Pulcinella

“Bestiole”

(Enja Records enja 9726)

I’ve always found French bands to be totally bonkers - albeit in a good way.  It’s an opinion that was formed way back in my prog rock youth listening to Gong - they may have been led by an expat Australian but to my teenage ears they sounded quintessentially French. Parallel to Gong and the whole Radio Gnome mythology there was Christian Vander and Magma with their invented language,“Kobaian”, I think it was called. French bands, barking mad the lot of them! 

More recently French jazz seems to have thrown up its fair share of mavericks including two bands associated with the Match & Fuse scheme instigated by the UK’s own WorldService Project. Both come from Toulouse and the group Alfie Ryner’s second offering, released in 2012 and simply entitled “II” is reviewed elsewhere on this site. Now we have Pulcinella, whose third album “Bestiole” (translating as “Tiny Creatures” ) appears on the Yellow Bird subsidiary of the Munich based Enja label. 

Pulcinella take their name from the character that we Brits know as Mr. Punch. They boast an unusual instrumental line up featuring the talents of Ferdinand Doumerc (saxophones & flutes), Florian Demonsant (accordion), Jean Marc Serpin (double bass) and Frederic Cavallin (drums and percussion). All bar Demonsant are also credited with playing metallophone at various points of the eleven track programme. Guest musicians Patrick Vaillant (mandolin) and Daniel Casimir (trombone) appear on track 4, 8 and 11.

Doumerc founded the group in 2004 and a glance at the biographies of the individual band members reveals that they are all involved in a myriad of other projects, these encompassing a bewildering variety of musical styles from all over the globe. They bring these multifarious influences into play with Pulcinella, gleefully mixing and juxtaposing musical genres in the playfully iconoclastic manner of a scaled down Loose Tubes. As the press release has it “jazz whirls with rock, tango, musette, and East European music”, and yes, there is all of this -  but there is much more besides. It’s all totally bonkers - and totally French.

With the exception of Vaillant’s “Sur le pave la lune” all the tunes are written and arranged by the core quartet with the group expressing their pure joie de vivre on the opening “Garez vous chez vous dans l’allee vous emmerdez tout le monde”, a perky mix of racing horn and accordion lines propelled by rapidly brushed drums and muscular double bass. As the piece develops there are brief pauses for breath and periodic shifts in direction but essentially this is six and a half minutes of manic, almost punk like energy but one that sees the group gradually introducing a wilful dissonance, a darker edge to offset the earlier jolliness and jauntiness.

“Ni vu ni connu” is intensely rhythmic and introduces an element of humour. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the band, and Cavallin in particular, have worked in circuses and theatre, there are definite elements of that kind of music here. The trademark energy and intensity established on the opening track is again evident and the band’s humour is sharp, stinging and salty, the choice of “Pulcinella” as a group name seems particularly appropriate. 

“Christiana” offers something of a change in pace,  its 6/8 meter and long melody lines resulting in a more reflective feel. Doumerc’s sax solo is almost conventional and elsewhere there is the sophisticated interplay between the instruments that characterises Pulcinella’s sound, something that is perhaps appreciated at this slower pace. These four musicians constitute a great team.

The core group is augmented by Vaillant and Casimir for the former’s “Sur le pave la lune”. This features a fascinating array of timbres from the sometimes ethereal sound of the composer’s mandolin to the low register growl of Serpin’s bowed bass and Casimir’s trombone. The music is similarly varied, eerie, moody and introspective at the beginning before evolving into a semi punk thrash, albeit on a very unusual variety of instruments. 

“Morphee” is introduced by Serpin’s bass melody, this underpinned by Cavallin’s circling metallophone figure. As suggested by the title there’s a dream like quality about the music, but with the dramatic sax and accordion work hinting that not all dreams are necessarily sweet.

Doumerc takes up the flute for the playful “Raksi chaparak (la danse du papillon )” which also features Demonsant on the kaval, a chromatic end blown flute originating from the Balkans. The distinctive sound of the kaval helps to create an engagingly eccentric piece of whimsy that also features bowed bass and a shout of “Raksi chaparak”. There’s also some arresting interplay between flute, bass and drums.

The joyful mood continues into the jaunty “Le moustique ambitieux” with its catchy sax and accordion hook as Doumerc and Demonsant double up. In the second half of the piece there are some terrific bass and drum exchanges between Serpin and Cavallin as sax and accordion swirl around them.

“Tu parles trop” begins as an energetic romp featuring the talents of Vaillon and Casimir in addition to the core group. The piece is only just over two minutes long yet still finds room for a gentle bass/mandolin duet mid tune, these guys certainly know how to cram a dizzying amount of information into a tune.

“Nager” is more freely structured with Doumerc’s sax emoting powerfully above Demonsant’s tango like accordion drone and Cavallin’s incidental percussion. It’s one of the most atmospheric pieces on the album.

The energy levels are quickly restored with the dizzying “La Tarantelle” with its dazzling, superfast accordion lines demonstrating Demonsant’s stunning virtuosity. Doumerc’s sultry sax introduces a relatively more subdued middle section which also features Cavallin’s dramatic use of what sounds like a gong (very appropriate), this followed by a solo from the consistently excellent Serpin. It’s Doumerc’s muscular tenor that dominates the final section of this eight minute tour de force, as Demonsant’s accordion swirls about him and Serpin and Cavallin urge their colleagues on.

The closing “Envoutement” features the quartet plus guests Vaillon and Casimir. However this is very different to the two previous tracks featuring the extended line up. Here the focus is more solidly on atmosphere and texture with the unusual blend of timbres, including those of kaval, metallophone and glockenspiel creating a richly evocative narrative.

I was very impressed with Pulcinella and their blend of jazz, folk, world and even rock elements. Each track seems to tell a story and the standard of the musicianship plus the way in which the band weave their various influences together (sometimes seamlessly, sometimes not) is consistently impressive, both on the quirky high octane numbers and on the more impressionistic, atmospheric pieces.

There’s an energy, freshness and audaciousness about this music that ensures that it makes highly refreshing listening.

UK listeners will get the chance to check out Pulcinella when they visit the UK as part of the Match & Fuse programme during July 2014. They will play three provincial dates opposite Troyka plus a London show with Tom Challenger’s group Brass Mask. In true Match & Fuse fashion each band will play a full set before a “fuse” or “mash up” at the end featuring both groups playing together, performing new material specifically written for the occasion. Dates as follows; 

Out of London - Troyka and Pulcinella

July 15 - NEWCASTLE, Jazz Café - presented by Jazz North East - 8pm, £8/6
Jazz Café | 25 Pink Lane | Newcastle NE1 5DW   http://www.jazznortheast.com 

July 16 - CARDIFF, Dempseys - 8pm, £10/8
15 Castle Street, CF10 1BS Cardiff   http://www.jazzatdempseys.org.uk/  07890158172

July 17 - COVENTRY, Tin Arts, 8pm, £8 door/£6 Adv with £4 Conc
Coal Vaults, Canal Basin, St Nicholas Street, CV1 4LY Coventry http://www.thetinmusicandarts.org.uk
024 7623 0699 https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Tin-Music-and-Arts/8493363261 

In London - Brass Mask and Pulcinella

July 18 - Rich Mix, London- 8pm, £12, £8 adv & concs.
35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA
http://www.richmix.org.uk/  020 7613 7498   https://www.facebook.com/richmixlondon

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