At the Parfum de jazz festival, Christophe Dal Sasso’s big band celebrates “Africa/Brass”, a “Himalaya” by John Coltrane

The initiative comes from a group of friends who love jazz and popular education. Perfume of jazz, festival in Drôme Provençale… Dominant female on the program. Time passes. Alain Brunet, senior civil servant and quality trumpeter, still has an army of dedicated volunteers in a festive atmosphere in the village. Things are not that simple. Institutions would perhaps prefer a large, identifiable, fixed festival, like the others. The region does not necessarily have a passion for the saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-1967), and patronage follows the train of purchasing power.

All this to say that when, Wednesday, August 24, in Pierrelatte (Drôme), Christophe Dal Sasso’s big band attacks, at the first reminder, Song of The Underground Railroad, by John Coltrane, we are embarked on a funny thing. Famous Dal Sasso Africa/Brass, a Coltrane album which, in 1961, had the effect of a bomb. We know of it only three pieces, recorded by the wizard Rudy Van Gelder. The full session will be published later: 89 minutes of music as insane as it is mastered. Christophe Dal Sasso faces the “Himalayas” in big band. He recorded John Coltrane’s Africa/Brass Revisited.

Gathering a troupe of fourteen musicians with their lives, their groups and their ambitions, is a feat

Dal Sasso’s career pleads for him, his prices, his creations, his tenacity: from there to keeping a troupe of fourteen musicians alive, to inventing the time for rehearsals, to financing them, to juggle, there is a hell of a margin . They have their lives, their trajectories, their groups, their ambitions. Bringing them together is a feat. Christophe Dal Sasso, flautist on stage, is the author of the arrangements, he directs, he convinces. He doesn’t take Africa/Brass for conservatory literature. Not only because it’s impossible, but he claims – and has proven it – to breathe an open mind into his brass: Julien Alour (trumpet), Nicolas Folmer (trumpet), luxury replacement for Pierrelatte, Jerry Edwards and Daniel Zimmermann (trombone).

Ideal rhythm: Manuel Marchès (double bass), Karl Jannuska (drums) and Andy Bérald-Catelo (gwo ka). Saxophone section: Jean-Philippe Scali, another choice substitute on baritone and clarinet (Thomas Savy unavailable), plus the soloists: David El-Malek (tenor), Géraldine Laurent (alto), Sophie Alour (tenor). The bond of the whole, this boy of a formidable as much as discrete effectiveness, the pianist with the airs of cheeky clergyman, Pierre de Bethmann. Christophe Dal Sasso provides the impetus.

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