Jean-François Jenny-Clark
Unison

File Under: Hot contemporary jazz from Europe.

The name Jean-François Jenny-Clark might be daunting or unknown to many, but for jazz enthusiasts, he represents an illuminating beacon, an eclectic and extraordinary musician, as well as surprisingly humble.

Just listing the array of names he has collaborated with is proof: our very own Aldo Romano, Enrico Rava, and Luciano Berio, Steve Lacy, Gato Barbieri, Joe Henderson, Pierre Boulez, and I could continue on for quite some time.

His style on the double bass is eclectic and innovative. Firmly rooted in the post-bop tradition (like the second quintet of Miles Davis, to be clear) yet open to free jazz and European art music, especially of the post-Darmstadt variety.

A musician's musician, Jean-François Jenny-Clark honed his solo style by contributing to countless recordings, sometimes mere days or months apart, like every great jazz musician does, in addition to a plethora of live performances scattered around the globe, between Europe and America.

His solo debut, somewhat late compared to the amount of recordings he offered, comes out in 1987 for the German CMP Records, a historic independent label founded by Kurt Renker and initially dedicated to Classical and Contemporary releases, later broadening under the guidance of Walter Quintus to include jazz and rock sound proposals.

It is indeed the latter who produces and plays the synths, creating true parallel worlds around the two exceptional soloists accompanying the good Jean Francois: the German Joachim Khun on piano and the French Cristof Lauer on sax.

"Scott" is a true statement of intent: a few meaningful phrases between the middle and high register of the instrument, followed by the walking bass and the overdubbing of two more double basses to create intricate and surprising textures.

Then follows "Zerkall" in duo with Khun, endowed with lyrical and nervous pianism, between Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, with fabulous unison ostinatos with the double bass and atonal excursions of clear (or perhaps better defined as dissonant) European resonances.

There are also magnificent interludes of bass and electronics like "Ozone", a journey into hyperspace, between pedals and bow-played double bass, or "Motion", minimal music at its finest.

"TGV" acronym for Train à grande vitesse (our equivalent of TAV, to be clear) is a tour de force of sax and double bass, where Lauer, on soprano sax, takes the lead, with leaps into the void worthy of the best Braxton.

This album is a poetic-musical mine, from the cover itself: a haughty lady of ivory beauty gazes, semi-nude, into the camera, captivating whoever looks upon her.

The program closes with "C-Maj", splendid melodic zigzags between strings and wood in C major.

Acquire this "Unison" at all costs, along with the solo double bass concert titled "Solo", perhaps adding as a bonus the album by Enrico Rava released for ECM, which is "Enrico Rava Quartet", where, alongside Jean Francois, our Aldo Romano, master Rava, and a certain Roswell Rudd, an exceptional trombonist, perform. Salut.