JEAN LOUIS

JEAN LOUIS are an all instrumental trio out of France. Drums, bass and trumpet are the instruments of choice here. What I find unique is the boxes and devices that are used on the trumpet and slide trumpet which makes it sound like there's electronics involved.This is chaotic at times as well as complex and intricate. Powerful is another word i'd use.

"Tourlac" has some nice prominant bass around a minute as the drums pound and the trumpet makes these ungodly sounds. A calm before 2 1/2 minutes as "it" starts to come back to life after 3 1/2 minutes. "Maximator" has intricate percussion and chunky bass then the beast (trumpet) arrives after a minute and all hell breaks loose. "..." features percussion and the sound of the sleeping beast. "Zakir" opens with bass as drums join in then trumpet. The sound gets intricate at 1 1/2 minutes then it settles back again. It's building. Intense stuff. It settles down after 7 minutes then kicks back in a minute later. "..." is an experimental piece with a heart beat-like ending.

"Airbus" has these quick little outbursts as sounds come and go. It settles back and we get a great sound 4 minutes in as the trumpet goes insane. It's slower but heavier before 6 minutes. "Tranche" has these intricate sounds early on. It's fuller after 2 minutes. Heavier a minute later then chaos after 4 minutes. "Chasseurs En Transe" has this rumbling bass and drum soundscape as the trumpet lights it up over top.Then it all turns more powerful. A calm before 4 minutes then it builds. It's built ! "..." is experimental as the trumpet cries out. "Kasams" is hard and heavy from the get go. Atmosphere and a calm a minute in. It kicks back in after 2 1/2 minutes. Another calm around 5 minutes but not for long as it turns heavy. Check out the drumming 7 minutes in ! Silence then trumpet that sound normal for once after 8 minutes.

This is a killer album that I originally gave 4 stars to, but here I am less than a year later to bump that up to 5 stars.