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January 2009
gig reviews

The Teak Project
The Descendants
Elliott Henshaw Band
Benet McLean
Partisans
LJO Vortex Sessions
Ntshuks Bonga's Qwati
Joe Stilgoe
Stewart Curtis Klezmer     Fusion Ensemble
Christine Tobin
Julian Argüelles Trio
Marc Ducret
Buffalo Collision

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January 2009 gig reviews by Chris Parker

Marc Ducret

Wednesday 28 January 2009

On the face of it, 'a synthesis of Derek Bailey and Jimi Hendrix' sounds unlikely, even downright oxymoronic, yet when French guitarist Marc Ducret took the stage with his trio (bassist Bruno Chevillon, drummer Eric Echampard) and began his set with a series of abstract pluckings and scrabbling runs, and then settled into sculpting an extraordinary range of electronically produced guitar sounds into more coherent patterns, the programme's description made a great deal more sense.

Then when the rhythm section joined him in a series of breathtaking joint hurtles punctuated by passages of quiet musing or even the odd convoluted snatch of melody (triggered by a perfunctory silent signal from Ducret, instantly taken in by his hair-trigger-sensitive partners), it often seemed like the perfect shorthand description of a unique and wholly original approach to the guitar trio.

'Sound sculpture' is perhaps an overused tag, lazily applied to any music that is texturally varied, but in Ducret's case, given his predeliction for moulding the myriad sounds his guitar produces by shaking them loose from it, or apparently coaxing them forth by slowly twisting it in his hands, it – like the Bailey/Hendrix label – seems entirely appropriate.

With the intense and powerfully propulsive Chevillon and the precise yet vigorously rumbustious Echampard fuelling the band blaze perfectly, and Ducret producing an astonishing (another overused adjective entirely applicable in this case) variety of guitar sounds, from eccentric blistering runs to swoons, chokes and little clusters of quietly noodled notes, this was an impressive trio performance – but you don't have to take my word for it; it is to be broadcast in February on Jazz on 3.

 

 

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