Home » Jazz Articles » Live Review » Aleatoric and Imperial Quartet in Helsinki

2

Aleatoric and Imperial Quartet in Helsinki

By

View read count
Aleatoric and Imperial Quartet
Kanneltalo
Helsinki, Finland
March 12, 2015

For anyone who has come to jazz, as I, via the cross-national recombinations that pop up regularly throughout the European continent this combined gathering of Finnish, French and Belgian musicians on the same bill in Helsinki was nothing less than a glorious rout. Thanks to the mix of benefactors, involving both foreign embassies and the Finnish Jazz Federation, the bill featured two very different groups but both sharing similar breadth of multi-national ingredients and inspirations.

Aki Rissanen is a Finnish pianist whose compositions have been recorded on 8 albums released over the last 10 years mainly across European labels. His writing is generally measured and rather contemplative, and his associates play in a more cerebral than cathartic style. In his trio Aleatoric, Rissanen is joined by Belgian saxophonist Robin Verheyen, a deft and less demonstrative musician who neatly matches the leader's original and incisive playing. True to style, on this evening percussionist Markku Ounaskari mostly was using brushes or double toms supporting Rissanen's and Verheyen's leads and rarely showed any signs of breaking a sweat. This was the just what the two lead instruments needed by way of modest but varied rhythm.

By contrast the Imperial Quartet is a multi-headed beast, fronted by two raging saxophonists Damien Sabatier on baritone, alto and sopranino, and Gérald Chevillon with bass, tenor and soprano. Both men share themselves between their saxophones which they handle with near total disregard for respectful soloist roles, playing across and around each others' leads and lines. However behind the frenetic fervour that these two frontmen generate, maybe the most definitive feature of the band is the machination that takes place along the fretboard of bassist Joachim Florent. Playing a shortened, solid-bodied Rickenbacker and an array of effects Florent strummed and tickled his instrument, establishing the electronic structure that creates the terrain for the two frontmen to run amok across the gamut of their six saxophones.

At times the soloists might be involved a tasteful harmonic duo, but more typically these two veterans of the French avant-garde are engaged in a disturbing heretical duel. These took place stage front, left and right, but also around the outer edges of the playing area as they promenaded with their instruments behind the drumkit of Antonin Leymarie. Although Chevillon added contrapuntal rhythm with an additional set of drumsticks either on the body of his instrument or any other handy percussive artifacts, Leymarie was key to maintaining the driving edge of this quartet, and affirming their collective identity as truly balanced four-headed beast. Their music is a heady blend of classical and cutting edge styles (intimated influences ranging from Radiohead or King Crimson to Stravinsky and Soft Machine), a real potpourri of inspired Gallic musical creativity.

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Aki Rissanen Concerts


Support All About 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 make 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.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves 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.

Near

More

Jazz article: Bark Culture At Solar Myth
Jazz article: Hingetown Jazz Festival 2025
Jazz article: Hayley Kavanagh Quartet At Scott's Jazz Club

Popular

Read Take Five with Pianist Irving Flores
Read Jazz em Agosto 2025
Read Bob Schlesinger at Dazzle
Read SFJAZZ Spring Concerts
Read Sunday Best: A Netflix Documentary
Read Vivian Buczek at Ladies' Jazz Festival

Get more of a good thing!

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

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.