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shape

by Alexandra Grimal

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  • Full Digital Discography

    21
    releases

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Over Mountains, refuge, shape, vagabondes, Andromeda, hybrids - hi birds, unsui, la vapeur au-dessus du riz, and 13 more. , and , .

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1.
mouvances 15:20
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2.
en silence 01:06
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3.
le sang n'est pas bleu 19:51
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4.
forêts aléatoires 05:19
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5.
petite plage 05:36
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6.
texture 01:40
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7.
suite du temps absorbé 21:41
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about

Marge 42
Alexandra Grimal - tenor and soprano saxophones
Antonin Rayon - organ and clavinet
Emmanuel Scarpa - drums
shape / Live at the Sunset
Recorded live, June 30, 2008 Paris

credits

released June 5, 2021

press extracts :

"To be honest, the first track of this album mesmerized me, sucking me into a weird musical world, and it kept me in that state till long after the album stopped, mainly because of the unusual combination of sax, hammond organ and drums, playing some incredibly intense, highly uptempo almost a-rhythmic music, which has a kind of strange halting drive, like it wants to move forward yet gets dragged back the whole time, like running without moving. Alexandra Grimal plays the sax, and how, with all her heart and body, stunningly, sensitively. Antonin Rayon plays the organ, creating some weird aural landscape, uninhabitable at times, often inhospitable, rarely sweet, while Emmanuel Scarpa does the drumming, breaking all possible patterns while keeping the drive going (how does he do that?). Especially on the long first track "Mouvances", this leads to some great listening experience. Something totally new, yet also attractive, powerful and sensitive at the same time. The second piece, the one-minute long "En Silence", captures the essence of the music: dark, somewhat industrial, yet fragile at the same time. This vision is further expanded upon in the long "Le Sang N'Est Pas Bleu" (the blood is not blue), a slow and equally depressing piece, on which Grimal's high soprano is the only light in the darkness, yet then she switches to tenor, and her wailing becomes deeper, more desperate. At times it's hard to categorize this music as jazz. The sounds produced by Rayon and Scarpa are more based on rock tradition, creating an atmosphere that is in essence alien to jazz, but one in which Grimal's playing fits perfectly. And as the lead voice, she is the one defining the music, its evolution, its sound, its otherworldliness, its agonizing terror, its intense expressivity, its vulnerability. What a voice for a debut album : strong, full of character and what a powerful musical vision! Highly recommended." The Free Jazz blog

"(...) mystère reste entier nous rassure quand à l'impalpable de la musique.
Ce qui se passe, ce qui se joue alors est très beau, très profond. Ceci pour dire l'essentiel de l'honnêteté, l'humilité et l'humanité d'un trio plus que prometteur" Luc Bouquet, Improjazz

"(...) Un trio exemplaire et organique, qui raconte la même histoire à plusieurs voix et dans le même espace-temps en approfondissant constamment le discours à travers la matière et la texture sonore (...) Un voyage expérimental et jusqu'au-boutiste qui envisage le jazz avec un esprit d'indépendance et une intégrité totale." ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Audacieux Jazzmagazine Lionel Eskenazi

"La musique est ici entièrement improvisée avec un goût pour les très longs développements que l'on est tenté de rapprocher de la très lente progressions des œuvres de Tim Bern (...) Les trois comparses (...) parviennent à habiter la totalité de ces 70 minutes de musique avec une formidable intensité." Franck Bergerot, Jazzmagazine, Les trios de l'avenir

"Dans la lignée de ces saxophonistes qui ouvrent de nouvelles voies/voix là où on ne pensait plus guère possible d'inventer encore, Alexandra Grimal, une touche à nulle autre pareil, un potentiel en développement, un bonheur en éclosion !" Jean-Michel Proust, Le Nouvel Obs

"Difficile pourtant en entendant cet album enregistré en live au Sunset le 30 juin 2008, de penser que c’est la même Alexandra Grimal qui a pu être lauréat (e) quelques semaines auparavant d’un tremplin « jeune talent » du côté de Saint Germain des Près. Car c’est un album d’une incroyable maturité dont il s’agit. Un album où Alexandra Grimal fait montre durant tout un concert d’une maîtrise totale de l’instrument et surtout de l’improvisation qui lui permet d’investir totalement l’espace (...) Alexandra Grimal avec cet album affiche le talent d’une grande saxophoniste mais aussi d’une musicalité et d’un sens de l’espace et du temps musical dont elle possède déjà toute l’acuité." Jean-Marc Gelin, les DNJ

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Alexandra Grimal Paris, France

saxophonist, composer, singer songwriter playing all kinds of music ; jazz, experimental, contemporary, improvised, pop, traditional...

"Singulier, inclassable, et d'une indiscutable et mystérieuse beauté." Xavier Prévost

copyright photo Stefania Becheanu ... more

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