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FORGAS BAND PHENOMENA
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Dimitri Alexaline • Igor Brover • Sylvain Ducloux • Patrick Forgas • Sylvain Gontard • Denis Guivar'ch • Karolina Mlodecka • Kengo Mochizuki • Frederic Norel • Sébastien Trognon * Benjamin Violet
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AXIS OF MADNESS (L'AXE DU FOU)
RUNE 282
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Drummer and composer Patrick Forgas has been releasing jazz-rock gems that showcase his compositional and and arranging skills for over 30 years. Axis of Madness (L'Axe du Fou) is the fourth album by his current band; a 7-piece instrumental ensemble of skillful young musicians, performing on saxes/flute, trumpet/flugelhorn, violin, guitar, keyboards, bass and drums. The group perform music that combines the most attractive aspects of jazz and rock composition with inspired solos. The quality of the music and performances is obvious from the first note and we're pleased that it isn't only us who noticed; press has been unbelievably enthusiastic towards this group's music!
"...tight, urgent, almost suite-like arrangements, vaguely recallilng Frank Zappa and Carla Bley, which nonetheless give each player chances to strut their formidable stuff. There's restraint, ebb and flow at work here." – jazzreview.com
"...blurs idiomatic considerations so extensively they render stylistic definitions irrelevant. No one can accuse bandleader and principal composer Patrick Forgas of being tame or conservative in his writing and arrangements.... He's been leading various editions of the Forgas Band since the mid-'90s, and this version has a...frontline ably suited for works whose opening melodies quickly give way to furious exchanges, spirited solos and passages bouncing back and forth between avant-garde jazz and shorter, rock-tinged statements." – JazzTimes
"Its combination of singable themes and rock rhythms will appeal to Canterbury devotees specifically - and, indeed, all fans of improvisation within a richly composed context"." – All About Jazz
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SOLEIL 12
RUNE 218
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The Forgas Band Phenomena is led by composer and drummer Patrick Forgas, who has been hailed as "the French answer to the Canterbury scene" since he first burst upon the scene in 1977 with his "Cocktail" album, which featured members of Magma and Zao. Due to bad luck and bad circumstances, he fell out of the music scene for a great number of years, re-emerging with the very wonderful Forgas Band Phenomena about a decade ago. For their third album, and their first for Cuneiform, Patrick leads an 8 piece instrumental ensemble (dual saxes, trumpet, violin, guitar, keyboards, bass and drums) through epic-length, complex and melodic compositions that mix ambitious progressive structures and inspired soloing. In addition to the many Canterbury comparisons, I also hear a lot in common with the band that Frank Zappa led with George Duke & Jean-Luc Ponty; great tunes and arrangements in a fusion style with excellent 'jazz' soloing. Interestingly, two of the pieces are greatly re-arranged versions of the two works that Patrick had originally planned for the never-recorded follow up to Cocktail!
"Flexing my authority, I strong armed a copy of Soleil 12 out of the Cuneiform head honcho. It is absolutely drop dead amazing. Canterbury fans will shit themselves when they hear this disc. I can't stop playing it. Amazing, Amazing, Amazing."-Ken Golden/The Laser's Edge.
"...thoroughly composed jazz-rock brimming with purpose at every twist and turn. The large number of instruments allowed for a great variety of expression, as they tended not to play all at once. Think Arti E Mestieri arranged for a jazz orchestra and you get a rough idea (of what this is about). I can't say enough about how good these guys are."-Sean McFee/Expose. |
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