Emile Parisien Quartet

In the organizer's words:

20:00 I Concert I 🎤 Concert hall

When coincidences happen, they are usually over within seconds, sometimes minutes; this one has been going on for 20 years. It's been two decades since the members of Emile Parisien 's quartet played together at a jam session. At the end, they looked at each other in disbelief. Not only had they been hit by a collective musical thunderclap, they also knew that they had just ... well ... something ... had brought into being. The common ground between them was jazz, but each musician embedded their own influences, from classical music and contemporary sounds to rock, electronica and chanson. Saxophonist Emile Parisien, pianist Julien Touéry, bassist Ivan Gélugne and drummer Julien Loutelier tear up labels, break boundaries, turn codes upside down and yet know exactly where they want to go. There is a shared obsession with storytelling. "The central axis of the quartet has always been storytelling," Parisien emphasizes.

Parisien has played countless concerts around the world with his twenty-year-old quartet. Although audibly inspired by free thinkers such as Wayne Shorter or Ornette Coleman, there is little to compare with the band's inventiveness and love of experimentation. The quartet has its very own way of telling musical stories and giving free rein to its exuberant creativity and playfulness. Their success is based not only on the impeccable interplay of the ensemble, but also on the unique qualities of each individual artist. In addition to the award-winning Emile Parisien, the band brings together the highest representatives of the French jazz scene.
Ideas are layered at a sharp pace and with an emphasis that is transmitted to the listener. None of them need to be overstretched, because there are many. No one takes the easy way out, and yet all the compositions, without exception, have rousing energy, demanding arcs of tension and astonishing stringency. This is organized amusement; full of feints and astonishing twists and turns. The boundaries between composition and improvisation are blurred. One is delighted at how excellently this band communicates with each other, far removed from any routine. This is superlative, fresh, original jazz.

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Emile Parisien (soprano saxophone), Julien Touéry (piano), Ivan Gélugne (double bass), Julien Loutelier (drums)