Yann Viet Free Songs Trio - La Javanaise (2010)

Inspired by Chet Baker's trumpet-bass guitar-guitar trios, Yann Viet, Marc Eliard and Sylvain Gontard adapt a few chanson française and american classics.
"You do like elegant and ethereal melodies? The flood of notes in some jazz's styles tend to get you bored? Here is a CD that should delight you! Yann Viet, Marc Eliard and Sylvain Gontard have gathered for us some melodies arranged with taste. As always with exercises of this type, the pleasure linked to the mention of a familiar tune is mixed to the discovery of unheard arrangements. Of the nineteen tracks of this album, six are Yann Viet's compositions and nine come from french melody composers (Barbara, S. Gainsbourg, M. Legrand, L. Ferré, C. Aznavour, G. Brassens and J. Brel). The two remaining are intergalactic hits. Among the french songs' adaptations, it's hard for me to make a choice. I especially love La Javanaise from Serge Gainsbourg and Les Insomnies from Barbara, however the proposed outlooks of La Bohème and Avec Le Temps have an unsettling beauty. Overall the CD, we can feel a variety of mixed influences: Chet Baker and his reference jazz trio, J.S. Bach for the delicacy of the contrapuntal writing. Even if the atmospheres change a lot, the melody is always sovereign. Yann Viet, Marc Eliard and Sylvain Gontard enjoy themselves, stacking voices living their own lives to offer us a delicious musical millefeuille. In the end, it gives to this album an undeniable unity. The parts "for guitar only" highlight Yann Viet's touch, dynamic, then precise and delicate... a real delight.