(Free Jazz, Rock, French Pop) [WEB] Darius Jones Quartet featuring Emilie Lesbros (Matt Mitchell, Ches Smith, Sean Conly, Pascal Niggenkemper) - Le bébé (bebe) de Brigitte (Lost in Translation) - 2015, FLAC (tracks), lossless

For more than a decade now, Brooklyn-based label AUM Fidelity has positioned itself as a modern-day ESP Disk or Impulse!, two labels that found themselves at the vanguard of the new jazz revolution in the ‘60s. And while the former has since reemerged from a decades long slumber, they tend to favor more noise-oriented and avant garde artists working within a rock framework than the jazz revolutionaries on which they built a name for themselves. Among the host of contemporary revolutionaries currently releasing consistently compelling music on AUM Fidelity is alto saxophonist Darius Jones. An equally ferocious and vulnerable player, Jones speaks through his instrument, instilling it with a rasp that calls to mind early rock ’n’ roll’s honking players while displaying a melodicism that goes beyond anything these early practitioners could ever imagine. Toeing the line between free and traditional jazz playing, Jones manages to create his own highly identifiable approach to the instrument, drawing from a host of great avant garde players to create a sound that goes well beyond the staid halls of academia into something far more soulful, more personal, more real.
On the majestic “Universal Translator”, Jones delivers a fiercely fiery solo that culminates in a series of Ayler-esque shrieks that quickly cut off, Jones having pushed his horn and himself to their absolute limits. It’s a thrilling several minutes that are followed by a more rhythmically urgent approach to the piece in the solos of pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Sean Conly and drummer Ches Smith.
Elsewhere, the tracks featuring French vocalist and songwriter Emillie Lesbros call to mind a somewhat less frenetic, though equally boundary-pushing version of Brigitte Fontaine’s work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago (see especially “Quand Vient la Nuit”), the music subtly swirling in complimentary and counterpoint lines that wend in and out of her enchanting vocals. As with Fontaine and AEC’s unlikely pairing, it is Lesbros who pushes the music to extremes, ranging from sultry chanson to wild, Patty Waters-indebted screaming and whispered vocalizations. And fittingly, Jones’ has indicated the Brigitte in the album’s title to be an homage to Fontaine and her highly individual approach to performance and composition.
The epic “Beneath the Skin (we are already one)” finds Lesbros descending into Mike Patton-like levels of vocal manipulation that clash unsettlingly with the more elegiac tone of Jones’ composition. It’s a stark contrast that proves highly affecting, leaving the listener with an unsettled feeling that refuses to resolve itself easily as the music seamlessly flows between the traditional and the avant garde, sometimes within a matter of a few bars. All the while, Jones’ soulful playing holds together the somewhat disparate elements of the music.
The fifth in a planned series of nine recordings that began with 2009’s stellar Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing), Le bebe de Brigitte (Lost in Translation) continues the series’ soulful ruminations on contemporary jazz and the human condition. By largely utilizing different players on each release, Jones ensures a unique tonality in each session, ranging from free-blowing to the more subtle and nuanced compositions present here.
Stripping the group to its core essentials, “I Can’t Keep from Weeping” presents itself as a modern-day standard, a ballad of intense beauty and sensitivity that gets to the heart of the theme of the music itself. Following Lesbros’ lovely delivery, Jones deploys an aching, keening solo that borrows much tonally from Coltrane, pushing the boundaries of standard balladic soloing.
While not quite a revolutionary, declarative statement of intention, Le bebe de Brigitte (Lost in Translation) continues both Jones’ and AUM Fidelity’s winning streak, proving itself to be a vital release that furthers the idea of jazz’s return to cultural relevance and artistic prominence. By borrowing from the past and present, contemporary artists will once again be able to push the music forward into a vibrant and exciting future. With Le bebe de Brigitte (Lost in Translation), Darius Jones places himself at the vanguard.

http://www.aumfidelity.com/aum095.html
Le bébé de Brigitte (Lost in Translation) is alto saxophonist-composer Darius Jones’ new album, and the 5th installment in his expansive Man’ish Boy epic. The highly acclaimed series began in 2009 with Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing), and shall eventually comprise nine albums. This release arrives soundly at the mid-way point with aplomb, and is performed by the Darius Jones Quartet featuring vocalist Emilie Lesbros.
As ever with Jones’ work, the compositional palette ranges widely here. From the new blues swagger of “Universal Translator” to the equally universal sense of great loss evoked in “I Can’t Keep From Weeping” (as aching a ballad as Jones has yet written/recorded); from the infectiously swinging & (finally) unhinged cabaret dialogue that is “Chanteuse in Blue” to perhaps the deepest essence of the album (and platforms of intent) which are “Two Worlds, One Soul” & “Beneath The Skin”, a pair of extended works which evolve with the utmost in careful consideration to timing and gesture by all involved. French singer-lyricist Emilie Lesbros’ own composition, “Quand Vient la Nuit” (here arranged by Jones) closes and lyrically encapsulates the album: espousing no fear, in life, in art.
Regarding narrative underline, Le bébé de Brigitte (Lost in Translation) addresses the difficulties in clear communication due to widely varied perspectives, the hazardous confusion that can result, and the essential effort to make sense of that confusion with a full-bore aim toward a new level of understanding, toward new levels of harmony. As Jones writes, “Much of the hatred and ugliness in the world comes from everyone trying to create a unison when they should be striving to create a harmony.” This elemental friction leading to frisson was in play during the album’s creation. Jones again, “In the process of creating this music, we often fell into moments of miscommunication because of differences in culture and language. I think this created a sense of mystery, and forced all of us to listen more deeply to each other’s nuances and subtleties, because we didn’t always have words to fall back on.”
The new character in Darius Jones’ Man’ish Boy cosmology being revealed here is Brigitte, the blind & love-blind mother of D’Troy·t (himself a character whose eminent wickedness will be revealed when Jones unleashes the final album of this middle trilogy). The name of mother Brigitte is in dedication to the French singer-performance artist Brigitte Fontaine, her work and ethos of pushing artistic boundaries, on her own terms, being a clear and abiding influence on Jones’ own creative trajectory. This new character is manifest to 2D flesh on the album artwork by painter-illustrator Justin Hopkins. See more of Hopkins’ work here (http://rarebitprojects.com/).
More words from Darius Jones on this project:
“True communication is the point of my music. I’m exploring communication not only as an outward expression of ideas, but an inward investigation of my own motivations and inspiration. As human beings I believe we are of one soul vibrating at different frequencies to manifest our individual realities. When we get outside our comfort zones we feel the discomfort from the unknown because we don’t know where we belong, where to step. In that lack of knowing, we actually begin to surprise ourselves. We begin to open up, and our perspective widens. We see and understand things we didn’t before. I believe that this makes us more patient and compassionate, which can break down barriers of hatred and fear. These are the ideas musically at work within this album.”
Jones’ focus on the human voice in his current work was made wholly explicit on 2014’s The Oversoul Manual, a tremendous achievement for any composer, with a luminous & full-house performance at Carnegie Hall to match. Responses from among those moved to listen & write: “Uncannily beautiful and riveting” (Will Layman, PopMatters); “Esoteric and enchanting” (Seth Coulter Walls, Time Out New York); “Absolutely striking .. downright masterful” (Steve Holtje, Culture Catch); “A contoured, formidable, signature work” (Britt Robson, JazzTimes); “Deeply affecting on both an emotional and a physical level” (Phil Freeman, The Wire); “One of the most ambitious albums made in the past decade. This simultaneously futuristic and primal work ranges from moving plainchant to mathematical counterpoint, from the most human of cries to the most alien of exhortations” (Andrey Henkin, The New York City Jazz Record).
The creation of Le bébé de Brigitte (Lost in Translation) was aided & abetted by the French-American Jazz Exchange, a joint program of FACE (French American Cultural Exchange) and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Darius Jones: alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell: piano, Rhodes
Sean Conly: bass
Ches Smith: drum set, percussion
Emillie Lesbros: voice, piano on 6
Pascal Niggenkemper: bass on 6