We had a slight hiccup when Air France strikers decided to set ablaze the Charles de Gaulle airport on the day before we were due to travel. So after a bit of hassle, we arrived in Paris almost a day later than planned, that would have been fine except after gorging ourselves on the Parisian cuisine we reached the New Morning club minutes before it was due to open, only to find it already half full. Still at least we got seats, even if the view was restricted when the club had filled up to bursting point. I'm afraid this made a decent review nigh on impossible, we caught sporadic glimpses of the musicians as they oozed a potent musical melange from the stage, but generally it was a case of leaning back and enjoying the flow.
We were sitting directly behind Mr Gauthier senior and several more of Patrick's seemingly endless family were in attendance. At 21h30 the Patrick Gauthier Septet were presented by Stella Vander for their first ever concert. The line-up from the left of the stage was Patrick Gauthier (piano and Macintosh computer), Marc Eliard (Electric bass), Alain Bellaiche (guitar and vocals), Antoine Paganotti (drums), Julie Vander (vocals), Benedicte Ragu (vocals) and Pierre Marcault (percussion). They started their set with 'Des Pygmées dans la ville' a sort of pseudo-Kobaïan scat piece and then moved on to the title track from their new album, a song with French lyrics called 'Sur les flots verticaux'. Patrick then played a piano solo, which I think was 'Odessa' and the band came back for 'Le train Fantôme' an English song with some peculiarly unreal lyrics. Julie Vander left the stage for a while and Stella Vander made a guest appearance on the closing number 'Zawinul', a tribute to the music of Weather Report. Julie returned about halfway into the piece and they had to end it all too soon when their allotted time ran out. Overall it was a pleasant, light ingress to the evening with profound technical excellence and sweet harmonies from the vocalists.
After a very short break, Stella returned to introduce the Simon Goubert Quintet. The big surprise for me was the incredible bonus of seeing Michel Graillier take the piano stool, mind you that was the last I actually saw of him that evening... His sensitive overture to a piece by Aldo Romano, 'Il Piacere', was joined by Lionel Belmondo's tenor sax and his brother Stéphane Belmondo on trumpet (and perhaps bugle) as Simon Goubert's drumming very gradually grew more furious towards the closing bars. Lionel has previously worked with the guitarist Jean-Pierre Llabador while Stéphane has played alongside fellow trumpeter Jean-Loup Longnon. The second instalment was 'Agenda' an Elvin Jones opus on which Lionel really excelled himself with some festive spontaneity. After more forceful battering from Goubert, Stéphane Persiani contributed a short bass solo and propelled the group ever forward. 'Gwen' (a Philly Joe Jones number) was led by S. Belmondo on bugle but the cocktail lounge ambience it inspired made the predominantly rock audience slightly restive, reminding me of Frank Zappa's 'America Drinks and goes home' where the band play 'Caravan' to the accompaniment of tinkling cash registers and much talking amongst the audience. The cognoscenti applauded every nuance of this subtle ballad, which was supremely executed. Much more rapturously received was the final piece, Vander's steaming hot 'Day after Day'. Graillier and the brass section in particular, enhanced this to a new peak. I have always believed that Christian Vander prefers not to have a saxophone in his jazz ensembles because he fears they can never match Coltrane's adeptness. Whilst that may well be true, the added timbral colours of the sax brought a radiant glow to the audience and new life to an amazing tune. The Simon Goubert Quintet's performance tonight was quite stirring, but the power of 'Day after Day' was just magnificent.,/p>
A mere fifteen minutes later Stella returned to announce the Bataclan concerts and usher in the Christian Vander Trio. They began with Coltrane's 'Brazilia' and right from the start the forty-five year old drummer proved he had lost none of his brilliance over the years. Emmanuel Borghi on piano and Philippe Dardelle soon took a break while Christian toured his red Gretsch drum kit. Perched on the edge of his stool and prowling around the cymbals with lightning dexterity, tossing his leonic mane in shear joy, he clearly exulted in this title. After this short solo, Borghi concisely restated the theme and 'Brazilia' was consummated. Before the smoky air had stopped vibrating, they resumed with 'The Coaster' (a composition by Grachan Moncur III). As Vander says, "It's music that requests, and not the musician that gives", this piece requires no embellishment and just a faithful performance. The Trio Vander furnished this and moved on to another John Coltrane opus 'Giant Steps' which was rather brief, with no solos tonight.
The next tune was one from their repertoire that I have admired for several years now but never been able to identify correctly until I bought the Trio's latest album ('65!' - Seventh A X). 'Lonnie's Lament', I think I can recall better performances of this from the summer of 1991 but every rendition of it brings new discoveries as the three musicians are all allowed to stretch out and wallow in the glorious melody. After that splendid homage to Coltrane, Emmanuel Borghi's composition 'Tensions' was another highlight of the show. Energetic drumming gelled with rapid-fire crescendos from Borghi's darting digits. The Trio then relaxed briefly before fire-storming the club with Vander's own '65! (25 Octobre 1993)'. They concluded the concert with one of Pharoah Sander's gems 'Doktor Pitt' a joyous work that succinctly summed up the evening and seemed to have brought us full circle to the mood created by The Patrick Gauthier Septet's opener. Happy Birthday Seventh, we had a great party.