Artist: Michel Fernandez Quintet
Title: Live au Hot Club de Lyon
Format: CD, Digital
Labels: Atypeek Music/ Hot Club de Lyon
Distribution: The Orchard (digital)/ Socadisc (CD)
Genre: Experimental Jazz
Release Date: 18/04/2025 (EU)
Michel Fernandez, a nomadic saxophonist and composer, delivers vibrant music that awakens both body and mind. Between enchanting grooves and intoxicating trances, he draws from the roots of jazz to revive the connection with the earth and the soul of the sublime. From the embers of free jazz, which he helped shape, to the blues he has explored, through the influences of Caribbean, African, and Brazilian cultures, Michel Fernandez releases a primordial energy in every breath, with the desire to share these intense musical worlds. A key figure in jazz for over 50 years, he finds in the Magnetic Orchestra, with François Gallix on double bass, Nicolas Serret on drums, Benoît Thévenot on piano, and Julien Chignier, the latest member of the group, the perfect synergy. Together, they form an explosive quintet where the saxophones rise and intertwine in transcendental harmony, blending rhythmic power with harmonic depth. This all comes to life in their latest album Live at the Hot Club de Lyon.
Michel Fernandez, the Lyon-based saxophonist and composer, presents his new album Live at the Hot Club de Lyon, recorded by Ludwig Laisné, the club’s president. This album marks his evolution towards a quintet with two saxophonists, a direction initiated on his previous album Global Warning (2022). Alongside Benoît Thévenot (piano), François Gallix (double bass), and Nicolas Serret (drums), Julien Chignier (alto and baritone saxophone) completes the group, with Michel Fernandez on soprano and tenor saxophones.
The setlist includes standout tracks from recent albums as well as new compositions. Among them, La forêt de Bougarabou (a traditional song from Casamance), reinterpreted with Chignier’s saxophones, and Archie, a composition by Gallix, featuring the saxophones in the spirit of Archie Shepp. The title track Global Warning, with its powerful saxophones and bright piano, delivers a message of hope.
Drummer Nicolas Serret offers Chromatisme crânien, a dynamic composition, while Diminutions (Fernandez) highlights the interplay between the saxophones. For Ludwig L. is a tenor saxophone solo dedicated to the director of the Hot Club de Lyon. Founded in 1948, the Hot Club de Lyon is the oldest active jazz club in Europe. Xongly (Pierre Dorge), becomes a central piece in this concert, with powerful saxophones and brilliant piano. The final track, High Life (originally from the 2019 album Mélanges de Rages), closes the album with an upbeat calypso.
This album, with its excellent sound quality and ambitious compositions, confirms Michel Fernandez‘s success in transitioning to the quintet format, offering an unmissable musical experience.
Tracklist
1. La forêt de Bougarabou (Live)
2. Archie (Live)
3. Global Warning (Live)
4. Chromatisme crânien (Live)
5. Diminutions (Live)
6. For Ludwig L. (Live)
7. Xongly (Live)
8. High Life (Live)
Links
Streaming: https://orcd.co/gqbmex1
Official: https://michel-fernandez.com
Bandcamp: https://michelfernandez.bandcamp.com
Label: https://atypeekmusic.com
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