| Summary: | The French television series Variations focused on bringing together electronic players in a duo setting to compose new music inspired by a variety of artists. It stated: "The tone is set with a timeless recipe where four duos from different musical worlds--between electronic and scholarly music--offer a creation around a common repertoire." In this episode, recorded on Septembre 30, 2021, the West Coast Dutch technofunk producer Legowelt meets up with French alto saxophonist and electronics player Etienne Jaumet to perform a grooved and mysteriously spacey show inspired by the renowned France-based saxophonist/vibraphonist Manu Dibango (who passed away at 86 from Covid-19 on 24 March 2020). Dibango's music is a groundbreaking fusion of jazz, funk and his native Cameroon traditional sound. He broke onto the worldwide scene in 1972 with his best-known hit song "Soul Makossa," that was illicitly sampled later on pop songs by both Michael Jackson and Rihanna. Legowelt, who grooved to the funk-fueled music behind his electronic setup, had posted a preview online that the show at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris was "a great honor as I have been enchanted by his magical music." The sentiment was no doubt shared by Jaumet, best known in France for his legendary electronics group Zombie Zombie. He played electronics and dynamically blew his alto, playing the themes but then launching into long jazzy improvisations. He and Legowelt often played call-and-response lines in the beat. Both also sang with the use of vocoders, again engaging in energetic conversations. The large Covid-masked crowd in the theater rewarded the pair with a well-deserved, enthusiastic standing ovation. Dan Ouellette.
|
|---|