Rue De Seine

We Say...

Review by Charles Farrell

Two of jazz’s most original and challenging practitioners, Paris-based pianist Martial Solal and American trumpet player Dave Douglas present an object lesson in the art of cooperative interplay on the remarkable Rue de Seine. That two such strong personalities can find such an abundance of arable common soil is a tribute to the ingenuity and flexibility of both performers. The album is bursting with emotion, technical wizardry and historic reference, but its primary characteristic is the highly evolved musical intelligence of both men. It takes substantial concentration to play at this level of excellence without sacrificing immediacy and warmth. The contrast between the foursquare, optimistic improvisation of Douglas and the oblique, harmonically protean approach taken by Solal is very effectively balanced. These fundamental stylistic differences allow a couple of particularly interesting things to occur. Solal, a naturally flamboyant pianist, noticeably reins himself in, working largely in service to the trumpet solos. Douglas, given an open field as a result, is able to roam very freely, playing fragments of lines, borrowing from any part of jazz’s library (he’s one of the music’s most astute quoters), but always maintaining great focus. I was particularly struck that the duo could breathe new life into “Body and Soul” and “All the Things You Are,” two pieces so overplayed as to be almost meaningless as vehicles for contemporary improvisation. Check them out, though: Solal and Douglas transform them. There is also an elegiac “Blues to Steve Lacy” that is moving without ever succumbing to musical melodrama. Steve (who wrote more than his share of dedication compositions) would have approved. I think he would have liked the rest of the album too.