Showing posts with label Thierry Crommen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thierry Crommen. Show all posts

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Thierry Crommen - La Nouvelle Donne

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:24
Size: 99,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:00)  1. Paris Tagine
(4:23)  2. Angel or Devil
(5:36)  3. Rouge Du Soir
(3:53)  4. Téo's Garden
(4:38)  5. La Nouvelle Donne
(3:23)  6. L'Hymne À L'Amour
(4:30)  7. C'Était Écrit
(6:10)  8. Rue Francval
(3:58)  9. Song In The Key Of 'K'
(2:48) 10. Un Air Qui Passe

Thierry Crommen is a diatonic and chromatic player from Belgium who is well known as a sideman to famous French pop stars. He has released several albums of more personal projects, with guitarist Jacques Stotzem in particular, but La Nouvelle Donne is his first solo release. Although there are many guest musicians here, the core of the instrumentation is Chris de Pauw on acoustic guitar, Erno on keyboards and Thierry himself on harmonica. La Nouvelle Donne (The New Deal) is an album of mostly instrumental tracks, and it veers heavily towards the romantic. The compositions are ambitious and often have a certain grandeur to them although the influences are many, from the North African feel of “Paris Tagine” to the French musette of “Un air qui passe”. 

Thierry Crommen is a fluent overblower, on diatonic so his choice of instrument is rarely dictated by the complexity of the themes but rather by the feel he is trying to evoke. And it works really well: his tone is masterful and sensitive on both instruments, his playing is spot on in accuracy and phrasing, and his improvisations are well led and inventive. As an added bonus, although the harmonica is undoubtedly the solo instrument here, the flair and feel of the sidemen are also outstanding, heard both in the clever support and the rare but often superb improvisations. Supposing you like both romantic jazzy music and heartfelt harmonica playing, La Nouvelle Donne is a great way to discover Thierry Crommen’s world. https://homerecordsbe.bandcamp.com/album/la-nouvelle-donne

Personnel:  Thierry Crommen - Harmonica, piano, saxophone; Chris De Pauw – Guitars; Erno - Piano

Guests: Marc Descamps – Drums; Jacques-Ivan Duchesne – Accordion; Thierry Fanfant - Double bass, electric bass; Jean-Pierre Froidebise - Goulot de bouteille; François Garny - Bass fretless; Ezequiel Paz – Voice; Philmarie – Voice; Patrick Steenaerts – Guitars; Jack Thysen - Bass fretless

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Jacques Stotzem, Thierry Crommen - Different Ways

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:31
Size: 90,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:59)  1. The Rules of the Game
(3:34)  2. Ljubljana
(4:28)  3. Always There
(5:20)  4. Close to You
(4:17)  5. Blues for Germain
(3:23)  6. La Part Du Rêve
(3:35)  7. Different Ways
(6:42)  8. Lovely Eyes
(4:10)  9. Sombre Histoire

Time passes quickly when Stotzem and Crommen set off a brilliant fireworks of exceptionally well-ripened ideas from melancholic folk, juicy blues, swinging jazz and even driving rock - ideas that they have succeeded in developing during their ten-year professional careers (in part together, but mostly on their individual paths). While Thierry Crommen at home on both the chromatic and the diatonic harmonica, as well as in a great variety of music styles excelled at the world championship for harmonica and participated in countless studio recordings, Jacques Stotzem's star in the acoustic-guitar heavens rose at the beginning of the Nineties. Extensively praised for his inimitably melodious fingerpicking compositions, the spectrum of which ranges from dreamy ballads to snappy jazz and up to practically thundering acoustic rock, Stotzem has in the meantime evoked storms of enthusiasm at festivals on both sides of the Atlantic with his music that is equally exciting and simply beautiful. http://www.acoustic-music.de/jacques-stotzem-thierry-crommen-different-ways/en