Julien Lourau - Crianças (Tribute to Wayne Shorter) '2023

Tracks list

“A piece of music never truly comes to an end. Revisiting a theme
illustrates this idea that life goes on.” These are the words of Wayne
Shorter, uttered in 2018 upon the release of Emanon, his final opus. On this
record, the octogenarian uses dusky hues to shade in the passions of his youth -
drawing and science-fiction, as well as the causes he has defended all his life
- the fight against ecological upheaval and structural racism. This sentiment
did not fail to resonate with Julien Lourau, who has reached a stage in life
where he has begun to look back over certain pages written by the man he has
always considered one of the masters of his trade. Five years later, this
Parisian native has also chosen to revisit his glory days, offering reworked
versions of specific tracks composed by his titular elder throughout the 80s.
“When I play this music, I find myself back in my teenage bedroom. These
are my standards, and they remind me of autumn in Rambouillet.” At that
time, after practising his scales, Julien would also play Dungeons & dragons,
and immerse himself in SF as well as heroic fantasy - epic influences which are
not without a certain connection to the dreamworlds Shorter conjured up, as
another fan of landscapes beyond the grasp of reality.
This album features four themes taken from Atlantis, which came out in 1985, and
two from Joy Ryder, released three years later. To these, he has added a
composition penned at around the same time for Sportin’ Life, the
penultimate LP by Weather Report. This is rounded off by a tune taken
from Native Dancer, the record which, ten years earlier, in 1975, brought
together this saxophonist who learnt his trade alongside Art Blakey, before
joining Miles’ second quintet, and Brazilian Milton Nascimento.
“Between Native Dancer and Atlantis, Shorter did not release anything
under his own name, but he took the time and care to really perfect his writing.
Upon his return, he injected a very Brazilian form of subtlety into his
compositions, especially rhythmically. And from a harmonic point of view, these
themes are extremely sophisticated, and reveal truly singular colours. In fact,
he decided to display the score as if it constituted the liner notes of
Atlantis.”
Julien Lourau is a fan of every Wayne Shorter era, from his Blue Note days,
where Mr Gone defined the bases of a truly unique repertoire, all the way to his
final quartet - a reference like no other. He decided to focus on this
“highly electric” period, which is not necessarily Shorter’s
best known, nor his most widely appreciated - despite being a unanimous
reference, Shorter has nonetheless never had a direct descendent. In
Lourau’s line of sight there lies a desire to focus on typically South
American tonic accents which characterise this repertoire, twinned with the
ambition to switch up their actual sound “by attempting to open up onto a
production highly influenced by eighties fusion". However, he admits that
modifying the structures of these most unique of worlds constituted a fresh
challenge. “There’s this labyrinthine harmonic system where
you’ve no idea how it holds together, but where it’s actually
impossible to touch the slightest element without the whole edifice wavering. It
is in fact a very difficult thing to achieve!”
In order to successfully transcribe all this creativity free of obstacles,
Julien Lourau once again called upon the help of Mathieu Debordes. From January
2023 onwards, Mathieu endeavoured to break down all the musical elements, on
paper, before creating any actual music. The record was therefore constructed on
the faith of these scores, without necessarily transiting through a creative
residency - just two live gigs, to make sure the setup worked. Besides Mathieu
Debordes and his synthesisers, Julien Lourau has assembled an ad hoc team by his
side. On the bass, according to the track, we can hear erstwhile companion
Sylvain Daniel or a new acolyte on the fretless bass, Joan Eche Puig.

Stéphane Edouard, on percussion, even dives headfirst into an unlikely
proto-rap of sorts, on Pearl On The Half Shell (where, on the original version,
Bobby McFerrin adjusted his interventions in a rather madcap style). Aesthete
and drummer Jim Hart as well as pianist Leo Jassef also figure on this release -
both were present on the previous project devoted to label CTI. “At
sixteen, I wanted to sound like Michael Brecker rather than Ben Webster - that
was equated with modernity in those days”, adds Julien with a smile, as
for him, all this rings out a little like a logical next step, a joyful
immersion into the fountain of youth. And if, for this record, he plays the
soprano more than ever, the saxophone Shorter set in his sights on, he never
tries to replicate an unattainable ideal note by note. What would be the point?
“Wayne Shorter is not just a saxophonist’s saxophonist. In fact, I
don’t know a single person who has risen to challenge of his solos. I
have not done it myself either, but on the other hand, I have retained a lot of
his phraseology. His way of approaching the instrument reveals a more evanescent
language, a work on colour and shape. Keeping this in mind has allowed me to
gravitate towards certain elements, that in hindsight, I find echoes of in my
work, even in Groove Gang.” Shorter etches out these phrases, creating a
groove within which Lourau had traced subtle punctuation, managing, from a
highly written base, to create fresh apertures, promises of a great escape.
Emblematic of this standpoint, his regal version of Ponte de Areia, originally a
wonderful dialogue between Milton Nascimento and Wayne Shorter. Here, the
Frenchman takes liberties with the original melodies, without ever growing
distant from the original spirit, extending one section with delicacy, offering
a rubato development and then a groove “like a little suite”. Julien
Lourau also renews with an accomplice from last century, Magic Malik, who lends
his high-pitched vocals to the track. Though they had not recorded together for
more than twenty years, the two of them got on as if they had only ceased
collaborating yesterday, everything flowed naturally. The track was wrapped up
in just one take, much like other themes, such as opener Who Goes There where
the flautist deploys smooth, enchanted and smoky wisps.

Fundamentally, reflecting of the sleeve which features a child playing with a
ball, an image that could symbolise the sun just as much as the moon, Julien
Lourau manages to translate the ambiguous candour which characterizes
Shorter’s work - solar and crepuscular at the same time, that of a
visionary and poet definitively situated outside of all chronology, but with
whom Julien shares surprising and ‘timely’ coincidences. Shorter
was born August 25, 1933, the same day as Julien’s father, “if we
take time zones into account”, and who died on Lourau’s birthday,
March 2, 2023. Should we take this as a random fact? Or could we not see here
the sign of a destiny connecting the agnostic Frenchman to the man who, as a
fervent Buddhist, believed in the transmission of his spiritual flow? 

Julien Lourau : Selmer tenor & soprano saxophones
Mathieu Debordes : piano, Fender Rhodes, keyboards
Léo Jassef : piano and Fender Rhodes
Sylvain Daniel : electric bass 5/7/8
Joan Eche-Puig : acoustic and electric bass on 1/2/3/4/6
Jim Hart : drums
Stéphane Edouard : percussion

Magic Malik : special guest on flute and vocals

Tracklist:
1.01 - Julien Lourau - Who Goes There (6:16)
1.02 - Julien Lourau - Pearl on the half-shell (4:18)
1.03 - Julien Lourau - Crianças (5:23)
1.04 - Julien Lourau - Ponta de Areia (8:08)
1.05 - Julien Lourau - on the eve of departure (7:12)
1.06 - Julien Lourau - The three Marias (6:48)
1.07 - Julien Lourau - Over shadow hill way (8:37)
1.08 - Julien Lourau - someplace called 'where' (5:30)
1.09 - Julien Lourau - Ponta de Areia (Edit) (2:37)

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