Gaume Jazz Festival : Impérial Quartet

The energy of a high-flying brass band and music open to the four winds!

Joachim Florent, double bass / Gérald Chevillon, tenor saxophone / Damien Sabatier, alto & sopranino saxophones / Antonin Leymarie, drums

Four extraordinary musicians on an impossible journey to the musical depths of Louisiana, blending the essences of African-American and Cajun music, the incredible legacy of the Black Indians, and more.

The Project

From an impossible journey to the musical depths of Louisiana, the Imperial Quartet returns with its renewed expertise in soundtracks. This luminous fourth opus is entitled "All Indians?" and it further delves into the already sprawling groove of this extraordinary quartet. Implicitly, this quadrature of the stage raises the question of the creolization of identities. Starting from this mythical land in the Great South of the United States... to offer it to the universal, with ears open to the four winds!

Opening with a "Procession" that pays vibrant homage to the many parades and processions of New Orleans, from Jazz Funerals to the vital celebrations of the Second Lines, the movement continues with back-and-forths into popular music. The blended essences of African-American and Cajun music, the incredible legacy of the Black Indians... One would wish that such an intense, rich, and virtuoso creolization could fit within the immense label of jazz, but that would surely be reductive.

It took four azimuth musicians to withstand the cultural shock. Antonin Leymarie seems to contain within his drums all the rhythmic power and nuances of the African-American musical melting pot. Joachim Florent continues to explore the subtleties of his double bass to perfect a complex architecture... but one that's incredibly welcoming for the brass pair Damien Sabatier and Gérald Chevillon, a symbiotic core that carries the energy of a high-flying brass band.

Four extraordinary musicians embark on an impossible journey to the musical depths of Louisiana, blending the essences of African-American and Cajun music, the incredible legacy of the Black Indians, and offering it to ears open to the four winds!

With the support of AJC & Jazz Migration