Orchestre National de Jazz - With Carla (2026)

Engaging with Carla Bley's music is never trivial – especially for an institution such as the Orchestre National de Jazz – given the fact that through her entire life, the artist took a stand against academicism and conformism, whether pertaining to her musical output, her career trajectory, or her PR. To our large ensemble, engaging with her scores thus equates to taking an antidote as well as a hefty dose of vitamins.

Whimsical, atypical, masterful, often funny, at times irreverent, and profound, Carla Bley's work also inspires us to transcend opposites. Never abstruse or vulgar, she nonetheless developed her noble rot (necessary to make some of the best wines) by dipping into music both written and so-called "popular," as a result of which she continues to captivate a wide audience to this day. In celebrating this immense artist who passed away in 2023, the ONJ, helmed by Sylvaine Hélary, takes up the torch and holds it high, for it respects both the spirit and the letter of Carla Bley. Instead of prosaic rewritings, Rémi Sciuto's arrangements and compositions are in fact extensions. The tracks presented here are hence akin to augmentations in which the composer's dual presence is manifested. First, that of the past, through the textual evocation of her compositions, for the pure pleasure of hearing them again as much as to salute the importance of an artistic creation that transcends the boundaries of the jazz field. Then there is the Carla Bley of the present, whose music carries a provocative relevance: "Provocative" in the sense of "triggering," a spark that ignited Rémi Sciuto's imagination and imaginary, further affirming his jazzy signature; but also "provocative" as a call to action, a challenge to go beyond or even transgress accepted norms, which is in no way superficial. Indeed, as Leonard B. Meyer demonstrated in his book "Emotion and Meaning in Music", emotion in music arises from expectations that are thwarted, rejected, or displaced. It is by disrupting the usual expectations attached to a style or genre – in other words, through the art of musical enigma – that emotion occurs, precisely because the listener is able to gauge the distance between the norm and the extraordinary.

As such, Carla Bley's dual presence translates into the double pleasure generated by this recording: The listener knows and feels to what extent the composer and co-composer defy conventions in order to better subvert them and view them from a new angle, resulting in an original creation without equal.

In an important essay entitled The Passion for Music, Antoine Hennion argues that musical identity is constructed through a complex network of mediating elements – material, technical, discursive, and social in nature – which, all together, contribute to defining the uniqueness of a musical project. In that sense, musical identity is not a fixed essence but a process in perpetual construction, the challenge being to "successfully go through a section," by creating a coherent and recognizable whole from multiple heterogeneous mediations. It is precisely in the way it passes the baton of a musical passion that lies the great success of this loving dedication to Carla Bley by this new iteration of the Orchestre National de Jazz.

Sylvaine Hélary: flute
Rémi Sciuto: alto and baritone saxophones, clarinet, musical saw
Léa Ciechelski: alto saxophone, flute
Hugues Mayot : tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Sylvain Bardiau: trumpet
Quentin Ghomari: trumpet, flugelhorn
Jessica Simon: trombone
Mathilde Fèvre: French horn
Fanny Meteier: tuba
Anne Le Pape: violin
Laure Franz: violin
Guillaume Roy: viola
Juliette Serrad: cello, voice
Antonin Rayon: piano, Hammond organ
Illya Amar: vibraphone, percussions
Sébastien Boisseau: double bass
Mathias Allamane: double bass (on 02 and 03)
Franck Vaillant: drums