Sophie Alour - Shaker (2014) FLAC

Entertainment, jubilation, and the pleasure of disguising oneself primed at the birth of Sophie Alour’s fifth opus «Shaker». On this record, she gathers original compositions from different periods of her life. Some - like «Shaker» or «Joke» - have been written for Rhoda Scott, and seen by the author as a tribute to the sixties, those pivotal years for the first steps of Funk (Jimmy Smith, Lonnie Smith...). To the contrary, others are more Rock n’ Roll oriented and created for different instruments: drums/bass/sax trio or piano quartet. And yet they have been readjusted for this new ensemble and glorified by the organ, which adds something of an overwhelming flavour and a certain « modern dandy » style.
This album, very rhythmic and fast paced, reveals itself to be full of joy, self-mockery and references to the epic history of Jazz. For this adventure, Sophie Alour joined forces with two of her pals, organ player Frederic Nardin and drummer Frdric Pasqua.
The latter distinguished himself on the previous record « La Gographie des rves » (Geography of dreams), whereas Frdric Nardin is a new recruit to her universe. However, both are first class playmates for this new project. In addition, Sophie Alour also gives a primary role to the soprano and thus adds a new colour to her form of expression.