Description
Mixing Baroque, free-jazz and world music, the unique album of the Baroque Jazz Trio (which is in fact 3/5 of the Bach Modern Quintet) is a difficult-to-label sound object which is far from being typical of the psychedelic sounds associated with the early 1970s. Because, although fusion with Indian music (amongst others) and jazz (but also pop) was popular at the time, rarely had all this been mixed together with Baroque music. Even mentioning Jacques Loussier adapting Bach does not come close, as here, all barriers are broken down, with an audacity which begins with the highly original and extraordinary use of the harpsichord, an instrument which it is unusual to hear in such a context, even though indicated by the ‘baroque’ in the title. Of course jazz specialists will mention Johnny Guarnieri in the Gramercy Five with Artie Shaw, Martial Solal playing “Four Brothers” in 1965, or Lalo Schifrin in his homage to the Marquis de Sade… But no, none of these references really makes sense, as they pale in comparison to the wild adventures of Georges Rabol, probably closer to Call Cobbs with Albert Ayler, or, better still, Odile Bailleux in another remarkable French group, Armonicord, than anyone else.