Uptake - So Far So Good (2015) [Hi-Res]

Young talents can never be discouraged enough.” This the quartet won again hands down. I was delighted, all the more so since categorical and conclusive statement from Claude Debussy always rings out inside me every time I am on the jury of a jazz contest. With time and experience, I have learned that authentic ‘young talents’ can be recognised from the very fact they are ‘un-discourageable’. How and why? Because they are filled with a genuine, entrenched desire to make music and a deep-seated body and soul passion to share it with as many other determined fanatics as possible.

The trombonist Robinson Khoury, born in April, 1995, clearly belongs to this family of ‘young talents’. A new ace of the telescopic slide, at the age of almost twenty, Robinson already sounds like nobody else. This is thanks to a natural, fluid sense of phrasing made up of sensual glides, but also a style cleansed of all unnecessary flourishes and a warm, round and generous sound, which is sunny and light with shadows of emotion and always remains homogenous with only slight monochromatic nuances. There is no doubt about it, a trombonist with this level of technique and such a strong musical personality only comes along once in a generation.

The first time I heard the UPTAKE quartet was in the autumn of 2013 in Vienne, during the final of the Jazz(s)Ra talent contest. I still remember as if it was yesterday the shock and the thrill I felt at seeing such a fresh, tightly knit group on stage: they overflowed with groove and energy, having already mastered the art of interplay – a synergetic way of spreading and shaping music together in total freedom. The winners of our first prize were an obvious choice. Robinson got a special mention from the jury, as did the excellent Bastien Brison on the keyboards, Pierre Gibbe on the bass and Paul Berne, the son of the well-known double bassist Pascal Berne, on the drums. A few months later, in late June 2014, I saw the group again on stage at Le Cybèle at the 10th edition of the national talent contest RéZZo Focal Jazz à Vienne. In spite of some good, healthy competition, as a bonus, Uptake earned the right to make an album with the Harmonia Mundi jazz label...

A few days later, on Thursday the 3rd of July, it was with the same immense pleasure that I watched and listened to Uptake for the third time within a few months on stage at the Esplanade de la Défense. ‘La Défense’, as musicians call it, has been a springboard to fame for the last 37 years in the eyes of young French jazz musicians. The list of winners is telling. That day, I remember Robinson was moved to recall that his father, the pianist Philippe Khoury, participated in the same contest twenty years earlier. I remembered that too, but in my capacity as a jury member since... 1989.

Rare are the trombonists who have won the first prize for musicians at the La Défense national contest. If memory serves me right, only the Belgian Phil Abraham in 1999 and Daniel Zimmerman in 2002 have ever won the precious trophy. In 2015, Robinson Khoury will thus be the third trombonist to have joined the La Défense prestigious prizewinners list. This is only fair given the splash his flowing virtuosity quivering with high- flying musicality made.

Long live Uptake and its musicians. This was only one fight. Keep going, comrades! We will continue to follow your adventures. May your future be bright!

Robinson Khoury, trombone, flugabone, vocal
Bastien Brison, piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer
Pierre Gibbe, bass, double bass
Paul Berne, drums

Tracklist:
01. Uptake - Awake (7:21)
02. Uptake - The Way (4:56)
03. Uptake - So Lacy (6:53)
04. Uptake - Nighthawk (4:24)
05. Uptake - Days In Montreuil (5:24)
06. Uptake - Elsewhere (6:16)
07. Uptake - Mood (7:37)
08. Uptake - Babeth (5:11)
09. Uptake - Dreamcatcher (5:29)