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Vincent Peirani: Magnetic Dancing on the Cliff

By Daniel Mège
February 8, 2026
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There exists a mystery to melody. For example, "Left Alone," composed on a cross-country flight by Mal Waldron and Billie Holiday. In a few hours, the melody and the chords were established, an absolute compositional masterpiece, full stop. So much beauty served by implacable writing rigor: giants achieve it. Vincent Peirani achieves it. "Physical Attraction," released on Living Being IV (Time Reflections), ACT Music, 2025), consists of a few notes composed by Peirani and rendered by Emile Parisien, another giant. Five, six, seven notes. Sometimes three. It is a telegraphic story of small acrobatic dots advancing along the cliff at sunrise, charming one another as they dance joyfully, catching the wind and periodically stopping to watch the birds pass by, or seeking the flight of Waldron and Holiday in the sky. Transcribed, it reveals harmonic subtlety in iron discipline, and—damn! It works! Over a dub arrangement, Peirani, Julien Herné, Tony Paeleman, and Yoann Serra sculpt a wickedly tenacious groove.

Contact Daniel Mège on All About Jazz.
Almost became a jazz musician, inadvertently ended up as a planetary scientist.

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