Gaël Horellou Quintet Feat. Jeremy Pelt - Coup De Vent (2017) FLAC

"This is hard-swinging and intense contemporary jazz at its best, with well-crafted tunes (mostly by the leader) in the manner of Kenny Garrett’s Quartets and Quintets. In a blindfold test it could almost be Garrett on alto, but Horellou has a slightly sweeter tone and adds a little more vibrato to his notes. Otherwise, they’re very much from the same mould, in terms of choice of tunes and improvised lines.

Pianist Etienne Déconfin (who composed the opener) is very much in the McCoy Tyner mould. In fact, at times, particularly early in the album, he sounds more like McCoy than any other pianist I can think of, but later in the album on e.g. Moral De Fer, you can also hear something of Kenny Kirkland in Déconfin’s urgent, driving combination of searing but melodic right-hand lines and agitated supporting chords. The rhythm pairing of Nyberg and Paganotti sound well-suited to the other players and the material, and propel the band with verve.

Pelt as guest adds some nice touches, whilst giving the composers that welcome option of more than one front-line instrument for the melodies. However, I’m not sure that the band really needs the addition of trumpet, as it’s a very strong-sounding quartet. Soundwise, at times Pelt sounds like he’s approaching the studio from an adjoining room. He’s a strident, dynamic player, so maybe the engineer did something in the mix to try to cope with that dynamic range, but the end result makes the trumpet sound a little distant at times. The closer, The Gale Force is an alternate take, and I normally complain about these, but I certainly won’t in this case."

Dave Jones
Jazz Journal (February, 2017)