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Julien Lourau
Quartet Saigon
Naïve NJ620111
Saxophonist
Julien Lourau and pianist Laurent Coq have known each other for twenty years,
and their resultant rapport does much to explain the tightness and coherence
of the music on this album from the Saigon Quartet (named for the city in
which they played their first gig, and completed by bassist Thomas Bramerie
and drummer Otis Brown III).
The material (addressed by Lourau's robust soprano – his is not the pure keening sound of, say, Jan Garbarek, or the liquid rapture of Julian Argüelles, but a gruffer, urgent sound well adapted to the tunes' energy – and his powerful tenor) is all composed by either Coq or Lourau, save for the relatively straighforward closer, the affecting Bacharach/David classic 'A House is not a Home', perhaps included as a nod to one of Lourau's chief influences, Sonny Rollins (it appears on his live album The Cutting Edge).
Another important source of inspiration, however, is Wayne Shorter, and the great American's subtly shifting themes with their (superficially) elusive melodies have clearly left their mark on both composers here, and with the quartet all contributing to a fiercely interactive, hard-edged band sound, this is a fine, absorbing album that richly rewards repeated exposure.
