On Shoulders We Stand

This is how David Linx and Guillaume de Chassy, initiators of this project, define their common approach. The first one, being the incomparable male jazz vocal reference, has founded his singularity in both the African-American culture (let's not forget his friendship and his artistic collaboration, "A Lover's Question", with James Baldwin, a.o.), and the European musical landscape (Diederik Wissels, Paolo Fresu,...). The second one, cross-border pianist between jazz and classical music (he has collaborated with Brigitte Engerer as well as with Paul Motian and Natalie Dessay), excels in the art of blending different musical languages. The 8 composers chosen for this particular repertoire have given us piano pieces whose melodic evidence calls for the voice. Thus it was as tempting to provide them with lyrics as it was to transcribe these compositions in order to be sung. It takes David Linx's mastership, excellent singer-songwriter, to appropriate these masterpieces with such ease. The precision of his lyrics as well as his vocal virtuosity allow for this sidestep to be successful and will, most certainly, confuse more than one. These compositions constitute Guillaume de Chassy's mother tongue and his transcriptions give way to fields of freedom for the Sardegnan clarinetist Matteo Pastorino. This young co-religionist of Paolo Fresu here deploys both a sound and a lyricism profoundly unique in the European jazz landscape. On Shoulders We Stand showcases these 3 musicians on a journey of pure challenge, joyously undertaking a risk-taking endeavor, something of a rare phenomenon in our world's thirst for conformity.