Emler Tchamitchian Echampard
"Say Yes To Andy !"
An almost packed New Morning in the middle of the week is no mean feat, yet Andy Emler has accomplished this rare achievement. From the opening bars of the trio's set, it is obvious that sound, energy and interplay are the foundations of Emler, Echampard and Tchamitchian's collective music-making. Incantatory melodies and repetitive sequences emerge from a perpetually shifting magma of sound, building up to a climax before shifting to a more meditative mood. At one point Ducret, throws in a solo of savage virtuosity, his guitar a wildcat that Emler pacifies, showing him the exact place where it can enlarge the existing triangle without bridling its untamed liveliness.
Repetition and incantation are also to be found in the MegaOctet, whose sonic paste, while obviously granted extra sheer power, is of similar density. The shimmering tones of the winds are never used merely as a strike force; instead, Sellam, Dehors, Thuillier, Verly, de Pourquery... reveal, in their rare but pertinent solos, the jewels with which they enrich the collective. Without exhibitionism or overstatement - they too lead their own groups - but certainly with humour (as when Collignon, in both gestures and voice, mimes Ducret's guitar) and a taste for performing that Emler, his piano bubbling with percussive and melodic sap, encourages through titles like "Red Rondo A L'Arménienne". By the evening's end, the New Morning is still ringing with the audience's cheers and the generous music of a concert that can leave no listener unscathed.
Thierry Quénum in Jazz magazine – november 2006
Tranlastion by Aymeric Leroy.