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Alzy Trio

The Alzy Trio dates back to the spring of 2002 when three friends, all guitarists, decided to play some of their favourite jazz and bossa nova tunes. In 2007, they signed their first CD, Seize cordes en bal(l)ades. It included instrumental variations of eight great classics (Wave, Corcovado, So danço samba, Insensatez, So what, Birdland, etc.) composed by Miles Davis, Vinícius de Moraes, Tom Jobim and Joe Zawinul, among others. That first CD led to a television show with Pierre Barouh, Sheyla Costa and Jean-Pierre Mas, an invitation to the international jazz festival in Tangiers (Morocco) and an array of Friends concerts bringing together rafts of other musicians. Today, together with a number of special guests, the Alzy Trio takes on the vast repertoire of French chansons with arrangements in a very jazzy and bossa nova style. They meander through time and styles with pleasure and a certain complicity that they hope listeners will enjoy.

It is with a wink and a nod that we included an English-language title (A French SongBook) in this very Frenchy album from the Alzy Trio published in 2011 (and reedited in 2016 with bonus tracks). A hat tip to the Great American Songbook that is chock full of Broadway standards from Ellington and Gershwin, played by all jazz(wo)men worldwide. A tribute from the grand repertoire of French songs that have also been adopted by musicians everywhere.

Gear

Pascal Kober plays a Fender BG-29 acoustic fretless bass (Phil Jones Bass Cub BG-100 amp). Thierry Rampillon plays a Godin Multiac ACS-SA and a Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II acoustic guitars (AER Compact 60 amp). Christian Sanchez plays a Godin Multiac Nylon Duet acoustic guitar (AER Compact 60 amp). The whole without any special effect.


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Chanson de Maxence I am particularly attracted by the music of Michel Legrand, represented by two songs in this French songbook. He is the only composer, with Joseph Kosma and Charles Trénet (and a few others) to have made a permanent stamp on the international repertoire of standards and evergreens, from which jazzmen looking for melodies have long drawn their inspiration. Gérard Rouy, Jazz Magazine

Cécile, ma fille When this song was written, Claude Nougaro was just beginning his career. Dark, obstinate and… tender, as shown by the lyrics of this song, a hard-boiled guy who falls head over heels in love with a baby girl. His baby girl. Ever since, Claude has always been with us. He had blues, jazz and poetry in his blood. He was like a big brother, rebel and protector. I never pass in front of his brick house in Paris without my heart skipping a beat. Thank you, the Alzy Trio, for helping to keep the legend of this magnificent artist alive. Marie-Hélène Fraïssé, France Culture The melody is everything, elegantly simple. Emotion just barely contained, true feeling expressed along the trails of an inner voyage, a desire, a moment in life. The lyrics by Nougaro exude the many fragrances of a young woman coming into being. Of course, his words and his notes echoed my own desires far beyond any rhyme or reason. No doubt because the Nougaro of that time, still a young man, stood, to my open eyes and ears, as a son of the south, where they play rugby, and as a child born of jazz, java and opera. Robert Latxague, Jazz Magazine

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