Warm Canto (Laborie Jazz)
Leïla Martial
Released April 12, 2019
Prix du Jazz Vocal de l’Académie du Jazz 2019
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lOfUrlr_AVT-_GdoAQdyLp8cEJb_pmawI
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1rjFIhO7NUn6GZ538TvH3X?si=kbRwqtBrTzeqjvmkul9sUQ
About:
For this second opus, Leïla takes her two companions on her original imaginary land: A naked and bare land, where the body (the voice) would be the only source where to drink. BAA BOX opens a new window, a second way at the crossroads of possibilities. To roam the paths of the future, straddling the brush fields and climbing the cultural boundaries that are a priori impassable. And finally meet the Other, in what he has in common and different from himself, in his impenetrable and familiar beauty.
Track Listing:
1. Amuse
Bouche (BAA BOX) 01:35
2. Nuit Pygmée (BAA BOX) 06:38
3. Le sourire du Clown (BAA BOX) 03:41
4. La Danse du Clown (I) (BAA BOX) 04:04
5. La Danse du Clown (2) (BAA BOX) 05:00
6. Forget and be (BAA BOX) 04:30
7. Jeanne (BAA BOX) 04:27
8. Serendipity (BAA BOX) 07:34
9. Warm Canto (Mal Waldron) 03:29
10. Petit Temps volé (BAA BOX) 06:48
11. Solal (BAA BOX) 01:29
12. Pieds nus (BAA BOX) 03:14
Personnel:
Leïla Martial: vocals, glockenspiel, little bottles,
Eric Perez: drums, percussions, guitars, human basse, voice
Pierre Tereygeol: acoustic guitars, bass guitars, 12 strings guitars, ukuleles, voice
Produced
by Laborie Jazz
Executive producer: Jean-Michel & Elie Leygonie
Recorded by Boris Darley at Studio Besco
Additional recordings by Baptiste Chevalier Duflot at Studio Soult
Mixed by Léo Grislin and Baptiste Chevalier Duflot
Mastered by Raphaël Jonin
Photos by Jean-Pascal Retel and Valentine Poutignat
Artwork / Design by Jean-Pascal Retel
Review:
Vocalist, clown and improvisor Leïla Martial releases
her third album, Warm Canto, on 24 May. It features her trio Baa Box. The
album focuses around the human voice, mostly hers, stretching its physical and
musical capabilities. Made up of Martial, voice, glockenspiel and senza (thumb
piano); Eric Perez, voice and guitar; and Pierre Tereygeol, voice,
guitar and percussion, the trio explores looping, vocal effects and layered
patterns to create an interesting and lively tone palate.
Growing up in a musical family, Martial studied at the Marciac Village Music
College from the age of ten, later continuing her studies at Collège Jazz de
Marciac, the home of the Jazz in Marciac festival. Leïla was torn between the
career of an actress or a singer; it was her 2009 Concours de la Défense win
that led her to pick music. Two albums followed; 2012’s Dance Floor, and
2017’s Baable, with Baa Box. The trio, according to her website, is named
after the “baa” made by goats. This is because a goat “does not look for
aesthetics, it IS”. The trio’s previous album was based on “epic rock,” the new
album represents something quite different. This is another step on her
self-professed journey of developing a magical musical language based on
improvisation.
A large part of it is made up of beautiful, intricate vocalisation intertwined with looped vocal harmonies, percussive sung phrases and supportive guitar lines. The press release for the album states that it is influenced by “vocal possibilities beyond a Western framework, including Romani, Pygmée and Inuit”. Songs such as Nuit Pygmée showcase the range of Martial’s shape-shifting vocalisation, jumping from flowing lines to staccato, twisted, disjointed phrases. The band use loops to create a full and energetic sound on Serendipity, one of the albums rockier numbers, with its use of effect pedals on the vocals. The layering of the vocal lines give the effect of a choir supporting the song.
In the slower, more poignant numbers such as Le sourire du clown the instrumental aspect of the band is featured more prominently; creating an uneasy, creaking, rattling sound-world with feverish percussive tapping, slow and steady guitar lines and shimmering, sometimes quite creepy, vocalisations accompanied by glockenspiel. Jeanne allows the guitar to be more than just an accompanying instrument. Positioned seventh in the twelve-song order it is a welcome momentary break from the album’s fairly continuous vocal focus.
There is always a danger when using loop pedals and layered vocal lines that the music you make, especially if collated into an album, will be repetitive and aesthetically similar. Warm Canto does repeat textures and ideas, however this doesn’t hinder ones enjoyment of the music. Focusing more on the voice and its musical possibilities rather than using it as a means to an end in the song-writing process brings about interesting and fresh material. This is an accessible, enjoyable album with some real vocal gems embedded within.
Sebastian Maniura (LondonJazz News)
