Christian Escoudé, Unit five - Ancrage (2024)

“I always see musique as a work in progress and as a means to personal progress. For me, composition, writing, is exactly the way to make progress in music ”, explains Christian Escoudé. Accordingly, this self-taught composer does not hesitate to draw inspiration from the source, learning to play with “an eraser and pencil”, and exploring ways to “distribute the voices” - a task that has occupied him for a considerable number of years now.

Although the combination of bass flute and bass clarinet has an “experimental” dimension to it here, a desire to hear flute and clarinet together was one of the primary motivations for the project. Over and above styles, it is, moreover, temperaments and personalities that Christian seeks to bring together. From the verve of Ludivine Issambourg to his earlier collaborations with the saxophonist and clarinet player André Villéger, drummer Simon Goubert, whom he followed from his débuts, and the solidity of Antoine Hervier, a regular partner for the last few years, on the organ, Escoudé’s Unit Five has brought together diverse energies and left its mark on musical material seemingly made specially for it.

As the boss openly admits, the “west coast” heritage can be seen both in a magisterial tip of the hat to that iconic personality, Paul Desmond , as well as in a certain taste for the weaving together of voices and massed sounds (Unit Five , Murmure d’eau …), and the similarity of expression and atmosphere with some of Jimmy Giuffre’s innovations (Pour l’instant , Étude , A Time for Love …). Nonetheless, Christian’s bop culture does not fail to keep its promises (So Close So Far ) and neither does his love for Django Reinhardt, heard here in his version of I’ll See You in My Dreams , a detour in which he abandons for the first time his guitar strings and lets his voice be heard. A tribute, perhaps?

Christian might also have inherited his attachment to French song (J’attendrai ) from Django, but his own roots are equally likely to have led him there. By choosing to evoke Ettore Scola’s Le Bal , Escoudé plunges us into the colourful world of the balls and dance halls, the starting-point for many musicians of his generation. Escoudé himself learned his trade in those of his native Charente where he has returned to live. Imbued with poetry and nostalgia, the echos of Bécaud (Et maintenant ) and Aznavour (Les plaisirs démodés ) still resonate in the memories of very many people today. Impossible not to be taken on an emotional journey.

Line-up :
Christian Escoudé – guitare, compositions, arrangements
Ludivine Issambourg – flûte, flûte en sol, flûte basse
André Villéger – clarinettes, saxophone
Antoine Hervier – orgue Hammond
Simon Goubert – batterie

Tracklist:
1.01 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - Unit Five (6:26)
1.02 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - Pour l'instant (6:18)
1.03 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - Medley d'après Le Bal d'Ettore Scola (8:06)
1.04 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - So Close so Far (6:31)
1.05 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - Paul Desmond (6:43)
1.06 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - Étude (4:55)
1.07 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - I'll See You in My Dreams (5:27)
1.08 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - Murmure d'eau (6:02)
1.09 - Christian Escoudé, Unit five - A Time for Love (3:19)