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Jazz Articles about Christophe Wallemme

About Christophe Wallemme

Album Review

Christophe Wallemme: Start "So Many Ways..."

Read "Start "So Many Ways..."" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
December 7, 2008

Christophe Wallemme describes this effort as a “wink at the great standards of American jazz," a laudable objective but an affirmation that seems intended to confuse the listener. The explicit musical references on Start “So Many Ways..." point instead to Antonio Carlos Jobim and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew rather than “Body and Soul" or “My Funny Valentine." No matter.

Wallemme's previous record, the fine Namaste (Bee Jazz, 2006), drew upon the bassist's years in India to ...

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Album Review

Christophe Wallemme: Namaste

Read "Namaste" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
January 31, 2007

The achievement of Namaste--and it is a genuine achievement--is also the achievement of Miles Davis's In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969): namely, providing room to breathe in a crowded room of musicians--soloists all, not a big band. (On Miles's subsequent Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969), in contrast, a crowded room of musicians was happy to sound like a hot and tumultuous marketplace.) Despite the carefully-crafted compositions and arrangements, it's that sumptuous but spacious sound fabric that is most remarkable about this ...