Jazz Articles about Emile Parisien

About Emile Parisien

Album Review

French soprano saxophonist Emile Parisien is a leading light in French and European jazz. Equally at home in contemporary chamber jazz, free improvisation and more traditional settings, he has developed a distinctive musical language shaped by a wide range of collaborators and influences. Floating is the first release from a quartet that emerged from the closing concert of Parisien's two-year residency at the Cité Internationale in Paris. Intended as a one-off performance, the rapport between the musicians was ...

Album Review

Hugo Carvalhais: Ascetica

Read "Ascetica" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 18, 2023

Venerable Portuguese bassist Hugo Carvalhais' “Ascetica" is a mesmerizing journey into the depths of progressive jazz, offering a soundscape which is vast and immersive, crafted with meticulous attention to detail. Carvalhais and his ensemble, create a polygonal musical environment through a blend of electronic manipulations, ambient soundscapes, springy synth riffs, and forceful sax soloing, often raising the temperature and broadening the scope. With blossoming jazz improvisations amid pulsating rock motifs, they occasionally generate fluctuating time signatures and slippery phrasings.

Album Review

Jan Lundgren: Into the Night

Read "Into the Night" reviewed by Phillip Woolever

by Phillip Woolever
April 11, 2022

This excellent album is part of a series of modern jazz projects with a twist, featuring live recordings by many of the German label ACT's top artists, in unique, uncategorized, and often first time formations. The album comes from a 2020 set at the Ystad Festival in Sweden, which homegrown pianist Jan Lundgren founded and has directed since 2010. This trio actually arose out of necessity after a musician in Lundgren's originally scheduled group, which included Lars Danielsson, ...

Album Review

Emile Parisien: Louise

Read "Louise" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
February 14, 2022

Sebbene da noi un po' ignorato, il sassofonista e compositore Emile Parisien è da tempo uno dei migliori rappresentanti della eccellente scuola francese, nonché tra i più interessanti interpreti internazionali del sax soprano. Noto per le sue collaborazioni con l'estroso fisarmonicista Vincent Peirani e con il pianista italiano residente a Parigi Roberto Negro, presente pure in questo lavoro, è anche un notevole band leader e lo dimostra qui in Louise (dedicato alla scultrice Louise Bourgeois), ove dirige un “classico" sestetto ...

Album Review

Roberto Negro: Papier Ciseau

Read "Papier Ciseau" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
June 7, 2021

Un album di Roberto Negro non è mai qualcosa di prevedile o facilmente etichettabile; ne avevamo preso atto un paio d'anni fa, ascoltando il suo piano solo, Kings and Bastards, torniamo a osservarlo in questa sua nuova opera nella quale anche stavolta mette insieme un lavoro originalissimo, mutevole e sorprendente. Lo fa allargando a quartetto il già collaudato trio Dadada—con cui aveva pubblicato (Saison 3—aggiungendo il basso elettrico di Valentin Ceccaldi agli storici collaboratori Emile Parisien al sax soprano e ...

Album Review

Wollny - Parisien - Lefebvre - Lillinger: XXXX

Read "XXXX" reviewed by Phillip Woolever

by Phillip Woolever
June 1, 2021

This unique group effort by a progressive team of virtuoso improvisers doesn't always hit the mark of inspired mastery, but the project certainly expands such possibilities. The album is culled from a four-night stand at Berlin's well-known A-Trane club which produced around eight hours of recorded material. The intriguing, unpredictable package presented here clocks in at around 45 minutes. The opening track “Somewhere Around Barstow" pops with multiple-sourced seeds which literally set a stage for the chaotic chops ...

Radio & Podcasts

Iro Haarla, Ulf Krokfors, Eric Dolphy and More

by Maurice Hogue
March 6, 2019

Some very important saxophonists are featured in this episode: Frenchman Emile Parisien is back with almost all of his original quartet, Gebhard Ullman shows why he's considered one of the best contemporary multi-reedists with his Basement Research band, Dave Rempis's new trio debuts The Early Bird Gets, and the great Eric Dolphy with previously-unissued music in an impressive package released by Resonance Records. For Valentine's Day, partners pianist Iro Haarla and bassist Ulf Krokfors send some love ...