“It starts with a surprising opening, a sublime interpretation of La noyée by
Serge Gainsbourg, arranged like Bill Evans’s Waltz for Debby, and it is a
superb introduction to this young lady’s vocal range. We are immediately
aware that we are entering a musical world that is free of the standard jazz
formats. A true musical journey awaits us, one that is as exciting as it is
demanding. Clotilde Rullaud is a singer whose airy gravity holds no clichés,
her sublime arrangements interpreted by a band of quite excellent musicians.
(…)
For Clotilde Rullaud, music has that powerful magical ability to transport
the soul, carrying with it all influences, all dialects and all borders in the same
baggage.
It is as a true musician, rather than a singer, that Clotilde Rullaud (a
former flutist) ends the album, rearranging Maurice Duruflé’s Pie Jesu. (…) Her
voice blends with layers of sounds, wraps around everything in its path and
carries us away. Once more the singer vibrates with her voice, with her text,
with the music that carries her. It is intense and it closes the last page of this
album in the most sublime manner.”
Jean-Marc GELIN - Review in “Les
Dernières Nouvelles du Jazz” magazine - http://www.lesdnj.com/article-
clotilde-rullaud-in-extremis-68191902.html
”Like the late, great Claude Nougaro, her tastes are strikingly eclectic (...). And
she has the technique and imagination to hold all the myriad influences
together, helped by a cultured band featuring Dano Haider (7-string guitar)
and Olivier Hutman (piano). Her rich, deep timbre is a thing of beauty – the
wordless vocals on the fragment of bill Evans’s Waltz for Debby are exquisite
– but she can cope whenever Antoine Paganotti, on drums, raises the
temperature.” Clive DAVIS - **** & #5 best jazz album 2011 - SundayTimes
(UK)
“Clotilde Rullaud, while remaining faithful to the roots and tradition of vocal
jazz, is a modern-day stylist. Much like an powerful magnet, she draws the
listener near to her unique enticingly warm sound. I would recommend this
excellent CD as an essential part of any Vocal Jazz library.” Guy ZINGER -
Adore Jazz Radio (NL) & Writer for All About Jazz
“She has fine register and volume, with a tremendous sense of proportion.
”Waltz for Debby”, the first track, is just an appetizer. And it’s with the
following songs that we get her true purpose: challenging both song and
voice in order to reach their full expression. That such a singer has been born
shows that the history of the appreciation of jazz in France has not been just
for show.” Obari TOSHIO – JazzCritics (JP)
“This original and experienced singer is a real discovery. This eclectic lady
reveals her voice and talent on tunes by Monk, Gainsbourg, Bill Evans, Sting,
Piazzolla and Duruflé. She is clearly having fun, and so are we.” Michel
CONTAT – TT – Télérama - http://sortir.telerama.fr/concerts/clotilde-
rullaud-quartet,25080.php
“A bit like Nougaro (indeed African Sketches recalls the Toulouse singer’s
Locomotive d'Or), it is the marriage of words and texts (often poetic) with the
music that interests the singer above all, and which forms the very essence of
the album. Baden Powell, Sting and Piazzolla, as well as several jazz tunes, are
thus reinvented with a desire for originality that provides the whole album
with an undeniable artistic unity. Although Clotilde Rullaud undoubtedly owes
the success of this recording to her background as an instrumentalist (she is a
flutist), she also owes it to her unusual trio (without bass) composed of top-
class musicians who are much more than simple accompanists. An original
and successful album for all those who like their jazz a little differently.”
Philippe VINCENT – Jazzmag-man
“If a song is ‘a hummingbird perched on the great wall of sound’, as Nougaro
once sang to a tune by Michel Legrand, then the singer and vocalist Clotilde
Rullaud is one such beautiful creature. Her nimble mezzo voice is deep and
swinging, seemingly raising from some faraway place, like the essence of the
soul’s breath, a pure necessity to sing. (…)
This is sensual chamber music that
never takes itself too seriously, a record that is all about jazz, that enchanting
melting pot of popular musical traditions.
Therein lies, perhaps, the meaning
of the album’s title, In extremis. For although these extremes may never
meet, they do acknowledge each other, breaking down borders and letting the
music wander free…but along a tightrope! And that, quite simply is what
Clotilde’s path, her voice, is all about. A passion is born, and it’s time we
listened to it.” Laurent VALERO – Broadcaster of Easy Tempo show on France
Musique - http://www.fipradio.fr/album-in-extremis
“The first thing you notice is her perfect elocution and the rich timbres of her
voice, free from gratuitous effects and those frivolous ornamentations that all
too often affect a singer’s clarity. Clotilde Rullaud moves smoothly between
gossamer-delicate melody and decisive affirmation, for she knows how to
happily alternate humour and seriousness, tenderness and energy, brio and
simplicity, filled with groove and expansive emotion, from the unbridled scat
of Sting’s Fragile to the unexpected and moving The Walk After Pie Jesu from
Maurice Duruflé, all of it most uplifting. She has certainly found the kind of
complicity with these musicians that makes you prick up your ears.” Jacques
CHESNEL – Citizenjazz.com - http://www.citizenjazz.com/Clotilde-
Rullaud,3465342.html
Show less
