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Alain Bedard Auguste Quartet: Particules Sonores

By Dan McClenaghan
December 9, 2024
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Alain Bedard Auguste Quartet: Particules Sonores

The experience of bassist Alain Bedard's Partcules Sonores begins—for those who read liner notes—with a rumination on "sound waves that interact with every particle of matter they encounter. The energy created is transported and diffused, becoming sound particles."

Hm. A bit cerebral for some tastes, perhaps. But then jazz guys are known to go deep in describing their music.

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman, anyone?

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor? And in all of these cases—Coleman, Taylor and Bedard—it is the music that counts. The words are just sideshow, sometimes entertaining, often confusing and/or beyond a humble listener's reach, and sometimes they are just plain weird. (And this might be said of some reviews, too).

Particules Sonores, from Montreal-bred bassist Alain Bedard and his August Quartet, is a first modern jazz effort, one part early '60's Blue Note Records

Wayne Shorter

saxophone
1933 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Shorter and two parts twenty-first-century exploratory sounds.

With a two-decade history of playing together, the band has shaped a distinctive art, featuring compositions the leader along with two from his bandmates, pianist

Marie-Fatima Rudolf

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Marie-Fatima Rudolf and drummer

Michel Lambert

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Michel Lambert. Reedist

Mario Allard

saxophone, soprano

" data-original-title="" title="">Mario Allard plays soprano sax with some grit, like

Sidney Bechet

saxophone, soprano
1897 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Sidney Bechet, and sometimes with a sweet tang, like

Branford Marsalis

saxophone
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Branford Marsalis.

The set opens with the leader's "Compte-Rendu," described as evolving from "A series of events and research into the use and majesty of a rotating, modular melodic system." It is a circuitous tune, with a terrific piano solo from Rudolf and a winding road soprano sax solo from Allard, with the leader's bass taking a nicely comped (by the piano) solo of his own.

"Profumo Chaneleone" celebrates Chanel perfume (so we have sound particles and olfactory experiences playing a part here); and Rudolff's "Terrain Neutre" offers a segment of relaxation and introspection to the proceedings, and "Bamboozled" from drummer's Lambert's pen in a piano-less trio, with saxman Allard grumbling around a snappy rhythm on his baritone saxophone.

The band sounds as if it has been together for twenty years—oh, right; they have been—and they make off-kilter music (for those looking for cookie- cutter stuff, this is not it) that is compelling and enjoyable from start to finish.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Compete-Rendu III; Profumo Chaneleone; Terrain Neutre; A Goose Story; Bamboozled; Il Cappello de mia Sorella; Celestes; Mel & Less; Rescape des Temps; Bis du Gras Mollet.

Personnel

Alain Bédard

bass, acoustic

Marie-Fatima Rudolf

piano

Mario Allard

saxophone, soprano

Michel Lambert

drums

Album information

Title: Particules Sonores | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Effendi Records

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