Continuing a century of mutual inspiration between two vast and interlocking musical worlds, Reverso further explores the interface between jazz and classical music. After Suite Ravel, a first album inspired by the music of Maurice Ravel, The Melodic Line in homage to the composers of ‘Les Six’, and the release of a live album recorded at Le Triton in Paris, the transatlantic chamber jazz ensemble formed by American trombonist Ryan Keberle, Franco-German pianist Frank Woeste and French cellist Vincent Courtois now investigates the output of another exciting French composer, Gabriel Fauré. Reverso blends ‘pulsating motifs, long painterly lines, open fields and pointillist statements into a fascinating whole’ (JazzTimes). After so many concerts and tours, the undeniable chemistry of the ensemble, the mutual confidence between the musicians and their magnificent musical production are fully in evidence. It’s a fair bet that the new album will be worthy of its predecessors!

With an original line-up of trombone, electric guitar, double bass and drums, NABOU is a breath of fresh air on the Belgian jazz scene. On the trombone, bandleader and composer Nabou Claerhout is looking for a sound all her own: by means of all sorts of effects, she creates a dreamy musical framework with a strong atmospheric and melancholic resonance. The group’s debut EP Hubert – for which Claerhout was nominated for the Sabam For Culture ‘Jazz Composer 2019’ prize – was already a fine demonstration of its unique sound, which is now further refined and specified on its first full album You Know. Lush and intimate sounds alternate with strongly rhythmically based compositions, while groovy bass riffs from Trui Amerlinck, Mathias Vercammen’s elaborate drum patterns and the modern, virtuoso guitar playing of Roeland Celis play their part in this musical adventure full of highlights – all created in combination with Claerhout’s distinctive trombone playing ‘that sings, cries, pulsates, narrates and knows how to make many hearts weak through well-constructed contemporary pieces’.

"Trumpeter, composer and bandleader Amir ElSaffar has been expressing his Iraqi-American heritage and artistic identity through successful albums that blend the traditional Iraqi maqam and modern jazz. The Other Shore, the highly anticipated follow-up to Not Two (New Amsterdam, 2017), marks the second time on record he's in the command of the 17-piece Rivers of Sound Orchestra, an extension of the Two Rivers Ensemble. There was one single change in its workforce - John Escreet sits in the piano chair that previously belonged to Craig Taborn. Imbued with passionate lyricism, this music feels both cerebral and freewheeling. Composition and improvisation play an equally important role and there’s plenty of good, hybrid sonorities for one’s listening pleasure." - Jazz Trail

"The music, in some ways, feels like ’70s experiments in loosening up musical boundaries, in the mode of artists such as Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, and John McLaughlin. Combining composition and improvisation, the band maneuvers through gentle musical waters, but is more than ready to take it up a notch or two when choppier passages emerge." - The Arts Fuse

Suspended is Urbexs third album, but also the first live recording of this adventurous group formed five years ago. The repertory is written by Antoine Pierre (TaxiWars, Philip Catherine, Joshua Redman, Jacky Terrasson etc.), the sextets leader, who has drawn his inspiration from the electronic period of Miles Davis, with the album Bitches Brew as its inspiration. The recording was made in the outstanding acoustics of the famous Studio 4 at Flagey (Brussels) during the first public presentation of this new creation. The result is imbued with a powerful groove that leads, by way of an eruption of sound and energy, to a kind of trance. Since its formation in 2015, Urbex has played in the most prestigious jazz venues and released two critically acclaimed albums that were awarded CHOC in Jazz Magazine, Indispensable in Jazz New, MUST TSF Jazz and an Octave de la Musique in 2018.

Reverso is a transatlantic group of outstanding improvisers, equally at home in both jazz and classical music. 'The Melodic Line', the group's second album, is set against the backdrop of Paris in the Années Folles and is inspired by the aesthetic of the composers of the Groupe des Six (Poulenc, Milhaud, Honegger, Auric, Tailleferre and Durey). Jean Cocteau said that the only common point between these composers, apart from their friendship, was their 'salvation of melodic line'. Frank Woeste, co-leader and composer of the group, has developed, in the course of his albums and tours, a unique language that makes him an unclassifiable and polymorphous artist, a sideman with prestigious musicians but also a producer. Vincent Courtois, a stunning cellist, is as comfortable in the classical repertory as in free improvisations or indeed in chanson. Ryan Keberle, the trio's other co-leader and composer, is one of today's key trombonists on the New York scene, whether with his group 'Catharsis' or with Maria Schneider and Dave Douglas. All three pursue, with new points of reference, the same ambition, to 'take music lovers out of their compartments and tune them to an unclassifiable "elsewhere", impossible to label, where a certain French elegance meets American energy' (Le Télégramme).

Click here to view the Vinyl version.

Kem, in ancient Epypt, means the color Black, like the limon of the Nile, the black earth, fertile. An extremely positive word for a color, often seen as negative, or evil . It is in that symbolic earth that (the mystery of) Kem grows new rhythmical aspects whose schemes, dances and improvisations take roots in the Yin and Yang complementarity of rhythmical pulses. For this journey, Stéphane Galland is surrounded by daring and talented young musicians: Sylvain Debaisieux, Bram De Looze, and Federico Stocchi, and one of the most prominent Carnatic Flute players in the world from South India, Ravi Kulur. The album also features Ibrahim Maalouf as a very special guest. With (the mystery of) Kem, Stéphane Galland visits the rhythmical roots where all the musical traditions that he has rubbed together and integrated into his own language converge and explores a specific space that allows the integration of all these concepts without a priori or stylistic limitation. Welcome to the black and mysterious earth of Kem.

Click here to view the CD version.

Kem, in ancient Epypt, means the color Black, like the limon of the Nile, the black earth, fertile. An extremely positive word for a color, often seen as negative, or evil . It is in that symbolic earth that (the mystery of) Kem grows new rhythmical aspects whose schemes, dances and improvisations take roots in the Yin and Yang complementarity of rhythmical pulses. For this journey, Stéphane Galland is surrounded by daring and talented young musicians: Sylvain Debaisieux, Bram De Looze, and Federico Stocchi, and one of the most prominent Carnatic Flute players in the world from South India, Ravi Kulur. The album also features Ibrahim Maalouf as a very special guest. With (the mystery of) Kem, Stéphane Galland visits the rhythmical roots where all the musical traditions that he has rubbed together and integrated into his own language converge and explores a specific space that allows the integration of all these concepts without a priori or stylistic limitation. Welcome to the black and mysterious earth of Kem.