Sonic adventurers Samuel Blaser & Marc Ducret took an actual journey from their European home base and did a short tour as a duo in Brazil. At the start of the pandemic, trombonist Blaser rummaged around in his archives and emerged with the audacious Audio Rebel, recorded at a small studio/concert space of that name in Rio de Janeiro, in September 2013. Ducret’s odd guitar whang and Blaser’s wah-wah trombone open the show, with their boisterous and inventive character on full display from the very start. Blaser’s tone is sublime, lush with overtones. Listen closely to Rio for a prime example. Part of the fun of this release is the continually changing blend of Blaser’s cornucopia of sounds with Ducret’s variations of pedals and physical approaches to the guitar. Trombonists were altering their sound with an almost endless array of cups, hats and other implements long before electric guitar and effects boxes came along. Ducret and Blaser are clearly having a great time together with musical ideas generated by one or the other, bounced around, and transmuted into something entirely different. I frequently get the feeling that these spontaneous musical dialogues are a mere extension of their traveling partnership, as if the political discussion that went unresolved for the pair at dinner is being continued in another realm. Ducret’s spiky guitar and his similarly thorny note choices make for an appealing contrast when juxtaposed with Blaser’s rounder sound. Especially fine passages include Ducret’s feverish solo at the half-way point of Rio, the crassly distorted approaches both men employ for the opening minutes of São Paulo, and the casual synchronization of the relaxed closer, Le blues de l’Ombra. This one will grow on you, rewarding your concentration with a seriously enjoyable musical experience. Happily recommended.
Blaser Music; Samuel Blaser (tbn) Marc Ducret (g); Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2013; Audio Rebel/ Rio/ L’ampleaur des dégâts/ La voie grise/ São Paulo/ Cabo Frio/ Le blues de l’Ombra; 47:11. samuelblaser.bandcamp.com
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