Personnel:
Raynald Colom (tp), Lluc Casares (ts), Danny Grissett (Fender Rhodes), Joe Sanders (b), Greg Hutchinson (d)
Reference: FSNT-571
Bar code: 8427328435710
"For me, it was always Antoni Tàpies, and not Joan Miró or Antoni Gaudi, who carried the true artistic soul of Catalunya, and of Barcelona. Colom’s solo trumpet tribute to him makes for a curiously personal climax to this beautifully conceived session in honour of the city. Dawn and Dusk conjure up something of her atmosphere, the latter making use of striking effects that make the trumpet sound more like an organ or reed instrument. Elsewhere, Colom takes over from Danny Grissett at the Fender Rhodes to shape an elegant Centrelude which offers a short afternoon siesta or break in the shade.
For the rest, The Barcelona Session is a bright hard-bop date with fine playing from the leader and rhythm section, with just two extended appearances by Lluc Casares on tenor. The best of these comes on Wayne Shorter’s Powder Keg, a rarely covered piece from the early Wayning Moments and as on-the-money as anything you’ll find in this idiom. The other non-originals are Terence Blanchard’s so-spelt Lil’ Fawdy, Edward Bland’s Sketch, and an arrangement of Darius Milhaud’s Op 245 La Muse Ménagère, which has enough jazz in its DNA to make the translation relatively easy.
The drive comes largely from Hutchinson and Sanders, who sound as if they have just wormholed through to the present from Van Gelder’s room in Englewood Cliffs, but with edgy little off-breaks from the former which suggest that hip-hop has drifted into his listening and thinking at some stage. Colom, who could be Freddie Hubbard’s brother from another mother, likes to sit on top of the beat, but his phrasing always has a nice lateral tilt which means the music never sounds too straight up and down. The nicely abstract melody of his Tàpies tone poem pretty much sums up what the set’s been all about, leaving The Peacocks, intriguingly enough done on just trumpet and electric piano, as a bit of an add-on or encore. I’d happily have done without it, and not felt shortchanged. Not that there is anything to complain about from another four minutes of the Colom trumpet.
If you like classic period Blue Note and are not allergic to the Rhodes (which seems to me a perfect choice for this group), this one is for you."
Brian Morton (July 21, 2019)
https://jazzjournal.co.uk
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"Live à Barcelone au sein d’un quintette électrisé par le Rhodes de Danny Grissett et rehaussé par le paire rythmique Joe Sanders - Greg Hutchinson, Raynald Colom propose ici les fragments d’un set haut en couleurs et en climats rythmiques complexes et touffus. Outre les originaux, le répertoire emprunte à Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter ou -véritable curiosité!- Darius Milhaud. Ç
Le final en duo sur The Peacocks de Jimmy Rowles (hélas horriblement coupé) magnifie la belle sonorité voilée du trompettiste leader."
—Vincent Cotro, Jazz Magazine, 2019
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"After seven years without recording, the multi-award-winning French-Catalan trumpeter Raynald Colom (Paris,1978) has released a new album 'The Barcelona Session' dedicated to his city, with the prestigious Spanish jazz label Fresh Sound New Talent.
—Begoña Villalobos, In & Out Jazz, 2019
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"El trompetista Raynald Colom nació en Francia, pero ha vivido en la muy jazzística localidad de Terrassa, y ha dedicado su último disco como líder de su propio proyecto a la cercana ciudad de Barcelona. Porque 'The Barcelona Session' es, más que un homenaje, un recorrido emocional por la capital catalana, que tiene paradas señaladas en el barrio marítimo de la Barceloneta y en su querida Plaça Reial, próxima a la Rambla, además de recordar a dos de sus pintores contemporáneos más significativos, Joan Miró y Antoni Tàpies, a través de sendas composiciones que llevan sus nombres.
Este disco de Colom rebosa inspiración, energía y color. Se nota que su protagonista se siente feliz al jugar en casa, y además lo hace con un equipo internacional de primera categoría, formado por Danny Grissett (piano Fender Rhodes), Joe Sanders (contrabajo) y Greg Hutchinson (batería), además de la participación ocasional del saxofonista Lluc Casares. Junto a ellos, el trompetista elabora un repertorio dividido al cincuenta por ciento entre los temas propios y las versiones, aunque por encima de todo destaca el espíritu libre, sin ataduras, de su personalísimo jazz. Y en ello tiene mucho que ver la definitiva aportación del teclado eléctrico de Grissett, que se convierte en el imprescindible segundo de a bordo de la formación.
En cuanto a las adaptaciones presentes en este CD, cabe resaltar Lil’ Fawdy, de Terence Blanchard; Powder Keg, de Wayne Shorter -probablemente, el corte más milesiano de la selección-, y la sensacional balada The Peacocks, de Jimmy Rowles."
—Ferràn Riera, Diario Folk (8 Septiembre, 2019)
