The Blue Land (ECM)
Matthieu Bordenave
Released January 2024
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For the follow-up of his ECM-leader-debut La traversée, French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave expands his trio of German pianist Florian Weber and Swiss bassist Patrice Moret with the unique sensibilities of drummer James Maddren, whose unrelenting pulse adds deft counterpoint to the group’s already idiosyncratic sound. Jazzwise magazine called the saxophonist’s previous recording “a graceful river of sound. As serene and meditative as this music may be it also has bursts, or rather flickers of energy and bold, focused, fluid movement, invigorating all the atmospheric counterpoint.” The flickers of energy are amplified on The Blue Land, setting the stage for angular interplay that sees each player dealing in swift counterpoint and melodic invention.
Writing the music for the album, Matthieu “had this idea of a band sound – a global sound – with everyone developing the music together, creating an immediately recognizable sonic character”. The unique character and collective approach is evident from the searching sounds of the introductory “La Porte Entrouverte”, with each player entering the proceedings consecutively, patiently, and the textural qualities of the group’s communication carried onward to the title track for further evolution.
The quartet has a pass at late-era Coltrane and delivers his “Compassion” with a deeply concentrated rendering, roaming the nuanced musical spectrum between the preconceived and the completely free. The remaining material, made up of Bordenave originals, follows the same method, bridging the gap between chamber-jazz dynamics and post-swing designs. Weber and Bordenave’s oblique approach to their instruments – Bordenave can be heard on both tenor and soprano sax – coalesce seamlessly, spinning unanticipated lines over the highly interactive conversations between Maddren and Moret.
Other pieces on the album are inspired by the saxophonist’s experiences in nature, hiking in the Pyrenees, where he grew up. “Three Peaks” in particular was borne from the utter silence Matthieu experienced on top of the summit that gives the piece its title. “Timbre” on the other hand is an investigation into the different registers of the soprano sax, with Matthieu and the group on high alert – bending a modal tendency to the brink of the avant-garde.
On his methodology, Matthieu notes that he tries “to compose a melody with very small elements, small phrases and basically without a form. Instead, the juxtaposition of tiny melodic fragments should naturally create a flowing structure with self-imposed inner dynamics”. This notion is distilled in the quartet’s musical explorations, with said elements seamlessly jumping from Florian’s piano to Matthieu’s saxophone, handed through the ranks with ease and a sense of surprise.
Matthieu and Florian have been playing together for about ten years, originally collaborating on a project revolving around on the music of Edith Piaf – The Blue Land is their second studio collaboration to date. The same is true for Patrice Moret, who joined the duo just before La Traversée. James Maddren can be heard here for the second time on the label, after his contribution as part of Kit Downes’s trio on 2022’s Vermillion.
Track Listing:
1. La Porte Entrouverte (Matthieu Bordenave) 05:43
2. The Blue Land (Matthieu Bordenave) 05:21
3. Compassion (John Coltrane) 05:32
4. Cyrus (Matthieu Bordenave) 03:41
5. Refraction (Matthieu Bordenave) 04:42
6. Distance (Matthieu Bordenave) 04:01
7. Three Four (Matthieu Bordenave) 06:04
8. Timbre (Matthieu Bordenave) 04:41
9. Three Peaks (Matthieu Bordenave) 04:16
Personnel:
Matthieu Bordenave: tenor saxophone
Florian Weber: piano
Patrice Moret: double bass
James Maddren: drums
Recorded October 2022, Studios La Buissonne, Pernes les Fontaines, by Gérard de Haro
Design: Sascha Kleis
Cover: Fidel Sclavo
Photography by Sam Harfouche
Produced by Manfred Eicher
Review:
Getting across the great open land beneath big sky country is full of epic moments. The Blue Land, French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave’s second for ECM, is that migrant’s diary.
As he so skillfully rendered on his 2020 ECM debut La Traversée, Bordenave again enters the studio conjoined with the assertive mood swings of bassist Patrice Moretand the rapidly moving divertimentos of pianist Florian Weber. Only this time he adds to that valorous energy the meatier, Art Blakey-like sentiments of drummer James Maddren—and The Blue Land’s tale begins.
First, “La Porte Entrouverte.” A searching chapter as the quartet enters the story individually, slowly, one by one. Not so much as to tease or to give false direction but to turn into a visceral, near heroic moment. Which could very well be The Blue Land’s namesake track. Rising from Weber’s undisguised thunder, the quartet evolves across time and space, mode and motif, as Moret’s slippery blue tones holds sway.
Spacious, moody, meditative, and immediate, the saxophonist and his compositions spin delicate, cognitive webs, leaving Moret, Weber and Maddren to create at will a way around a moving center. Thus another heroic moment in the saga is the collective’s indigo meditation upon John Coltrane ‘s victorious “Compassion.” First heard on Coltrane’s elevated Meditations (Impulse!, 1966), Bordenave, Moret, Weber and Maddren take what amounts to be an even more emotive, penetrating stance.
It is a great moment when we can eavesdrop on one of ECM’s unchallenged triumphs. And that, in a nutshell, is what The Blue Land is: a coalition of rampant, runaway energies coalescing into the moody atmospherics of “Cyrus,” and “Refraction.” Empowered by Maddren’s beat hand jive, “Distance” builds into “Three Four” which may very well define Bordenave’s inquiring, quixotic approach to chamber jazz. Focused loosely, “Timbre” is allowed to fall in and on itself all in the name of a classical modernist’s interpretation of bop, both then (Coltrane again though aided and abetted by Charles Lloyd) and since. “Three Peaks” is the stoic conclusion. None the worse for the wear and tear. Alert and alive. Here.
Mike Jurkovic (All About Jazz)
