Paul Lay – Deep Rivers (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Paul Lay – Deep Rivers (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:06:47 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Jazz, Piano Jazz, Vocal Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Laborie Jazz

Paul Lay, a young French pianist, pays tribute to the music of American soldiers from the First World War: music that introduced jazz to France.

Jazz is the Africans who put the daoua in Western music and who regenerate it while it was in the process of becoming academic, notably by removing from its teaching the art of improvisation. The music which does not like being locked up then crosses the Atlantic and wakes up all jazz undressed by the grace of miserable slaves who were going to invent the greatest lesson of musical freedom.

Paul Lay, the pianist, Isabelle Sörling, the singer, Simon Tailleau the double bassist will give these compositions of the end of the 19th century, these airs of ragtime whistled by young soldiers all their essence, their spirituality, their depth, their lightness – there is all that in this music which connects the sky and the ground, Apollo and Dyonisos, God in the Gospel and the devil in the blues.

Deep Rivers was originally born on stage, during the celebrations of the centenary of the arrival of jazz in Europe in 1918. The project eventually became an album, which Paul Lay anchored in a vast and eclectic repertoire of music, starting at the end of the 19th century and running all the way until the 20th century. Ragtime, American Civil War, slaves & plantations, the roaring 20s, from Broadway to Tin Pan Alley, from Scott Joplin to Nina Simone, all these different names and time periods, all these different heritages all come together and intersect on this project, creating a magnificent whole thanks to the talent of the arrangement by the Southern French musician. With the voice of Isabel Sörling and Simon Tailleu on the double bass, Paul Lay resurrects these themes of the past to construct a distinctly contemporary narrative. Along with the piano, the double bass and vocals, he adds according to each track: drums from Donald Kontomanou, trombone from Bastien Ballaz, trumpet from Quentin Ghomari and alto saxophone from Benjamin Dousteyssier. Listening to Deep Rivers is like rifling through a thick, richly illustrated history book. Thick but not dusty, however. A truly original way of presenting music which only goes to confirm Paul Lay’s multifaceted talent. – Marc Zisman

Tracklist:

1. Paul Lay – Horizons (06:38)
2. Paul Lay – Southern Soldier Boy (02:33)
3. Paul Lay – Rebel Soldier (05:44)
4. Paul Lay – Follow the Drinking Gourd (02:44)
5. Paul Lay – Sylvia (01:25)
6. Paul Lay – Deep River (05:02)
7. Paul Lay – Maple Leaf Roag (04:02)
8. Paul Lay – Mister Morton (02:45)
9. Paul Lay – To Germany (07:25)
10. Paul Lay – Moonlight Bay (06:06)
11. Paul Lay – I’m Always Chasing Rainbows (05:45)
12. Paul Lay – Go to Hell (04:56)
13. Paul Lay – Battle of the Republic (06:42)
14. Paul Lay – Blues (04:54)

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