Reviews

• bernie koenig, july-september 2012, cadence

  here we have a quartet of italian musicians playing a mix of composed and free jazz. all but one of the compositions are by montagne and i do hear similarities throughout the record. but the compositions are clearly vehicles for improvisation. given how i hear some of the phrasing i would say that montagne and la volpe have classical training. the record opens with everyone playing. like many free groups, we get ups and downs, everyone playing, lulls and solos. the two guitars playing in unison at times almost sound like a horn section. and the use of electric guitars sounds like straight electronic sounds. at times i thought i was listening to some avant-garde classical music but the phrasing, especially from massaro and tomassetti, gave the jazz part away.

  quartette australe has some nice attempts at bird and other nature sounds. “ipotenusa” is the one track not composed by montagne but is a collective improvisation. “cantabile” is mellow and a nice change from the collectiveness of the preceding track. throughout i kept hearing flamenco influences in the guitar phrasing but i also enjoyed the contrasts in using so many different guitars and so many saxes. i especially like massaro on baritone when it contrasts nicely with the guitars, especially the electronic sounds. and tomassetti provides excellent support throughout. because of the ups and downs, even after a couple of listenings i wasn’t sure what i thought of the whole record so i did my test by putting it on while doing other things to see if the music would perk my ears. the record did pass but there were parts that found me wandering.

  bernie koenig, july-september 2012, cadence vol. 38, no 3

• sven claeys, august 2010, www.kwadratuur.be

  the italian quartet chaque objet consists of two guitar players, a saxophone player and a percussionist who are not very much known in our latitudes. at first listening, this piece of work appears to be a spontaneous, free improvisation. who will listen to the album several times however, will notice swiftly that also compositions and preceding appointments are part of the musical realization process. on chaque objet’s website one can find by the way a number of illustrations of the used 'scores'. in this way it appears, that the group works as well with normal as with different graphic scores. in short, the musicians love to experiment with composition and improvisation techniques, but also aim to give at the same time direction to their music. concerning the atmosphere, the pieces breathe a relaxed feeling. not in the way that one can lean back and hum along the tunes, finger snapping. no, for that the music’s sound is much too abstract, rough sounds are tearing now and then the peaceful sphere in shreds and the musicians are all too gladly leaning against it. ample sounds are explored and coldblooded these gentlemen let collide their different instrument. sometimes they perform a joint dance, but a little later on each flutters away, following his own path again. just as the capricious flight of butterflies above a flower field. the ambivalent character of the on the one hand calm and on the other hand unruly nature of this company provides a pleasant alternation. sometimes the atmosphere overturns even within the same track. the first track, 'quartetto boreale', demonstrates this immediately. busy saxophone lines, raw electric guitars and rattling drums fall rather abruptly in. gradually the bustle falls apart and the sound becomes more sober: beautiful guitar colors and a melodious saxophone solo emerge and the folds are almost smoothened. 'locomotiva entropica' follows an opposite path. a beautiful, long intro on acoustic guitars with sober plucking of delicate notes and soft knocking on the guitar get subtle accompanied by soft gurgling percussion. gradually the tune transforms into a busy, wringing improvisation. sometimes the title speaks for itself: 'funkdom' contains indeed vague funk hints thanks to among others the baritone saxophone, but it keeps up to the unruly character. 'loud trio' is simply loud, gruff and little subtle, while 'aquarelles' is a quite calm sound painting. the high degree of variation is also maintained because of a regular change of instruments: electric guitars become exchanged for acoustic and sometimes even for a banjo or a baritone guitar. next to the baritone-, tenor- and alto saxophone, for a single time there also emerges a flute and the percussionist uses once even a vibraphone. the rich variation in sound color, the varied composition and improvisation techniques and the skilled execution suppress severely the listener’s skip-reflex and promise an hour of intelligent and adventurous music.

  sven claeys, 10 august 2010, www.kwadratuur.be

• andreas fellinger, december 2009, freistil

  from the three astonishing new releases by evil rabbit, the maybe most astonishing one comes from pablo montagne, adolfo la volpe, francesco massaro, alessandro tomassetti and carries the title chaque objet. the italian quartet strains the stylistic curve almost too far. from heavy jazz, the expression palette reaches up to the most filigree improvisation; a lot is represented here, from shrill to quiet – simply: chaque objet. the variable guitar sound turns out to be of course dominant, because electric, baritone, acoustic and classical guitars are getting a special treatment by mastermind pablo montagne and by adolfo la volpe, a bit of banjo is added. saxophones, flute, vibraphone and percussion complete the tool list of these, as said, astonishing 4 stars.

  andreas fellinger, december 2009, magazin für musik und umgebung, freistil.klingt.org

• herman te loo, november 2009, jazzflits

  these italians love contrasts. chaque objet puts especially the two guitarists pablo montagne and adolfo la volpe in the centre of attention. sometimes they play on this title-less debut album as a duo, sometimes as a trio (with drummer alessandro tomassetti) and sometimes as a quartet (with sax player francesco massaro as a fourth man). they love the variety of different ways to approach their music. some pieces are mainly written-out compositions, but they also work with graphic scores, or game structures. there are pretty examples on their website (www.chaqueobjet.net/scores) of what montagne (the group’s composer) came up with. "funkdom “ for example, is conventionally composed. it does sound funky, but then via a detour through ornette coleman’s material. loud trio "is also a meaningful title. here, they play rock-like loud, with a solid groove, but in this same piece, there is also space for silence; because chaque objet doesn’t shy away from beauty at all. "caprice des anges ", for example, is very atmospheric, and reminiscent of the work of fripp & eno, after which "quartetto australe”, a derek bailey-like sounding world, emerges. i think, you got it - never a dull moment with these italians, without sounding forced at any moment. we can praise ourselves lucky, that evil rabbit puts us in contact with their music.

  herman te loo, november 23, 2009, jazzflits number 128