The village is of course Saalfelden, a beautiful town in the Salzburg region, and Saturday is the busiest day for your reporter: seven concerts in the space between mid-morning and late at night.
A pleasure that often borders on torture, so much so that at the end of the festival silence and solitude become a coveted prize.
The beginning is one of the most disconcerting: the duo between Tomeka Reid’s cello and Sofia Jernberg’s voice certainly represents the most experimental point of the entire festival. The singer, a rather restrictive definition, is a prodigy of nature between rumblings, whistles, high notes and dizzying explorations of low tones.
A voice that had been missing for at least a couple of generations and that brings to mind the experiments of the great vocalists of a few decades ago, Jeanne Lee, Lauren Newton, Urszula Dudziak.
There’s no time to recover from the overflowing talent of Tomeka and Sofia that it’s already time for the duo, on stage and in life, between Tomas Fujiwara on drums and Mary Halvorson on guitar.
A balanced and refined set in the wake of a constant exchange of stimuli and references, including the unexpected but beautiful version of Ida Lupino, a famous theme by Carla Bley. The concert takes place in the old overcrowded printing house, with a heat that forces the guitarist to resort to old remedies…
The afternoon begins in the Congress Hall with a nice surprise: the Brainteaser Orchestra, a young group that brings together musicians of different nationalities, gives life to an hour of sparkling and well-crafted music. The talents of the leader and composer Tijn Wybenga, the trombonist Nabou Claerhout and the clarinetist Federico Calcagno stand out.
The trio La Litanie des Cimes is not a choir of the French Alpine Club as one might logically suppose, but a refined ensemble of chamber music of minimalist style that highlights the virtuosity of the members but, inevitably, cools the atmosphere overheated by the Dutch orchestra.
Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder One, a well-calibrated quintet based on the voice and the lyrics of civil commitment of the singer of Indian origin, brings the energy back to the right balance. Good individualities at the service of an original proposal of good overall level.
The highlight of the entire festival is certainly represented by Chimaera, the group of elect directed by Sylvie Courvoisier and which sees the same line-up of the album of the same name (in my opinion the best of last year), with the absence of Wadada Leo Smith and the replacement of Kenny Wollesen with the formidable Patricia Brennan. Magnificent set for writing, intensity, constant dialogue and interchange of roles. Fresh, compelling and engaging music, a real treat for the (tired) ears of your reporter. Well-deserved final ovation.
It closes late at night with James Brandon Lewis and the Messthetics trio, a fun combination of explicit but quality rock and the red-hot sax at the center of the scene. Much better live than on the album, the proposal seemed balanced and well-crafted.
A rock flavored with jazz or a jazz spiced with rock. You decide, I had fun and James Brandon Lewis confirms himself as a giant of the instrument.
