# The two masters of jazz played a wonderful concert each with such deep understanding of the other: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/09/12/two-masters-jazz-played-wonderful-concert-deep-understanding-video/
- Published: 2017-09-12T19:24:24+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Au Gres du Jazz Festival takes place in the beautiful setting of the tiny village
of La Petite Pierre (59km from Strasbourg) in the Northern Vosges National Park 
region of Alsace. **

The 10-day festival features two main open air concerts on the weekends and one 
during the week. There’s also an ‘Off Festival’ featuring two or three performances
per day from local and regional artists in and around the village of La Petite Pierre.
For such a small place (population around 600) there are a large number of hotels,
restaurants and B&Bs. These of course do not cater purely for the jazz festival 
but for the many cyclists and ramblers who come to this area of the National Park
to enjoy its outstanding natural beauty and the miles of trekking and cycle routes
to be found here.

The main shows are staged in a large raked courtyard between the old village and
the manor house that seats around 1,200, which is perfectly suited to jazz as it
feels very intimate and, for an outdoor venue, the sound is exceptional. This year
for the 15th edition of the festival, the main stage concerts were of a very high
standard, with the likes of Avishai Cohen, Yaron Herman Trio, Jean-Luc Ponty/Biréli
Lagrène/Kyle Eastwood, the Biréli Lagrène Acoustic Quartet and Shai Maestro all 
performing before we arrived.

Our first evening was the Hiromi/Edmar Castaneda Duo. The compactness of the setting
certainly enhanced the atmosphere: the audience almost in the pockets of the two
performers. Apart from a massive downpour which halted the concert for around thirty
minutes, the duo kept the feeling and spirit of the show alive and no one left despite
the atrocious conditions. The festival does have a ‘Plan B’ in case of inclement
weather: a village hall that can squeeze just under 1,000 people inside. Following
another rainy session with singer Hugh Coltman the following night the next three
days were all inside.

![TD-Jan-Garbarek-11](https://i0.wp.com/www.jazzwisemagazine.com/images/SEPT2017/
TD-Jan-Garbarek-11.jpg?resize=640%2C406)

We were extremely lucky that in this location we saw two outstanding shows. The 
first featuring Jan Garbarek(above) and the second with Nils Petter Molvaer (top).
Garbarek playing with percussion maestro Trilok Gurtu, pianist Rainer Brûninghaus
and electric bassist Yuri Daniel was just brilliant. His style of filmic music starting
with ‘Molde Canticle’ was perfectly suited to the rammed hall and the atmosphere
was fantastic. Not stopping to speak to the audience once the concert flowed effortlessly
with virtually no break. Gurtu’s solo slot towards the end ‘Nine Horses’ (which 
when I heard this in the the vast open spaces of an arena seemed a little tedious)
was in this situation exciting and spellbinding – the audience hanging on every 
note as he worked his way through a plethora of bells and gongs.

Each musician was given an extended solo slot and as well as Gurtu’s tour de force,
bassist Daniel’s solo ‘Tao’ also a treat giving the audience a masterclass in bass
styles from Pastorius to Haden. Nils Petter Molvær brought his ‘Buoyancy’ project
to the festival which is his homage to all things diving and underwater. The trio
featuring guitarist Eivind Aarset and electronics and percussionist Vladislav Delay
were as enthralling as Garbarek had been two nights previously. The CD features 
more musicians, so live percussionist Delay has to double up as an electronics wizard–
his stage set a mind boggling mess of cables and control switches.

The music of course was far from chaotic, superbly orchestrated by Molvaer the music
ebbed and flowed like the waves in his original idea – haunting, threatening and
serenely beautiful his interjections on trumpet inspired and moving. He segued into‘
Nature Boy’ surely a nod towards Esbjörn Svensson. A brilliant two hours of music.

![TD-Airelle-Besson-45](https://i0.wp.com/www.jazzwisemagazine.com/images/SEPT2017/
TD-Airelle-Besson-45.jpg?resize=640%2C502)

Rising star French trumpeter Airelle Besson (above) featured in two shows, firstly,
with her own quartet which features Isabel Sörling on vocals sounding not too dissimilar
to Anne Paceo’s Triphase and secondly, with pianist Edouard Ferlet and bassist Stéphane
Kerecki which was a more interesting set. Heavily influenced by Delta blues (and
Dr John in particular) singer Marion Rampal was very entertaining. Anne Paceo on
drums and pianist Pierre Francois Blanchard made up the trio which is quite quirky
but well worth catching.

![TD-Archie-Shepp--Joachim-Kuhn-66](https://i0.wp.com/www.jazzwisemagazine.com/images/
SEPT2017/TD-Archie-Shepp--Joachim-Kuhn-66.jpg?resize=640%2C404)

The last big night featured Archie Shepp and Joachim Kuhn (above). The two masters
of jazz played a wonderful concert each with such deep understanding of the other.
Shepp undoubtedly took the lead. Shepp’s playing was on top form and his inventive
soloing a joy to listen too. Kuhn is a master, supporting Shepp throughout then 
when taking his own solos, he would slide off on his own improvisational take on
the tune ultimately returning for Shepp to finish it off. It’s rare in jazz to see
a gig where the artists are older than the audience and this was one and a very 
special gig at that.

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