Yves L: Quantique

The very first moments on the album capture the imagination as Yves Léveillé brings into play a conversation between limber notes and chunky chords. The latter reverberate densely against the spacey runs that precede them. Together they bring about a symbiotic relationship. This augurs well for the music that follows.

But no groove jumping here. “Pantomime,” that charming opener, builds little vignettes that carve themselves from the traipse of the piano. The pace is deliberate, the shading pastel and it is only when Richard Savoie comes in on the tenor that the tune acquires a bite. Yet, the whole progression has been smooth and when Léveillé carries it to a shuddering hard bop climax, it comes off as an interesting experience.

Another vantage point is “Escargot,” which moves at a pace that would make the creature wonder what the heck was happening. Well, mark that to Léveillé’s sense of fun, as the tune is given a jump start by Marc Lalonde and Ugo Di Vito. The horns sing a happy song, folkloric in motif, the tempo shifting gently and then it is the pianist, who carves a deep melodic imprint with Mathieu Bélanger sustaining the substance and extending the ideas beautifully. “Quantique” is the coalescence of all the transition points in Léveillé’s music. Savoie, Di Vito, Bélanger and Jocelyn Veilleux are the principals and they serve the cause with inspiration.

Léveillé knows how to write a melody, and there is an iridescent beauty in his creations. He fills them out through arrangements that capture the core through the use of ensemble lines, exchanges, counterpoint and evolving time signatures. One can only delight in the structure.

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