LOUIS SCLAVIS

LOUIS SCLAVIS
NAPOLI'S WALLS (2003)
320 KBPS

Often it takes a strange combination of circumstances to produce great jazz. This is one of those instances. Louis Sclavis has labored in the jazz trenches for a couple of decades. Along the way, he has been an integral part of some pretty remarkable jazz. One thinks, for example, of the noteworthy disc Green Dolphy Suite, including such luminaries as Marc Dresser, Ernst Reijseger, and Mark Feldman. Or the two great Label Bleu discs, Carnet de Routes and Suite Africaine, with Aldo Romano and Henri Texier. His discs as leader have often not been as successful.
All that changes here. Sclavis, in complete command, composing, leading, playing bass clarinet, soprano sax, and bari sax, as well as his main ax, clarinet, has, along with bandmates Vincent Courtois (cello), Mederic Collignon (pocket trumpet, voices, horn, percussion, and electronics), and Hasse Poulsen (guitar), produced an absolutely astounding disc, perhaps the first great jazz recording (if it can even be confined to that label) of the 21st century.
This is a very ambitious record, conceptualized in and operating out of a huge variety of musical contexts--everything from chamber jazz to cabaret to neo-swing to free to North African to minimalist to a-referential freak-out (although in generally a pleasant, not scary, way).
The players are among Europe's finest. Sclavis has long been regarded as a player with huge chops and a unique concept. And though he has struggled to find the absolutely ideal context for his musical gifts, he has finally found it with this band. He plays with deep authority and uncommon facility on his four horns, carving out a voice unique and powerful on each one.
For anyone who's been paying even slight attention to European jazz, the name Vincent Courtois should be entirely familiar. He has graced numerous sessions, making a huge contribution, for instance, to the altogether remarkable disc In Touch by Yves Robert. Europe seems blessed with an abundance of exceptional jazz cellists (e.g., Ernst Reijseger and Tristan Honsegger), and Courtois is among the very best. It is astounding the variety of sounds he gets from his instrument, as well as his ability to move effortlessly from classical voicings to chamber jazz to bop, post-bop, and neo-swing.
Hasse Poulsen on guitar, a name new to me, adds some real magic to this session. His concept is practically unique; the only other guitarists he sounds remotely like are James Emery and Bern Nix, whom he likely has not heard. Mainly playing acoustic (although he pulls off some wild electric sounds on "Guetteur d'inapercu), he's almost a wild card here, balancing the more out cuts with his earthy/edgy single-line offerings, digging deep to ground the proceedings in a down-to-earth sensibility no matter how far afield they venture.
The ringer here is multi-instrumentalist Mederic Collignon, again someone completely new to me. He adds unexpected coloration--always perfectly apposite, I might add--be it pocket trumpet, voice, horn, percussion, or electronics. His wordless singing is among the most incredible ever put to disc, eclipsing even that here-to-fore champ, Arto Tuncboyacian.
That Sclavis can make such rowdily incongruent elements jell is just this side of impossible. But he does, with absolute ease, consummate musicianship, and almost scary frisson.
One exceptional thing about this disc is that I find few if any referents or precedents. It's practically sui generis, one of a kind. It's almost as if Louis and the boys sat down and somehow came up with an unlikely and altogether unique concept, wildly mixing disparate styles and forging something entirely new--absolutely listenable and utterly compelling.
Indeed, this may be--tellingly--at once one of the most beautiful and most outrageous jazz discs ever recorded. Aurally stunning, trenchantly intelligent, bursting with creativity. What more do you want?

1. Colleur De Nuit
2. Napoli's Walls
3. Mercè
4. Kennedy In Napoli
5. Divinazione Moderna, Part I
6. Divinazione Moderna, Part II
7. Guetteur D'Inapercu
8. Les Apparences
9. Porta Segreta
10. Il Disegno Smangiato D'Un Uomo