In recent years, a form of jazz nourished by the Caribbean creative spirit has imposed itself on the world musical landscape. The West Indies have, in particular, managed to crossbred the Afro-American swing by injecting the bèlè and gwoka echoes of a secular heritage. Drummers Arnaud Dolmen and Tilo Bertholo have, each in their own way, given relief to an ancestral ultramarine culture with the rhythm of their generation. Their motivations and their enthusiasm preserve the message of their elders and already punctuate the future.
Even if he is attached to his roots, Arnaud Dolmen does not only want to base his creativity on the foundations of his native land. His open-mindedness guides his artistic choices and encourages him to multiply encounters. Thus, on Adjusting, his latest album, he invites accomplices from very diverse musical backgrounds, accordionist Vincent Peirani, flautist Naïssam Jalal, singer Moonlight Benjamin. This audacity instantly identifies the universalist intention of the drummer who, after Tonbe Leve in 2017, continues to arouse our attentive listening because, beyond a proven science of rhythms, it is an increasingly assertive repertoire that is offered to us. Arnaud Dolmen is now considered one of the great new talents of the 2020s. He owes all this praise to an almost harmonic approach to his art. Admittedly, the tempo is a constant in his personal cultural development, but knowing how to tint his delicate strikes with highly melodic sound ornamentation is a feat that few drummers know how to achieve.
Tilo Bertholo participates, for his part, in the preservation of a heritage that he himself recognizes, rediscovering through the adventure of the “Big in Jazz Collective”. This orchestra, made up of distinguished personalities from the Caribbean, resurrects works from the past whose expressive force is suddenly increased tenfold in the updated interpretation of the 8 musicians of the “Big in Jazz” collective. The story begins in 2020. The health crisis then makes it impossible to hold the famous “Big in Jazz Festival”, a major musical event in Martinique created in 1992. It is absolutely necessary to find an alternative to the cancellation of this annual event. popular. The idea of bringing together a few fine instrumentalists to conceive an album takes shape, preceded by an intense rehearsal residency which will consolidate the camaraderie of eight virtuosos capable of restoring their letters of nobility to the refrains of yesteryear. Tilo Bertholo and his friends (Sonny Troupe, Yann Negrit, Ralph Lavital, Jowee Omicil, Ludovic Louis, Maher Beauroy, Stéphane Castry) will give substance to compositions immortalized in the past by Al Lirvat, Alexandre Stellio, Eugène Mona, Marius Cultier, etc. The result is very exciting and finds undeniable legitimacy in the effort to rehabilitate Caribbean history.
Arnaud Dolmen and Tilo Bertholo are long-time friends and, even if their respective current affairs stem from a different legatee aim, the momentum of their artistic commitment deserves our applause and our deepest respect.
Tilo Bertholo with the “Big in Jazz Collective” will be performing at New Morning in Paris on February 3, 2022. Arnaud Dolmen will be performing at New Morning in Paris on April 20, 2022.
⇒ The website ofArnaud Dolmen
⇒ The website of Big in Jazz Festival.