Alexis Tcholakian

- « From "playful" and "memorable waltzes", "warm ballads" to "funky" and "early Brazilian fusion a la Flora Purim and Chick Corea", "the international cast performs music that, while tied to jazz's roots, is modern and contemporary. [Ingrid's] stories cover such topics as different ways of looking at love, friendships, relationships, loss, learning from mistakes, and life in general. One of the top jazz singers from Australia, Ingrid James has a beautiful voice, a wide range, and the ability to sing difficult intervals with ease, hitting every note perfectly in-tune. She is also an original improviser, always swings, and is skilled at embracing lyrics that she believes in. » Scott Yanow 2016, Author of The Jazz Singers, The Great Jazz Guitarists, Jazz on Film and Jazz on Record 1917-76 (CD « Trajectoire » 2016)

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- « From "playful" and "memorable waltzes", "warm ballads" to "funky" and "early Brazilian fusion a la Flora Purim and Chick Corea", "the international cast performs music that, while tied to jazz's roots, is modern and contemporary. [Ingrid's] stories cover such topics as different ways of looking at love, friendships, relationships, loss, learning from mistakes, and life in general. One of the top jazz singers from Australia, Ingrid James has a beautiful voice, a wide range, and the ability to sing difficult intervals with ease, hitting every note perfectly in-tune. She is also an original improviser, always swings, and is skilled at embracing lyrics that she believes in. » Scott Yanow 2016, Author of The Jazz Singers, The Great Jazz Guitarists, Jazz on Film and Jazz on Record 1917-76 (CD « Trajectoire » 2016)

- « This album is a truly international undertaking - a global collaboration! Wonderful melodies conceived and arranged by pianist Alexis Tcholakian, resident in Paris, have been blessed with the lyrics of the Brisbane based jazz singer, Ingrid James. Effectively these 'songs without words' have been given a second life, a fresh narrative, and the remarkable result of this sensitive collaboration is here for us all to listen to. Ably supported by an international ensemble who all weave their own threads into the unfolding stories, Alexis and Ingrid guide us through a rich and compelling collection of vignettes. Beginning with A Timeless Place (the great Norma Winstone lyric to The Peacocks by Jimmy Rowles), we are steered through an extraordinary range of emotions - songs of love, loss and longing, with brief detours into the hip American jazz- life - finally to be brought back safely at the close with a beautiful original ballad 'It's Not Over '. Well I can only hope that 'it's NOT over' - and that this is just the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration. Sit back - and enjoy the sound of la TRAJECTOIRE » Pete Churchill 2016, Professor of Jazz Composition, Royal Academy of Music, London; composer/educator/choral director/conductor for Kenny Wheeler Big Band and Abdullah Ibrahim's Vocal Project (CD « Trajectoire » 2016)

- " From the very opening notes I knew this was a great record. It was a real – and rare – case of love at first sight! Speech conveys in a scattering of words what we believe ourselves to ‘be’. Music on the other hand has the quicksilver power to express through sound what we actually are. Alexis’s charismatic music, sifted with apposite feeling, testifies to this. His inspired piano-playing never falls prey to the traps of mere prettiness or pathos, but always navigates by the compass of an intense and natural song; the one we seek deep inside. His oblique style is balanced between light and dark and he knows how to render those cloudy nuances and the ebb and flow of ideas in exact language. Nowadays this is quite uncommon in the lonely exercise that is the solo. The choice of standards (from « For all we know » to « A child is born ») and their sequencing are a model of the genre. Alexis imbues each melody (like the sublime « Blame it on my youth ») with elegance, dispensing with all extraneous embellishment. There is a kind of gentle melancholy running through this music of embers and mists to which I am very susceptible; the keyboard shimmers under his fingers and illuminates the silence with a sort of moonlight. These, in sum, are my impressions of listening to « Search for peace », the fourth album, after « Hidden Face » (2004), « Le Songe de l’Athanor » (98) and « Point de vue » (96), from this rare and reserved pianist, who today has ensconced himself in his music like a hermit. Alexis deserves to be recognized today for his true worth. Therefore I have just one thing to ask of you. Please listen with care to this album suffused with harmonious and melodic elegance. You won’t regret it ". Pascal Anquetil (for Search for Peace CD 2008) Head of CIJ (Jazz Information Centre) Irma, journalist for Jazzman - Paris-France

- " Alexis Tcholakian is undoubtedly an artist under influence. This influence goes mainly straight back to the joy of Keith Jarrett with whom he shares the soft touches. He knows to be silent but prefers both sounds and pictures. He invents well balanced variations around the tempo. Both a traveller and a dreamer, he takes us along far away roads to far away sounds and rituals. All alone but his piano and his compositions, he is bold and inventive, noisy and talkative, but most of all, he is in love .. in love with every moment, every suspending moment, in love with each picture or sound his music draws, in love with life. Through romantic fables, he tells us about patience, time, the return of a loved one, nostalgia. He generously invites us into his mind and universe. He takes us around, generous and spontaneous. He knows how beauty can be mysterious. Alexis Tcholakian hidden face shows when he teams up with fellow jazzmen : Claude Mouton on double bass and Guillaume Dommartin on drums. This trio session required only one take and limited time. You can smell the cigarette and leather seats in the jazz club. You can just about hear the glass rattling in the back. You definitely feel at the Sunside or the Duc, the album shines of live spontaneity and intimacy, both that you can only find while ordering a drink in one of these classy clubs. The influences of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett are real and used wisely. This influence shines (maybe a little too much) on "Someday my prince will come" where the pianist show tremendous respect for Bill Evans interpretation at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Alexis Tcholakian enjoys playing with his Trio. You can tell by the way he interacts with both musicians during the performances. Complicity. Try the beautiful cover of "When Sunny gets blue" where he delivers for Claude Mouton to take over. The entire album is supported by great drum work from Guillaume Dommartin, sometimes almost Latin style, especially with "Bye Bye Blackbird" or "Softly as in a morning sunrise". The album is full of classics, highly enjoyable to the ear and with great interest to who may listen in ". RC & JMG (Webzine DNG) September 2004 Alexis Tcholakian .. Hidden Face solo/trio .. Soul Motions Records Jazzman *** - June 1999 Alexis Tcholakian Trio – Le songe de l'athanor

- " The second new album by pianist Alexis Tcholakian confirms what a great show is trio is. Let's underline here the absolute great taste shown by Bernard Rabaud, owner and director of the Petit Opportun in Paris, a regular setting this ensemble. On this album, "you don't know what love is" was recorded in June 1998 in this same club which had welcomed the band in March. The Trio received impeccable assistance dealing with sound engineering. With a repertoire essentially inspired by their pianist, the Trio bring there music to life from one composition to the next. The presence of an electric cellist (Alain Grange), a authentic specialist of this instrument, brings along a diversity of colours, walking bass and special effects such as squeaking and screaming as in "two children" which contrasts with harmonic factors. This Trio definitely specializes in very frequent metrical changes with stunning control such as in "Things I never told you" and "le songe de l'athanor". The harmonic approach of "Body & Soul" (where the pianist is featured solo) is interesting as is the rhythm overlapping. With "Un jour ou l'autre", the drummer, Hidehiko Kan also shares some great improvisations with the pianist. This completely unique approach with great fluidity between musical exchanges and crossing of ideas and expressions is extremely well done. Those who take a fancy to the art of trio should definitely turn their heads in this direction ". Stéphane Carini

- Le Monde – July 5, 1997 Alexis Tcholakian Trio – Point de Vue - " One becomes easily quickly hooked on this first new album of the Trio. It is not only a group of young talent that displays its extraordinary musicality and virtuosity, but one feels the overflow of joy in the music making and that is what jazz is all about. The talented musicians certainly listened to the John Coltrane Quartet, the Ahmad Jamal Trio and Miles Davis Quintet, certainly listened to the electric years and where inspired by colours and passages, but they certainly did not duplicate the music of the past but only never to forget it. Alexis Tcholakian, the pianist, shows tremendous lyrical phrasing and fluidity. He has a magical left hand which moved gracefully during each melody. The electric cello gives the ensemble a very unusual colour for it is not a regular instrument for a jazz trio. Alain Grange is the cellist and displays great quality with his instrument. As for the classy drummer Hidehiko Kan, he contributes his fantastic drive to the trio. All of this, many can do, few can master, they seem to pull it off ". Sylvain Siclier

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