technique. Double bass player Philippe Aerts is one of the most in demand Belgian musicians, and is a regular member of several jazz groups.

In this new release, early music meets jazz. Music 4 A While takes a contemporary, personal and original look at music from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Brought together by pianist Johan Dupont, five musicians revisit mostly European music written during the Renaissance. They bring their unique vision to this ancient repertoire by giving these songs contemporary and original arrangements. After their first album was released in July 2013, the group is back with a second album, a musical adventure of new boldness and power. The new repertoire consists of ten tracks, including the radiant “Ay Linda Amiga,” attributed to an anonymous writer from sixteenth century Spain. The choice of title is not an accident. More than consolidating the band’s approach, “Ay Linda Amiga” effectively resonates like a timeless tune that makes a mockery of borders. To achieve its aesthetic ambitions, Music 4 A While called on several guests: Stephan Pougin on percussion, Adrien Lambinet on trombone, Luis and Sergio Pinchera on backing vocals and Cesar Guzman on charango, a traditional l ute from South America. All these sounds and vibrations go beyond tradition, and are neither folklore nor repetition. They create something more like “authenticity that is not a rehashed version of antiquity, but an innovative reunion,” to paraphrase the anthropologist Jacques Berque.