Composer, conductor and pianist Marianne Trudel is marking her 20-year career in the world of jazz by launching a triptych of albums testifying to the breadth of her register. Piano (and harmonium!) solo on Discreetly. Quiet sounds for a loud worldin duet with percussionist John Hollenbeck on Dédé Java Espirituand in trio when bassist Rémi-Jean Leblanc is added on Time Poem. The joy of the ephemeral. A project born during the pandemic whose melodic flights and soothing atmospheres resonate in this autumn of all upheavals.
The feat that Trudel achieves here is not to offer three albums of original compositions (and improvisations) in one go, but to offer three of exceptional quality. “For me, this project is a triptych since they are three facets of my musical personality, three albums born in the same pandemic period, and three very complementary albums. And the three are linked by my love for nature”, illustrated by the album covers.
The solo first, in the spirit closer to contemporary music than to what we will hear as jazz, although in the composer’s mind, “jazz is about taking risks – and I took a risk with this album, which, stylistically, falls a bit between the cracks.”
“This is the first time that I have made a “slow motion” album,” explains Marianne Trudel, who also describes it as a musical “refuge” in which she huddled in the summer of 2021, in the middle of a pandemic. “It’s like everything is on a different frequency; Usually, in my albums, there is a wide variety of moods, tempos, emotions, landscapes, whereas here, everything is in slow motion, gently. An album where silence has its place”, and on which she plays for the first time this intriguing harmonium which was lying around at the back of Studio PM. “It wasn’t in my plans to play it, but I really have the soul of an improviser. The two pieces on the album are improvised — I loved this enveloping sound so much! »
Part of the mystery, of the spirit of the solo album percolated in Dédé Java Espiritu, the duet album with Hollenbeck, presented in concert last summer during the Montreal International Jazz Festival. The conversation between the pianist and the percussionist (who displays an impressive range of nuances and sounds) still relies heavily on improvisation, based on themes composed by Trudel: “John and I arrive on stage, we don’t speak to each other. not – he is a man of few words -, and there it goes, watch out ! And we don’t say anything to each other, it’s magical, and that’s what happened in the studio. And yes, there is something deep and spiritual in this album. »
When Rémi-Jean Leblanc joins, Trudel’s triptych finds more traditional jazz forms, enhanced by the flowing playing of the bassist and the shimmering melodic phrases of the composer, which recall her training as a classical musician. The album was composed in Gaspésie, and in memory of sound engineer Rob Heaney, from Studio PM, a close collaborator of Trudel on his previous albums. It was he who motivated her to start writing new pieces again, in the heart of the pandemic. “His sudden death — the day before, I held him in my arms! — shook me. I wrote nine pieces in nine days, in his memory. I called this The joy of the ephemeral because when you lose someone like that, so abruptly, it reminds you of the fragility of life and how lucky we are to be alive. We forget that every day could be our last. »
Carla Bley seen by Marianne Trudel