Artist: Dominic Alldis

Date of Release: 01/09/2004

Catalogue no: CANZCD4

Label: Canzona Music

Price: £12

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Track Listing

Appearances by

Alec Dankworth, Iain Ballamy, Martin France

This album represents an exciting collaboration between four of the UK's leading jazz improvisers, Iain Ballamy, Martin France, Alec Dankworth, Dominic Alldis, and four talented young classical musicians, the Pavao string quartet. Together, they have played at venues across the country, ranging from the classically orientated Wigmore Hall to London's premiere jazz-cabaret venue, Pizza On The Park.

The themes chosen for this album were all written by celebrated French film composers: Michel Legrand, Francis Lai, Joseph Kosma, Hubert Giraud, Maurice Jaubert, Alain Romans, Francis Lopez and Raoul Moretti. They first appeared in classic French films released between 1930 and 1968, before melody became enslaved by the tyranny of the beat. As you will hear, Dominic's innovative and jazz-influenced arrangements maintain a sense of affection for their original essence, while inviting the soloists to use the melodic material as a springboard for improvisation.

Reviews

27/02/2005 Christopher Wood, Independent on Sunday

There is a strand of French film music which evokes, as nothing else can, a bitter-sweet world of love and loss. It forms the fabric or the latest album by jazz pianist Dominic Alldis, who has assembled sax, bass, drums and string quartet to capture all the aching and beauty. The arrangements are Alldis's, and strikingly original too - "Un Homme et Une Femme" and "Les Feuilles Mortes"� (Autumn Leaves) are respectfully presented, but as you will never have heard them. To complete, Alldis sings, plays and leads the group in songs by Michel Legrand.

11/02/2005 Jack Massarik, Evening Standard

British jazz no longer has an inferiority complex about America, claims Jazz Britannia, the television documentary that concludes tonight (BBC4, 10pm). Maybe so, but we're particularly superior on English or Continental soil.

Take Dominic Alldis, a sophisticated singer-pianist with the gossamer-light touch of a jazz-cabaret heavy-weight. His latest album features a handful of hummable Gallic movie themes, including seven by Michel Legrand, scored for Ian Ballamy's saxes, his own Bill Evans-ish piano trio and the Pavao String Quartet.

Imagine the Fawlty Towers theme, remixed with double-bass and wire-brushes, gliding into Les Feuiles Mortes of Un Homme et Une Femme, It's a frothily enjoyable experience, not unlike those addictive and slightly subversive flicks themselves.

30/01/2005 Dave Gelly, The Observer

So far, just about the only French film theme to have entered the regular jazz repertoire is Joseph Kosma's 'Les Feuilles Mortes' ('Autumn Leaves'). Now this charming set reveals a whole new world to be explored. Just listen to Alec Dankworth's bass and Iain Ballamy's tenor saxophone striding through 'Quel Temps Fait-il à Paris?' (from M Hulot's Holiday) to hear a natural jazz vehicle just waiting to be unveiled. With Alldis on piano and Martin France on drums, this is a very effective jazz quartet. For the winsome Gallic charm side of things, there is also the Pavao string quartet, which proves particularly effective in Alldis's vocal numbers, all songs by Michel Legrand with lyrics in English, such as 'Watch What Happens' and 'Once Upon a Summertime'. These are more familiar, so there is less sense of discovery, but the treatments are equally fresh.