Presse Internationale -- USA


November/December 1993

N° 53


Reviews

Nelly Pouget

" Le Dire "

Pouget is a French saxophonist who is very enamored of John Goltrane, and it shows - especially in her soprano playing. Her quartet's sound takes a lot of its surface gloss from his classic quartet with Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner but it has a looser, more European edge as well. This music floats instead of pounds. Pouget's burrowing tenor and soprano saxes are intense but they spin in a weightless environment instead of being lashed to a heavy beat. The same goes for Sigfried Kessler's delicate piano, Tony Overwater's firm bass and the restless pulse of free jazz drum legend Sunny Murray. Most of the pieces dart around with the barest of overt connections between the players. "Expansion" is a lovely exception, a pretty soprano ballad with Oriental overtones that winds up reminiscent of Bartok. Other than that, this is '60s free jazz with a little less frenzy: fierce and intriguing but somehow calm. (Minuit Regards, 56 rue de Ia Sabliere, 75014 Paris, France)

Jerome Wilson