“Brilliant alto saxophone playing…”

Today’s review of our new album GLOW with Michel, Diego, Pablo in salt-peanuts.eu is by an exciting alto saxophonist who in a quartet that makes exciting music.

Swedish review here :

FRANÇOIS CARRIER «Glow» [FMR]

Glow Album Cover

Translation from Swedish to English here :

The alto saxophonist François Carrier is an original and exciting musician.  He has a relatively impressive CV where he has appeared on more than 35 internationally acclaimed albums with legendary musicians such as Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, Bobo Stenson, Tomasz Stanko, Uri Caine, Jason Moran, Dewey Redman, Mat Maneri, John Edwards, Steve Beresford  and more.

On his latest recording, we meet him in relatively free interaction with drummer Michel Lambert and guitarists Diego Calcedo and Pablo Schvarzman, who also treats electronics.

We get five free “stretches” that are done together, and everything is recorded live in Soda Acoustic in Barcelona on June 5, 2019.

I feel that Carrier has heard a lot from a colleague like Anthony Braxtoon when he has found his way to play.  Perhaps he has also studied Braxton’s musical theories, such as his “Tri-centric Music”, “Tri-centric Thought Unit” or “Tri-centric Modeling”.  for there is a lot here that could have gone straight into a concert or record recording with Braxton.

And Carrier is the main character at this concert.  The other musicians mostly contribute to supporting Carrier in nhans free play, which is exciting and interesting all the way.

Drummer Michel Lambert has long been Carrier’s most faithful partner.  Together they have done several tours in Europe, Asia and Canada.  Carrier’s six-month stays in Rome in 2002 and in London in 2011 allowed him to develop his research work as a composer, and he also formed ties with several musicians in the two cities.

In 2005 he was discovered by the British record company Leo Records with which he released five albums.  Several European avant-garde music companies then joined the “party”, such as Creative Sources (Portugal), Ayler Records (Sweden-France), FMR Records (England) and Not Two Records (Poland).  His latest albums “Elements” and “WIDE” on FMR Records, and “NIRGUNA” on the Polish brand Fundacja Słuchaj have been the subject of good reviews.

And it’s a self-confident musician we hear here.  And even though he is the undisputed leader of the quartet, I think the two guitarists add a lot of excitement in the background, but often they are a little too much in the background, for my taste.  The same goes for Lambert’s drumming.  It is mixed too far back in the soundscape for us to get some good insight into what he serves of energetic drumming behind.

But even though it is Carrier who characterizes the recording, he serves brilliant alto saxophone playing, which oozes creativity and confidence.  Then we just have to sharpen our aging ears, and try to catch up with what is happening behind him.  But overall, it is an exciting record, which will probably be picked out in the occasional “blindfold”, then we will see how many people guess that it is Anthny Braxton…

François Carrier (as), Michel Lambert (dr), Diego Calcedo (g), Pablo Schvarzman (g, elec)

December 2, 2021 by Jan Granlie