TRAVELLING

Born in 1956, bassist/keyboardist Jean-Jacques Toussaint starts his journey in the music field in 1975, composing and playing music for theater, before joining his first band Phoenix in 1977 and building a strong relationship with drummer Eric Delaunay.Upon meeting with guitarist Remy Chauvidan in mid-80's, they formed Tiemko, releasing four albums until 1996, when the band dissolved after the sudden death of Delaunay.Toussaint reappeared in discography about a decade later, in 2009, with the album ''From Tiemko to travelling'' on Musea Records, where he teams up again with ex-bandmate Remy Chauvidan and ex-Abus dangereux drummer Francois Verly.The line-up though is pretty extended with 9 more guests, mostly with a Jazz background, helping during the sessions.

This is a nice sum of Toussaint's career as a composer and his deep interest in Classical, Jazz and Rock Music, containing hints from his career with TIEMKO, but mostly remindind me of JEAN-PIERRE ALARCEN's early stuff, exploring the grounds of Jazz Fusion and Classical Music in the same album.Different tracks have different protagonists in this album, there are the standard TIEMKO-spiced pieces with the intense Fusion acrobatics, the display of atmospheric keys and the slight references to the complexity of KING CRIMSON'S music, then the whole thing goes to the opposite direction, proposing arrangements with chamber instrumentation and even some MIRIODOR-like intricate R.I.O.-flavored instrumentals.The music is often quirky and the one and only questionable element, appearing also in the TIEMKO releases, is the use of virtual keyboard programming, that makes the sound a bit inhuman and sterile.Composingwise though there is a lot to like in here.From the bombastic bass/drums/keyboard sections with the powerful Fusion background to the cinematic textures, even if held down by the programmed orchestrations, and from the laid-back Classical arrangements to the exhibition of Avant-Garde/Electronic Music with the use of effects and keyboards.So, stylistically this works is all over the place, sometimes with success, others with a decent result, which definitely neded some improvement.

The return of the living history of TIEMKO in a similar style and featuring some expanded deliveries in the field of R.I.O. and Classical/Chamber Music.Good and warmly recommended stuff.