Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Erik Truffaz: The Mask

189

Erik Truffaz: The Mask

By

Sign in to view read count
Erik Truffaz: The Mask
Erik Truffaz's sweet, open trumpet tone reveals the influence of a 1970s Miles Davis. The Fender Rhodes with echo serves to drive that message home. Most of the compilation employs acoustic bass and a tasteful drummer in the mainstream jazz tradition. However, it's the French trumpeter's intimacy with Davis' fusion periods that takes center stage. From the small town of Gex, ten miles from the French/Swiss border, Truffaz got his early training working with his father's dance band. His formal training came later at the Geneva Conservatoire where the trumpeter studied composition, theory and technique.

Each track is an original, composed by the quartet. Truffaz wrote "Betty," a light, lyrical waltz with open trumpet, acoustic piano and acoustic bass. A vocal-like trumpet message becomes soaked in the piano's overlapping harmony. The title track - a modal, fusion number - combines rock drumming with electric bass and Fender Rhodes around Truffaz's meandering trumpet melody. "Less" and "More" follow in the same tradition, with one employing minimalist traits, while the other adds more electronic echo and a tightly muted Harmon sound. While "No Choice" takes an acoustic piano approach with upright bass and open trumpet, the comfortable quartet style weaves modern mainstream drama around a bright, uplifting harmony. Elsewhere, an electronic trumpet device with echo, and a forward-leaning quartet recall the later fusion experiments of Miles. Although Erik Truffaz treads step-for-step too close to the shadow of Miles Davis, his quartet captures the essence of a searching ensemble that is looking in all the right directions.

Track Listing

Sweet Mercy; Arroyo; More; Less; No Choice; The Mask; The Dawn; Betty; Bending New Corners; Minaret; And.

Personnel

Erik Truffaz
trumpet

Erik Truffaz: trumpet; Patrick Muller: piano, Fender Rhodes; Marcello Giuliani: bass; Marc Erbetta: drums, percussion.

Album information

Title: The Mask | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Blue Note Records

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris
Sensual
Rachel Z
Over and Over
Tony Monaco Trio

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.