SOPHIA DOMANCICH — Courtepointe Live at the Sunside (with Mark Helias, Andrew Cyrille) (review)

SOPHIA DOMANCICH — Courtepointe Live at the Sunside (with Mark Helias, Andrew Cyrille) album cover Live album · 2012 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
snobb
French pianist Sophia Domancich is best known for her twenty-years of collaboration with the leading bands and solo artists of the Canterbury scene, including Pip Pyle, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper,etc,etc. Her solo works are less known, especially outside of France, which is a shame - she is a classically-trained pianist with a series of really interesting albums, coming from more than two decades.

Her live album "Courtepointe", recorded in Paris' Sunside club, is not her first album of such origin: three years earlier she released similar acoustic trio work, recorded live in Sunside as well (with the extraordinary rhythm section of drummer Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker).

"Courtepointe" is an acoustic trio album as well, with Hamid Drake again, this time paired with bassist Mark Helias. Once tagged as a "better writer than improviser", Sophia finds great balance of both components on this album. Her chamber sensibilities with a touch of French romanticism are perfectly balanced by the freewheeling and groovy American rhythm section.

This gig doesn't sound as much like a hot-wired free-jazz American club night, it's more of an elegant and even stylish French one. Her trio plays exclusively originals, coming proportionally from each member, combining tuneful slightly melancholic Sophia's almost-chamber songs with more full-blooded groovy and quite free compositions coming from Drake and Helias. Probably this album's main value comes from how well balanced this live show sounds. Each musician uses his strong sides and gets support from her/his colleagues, as a result all the music isn't chaotic at all, but lively, well-rounded modern cosmopolitan jazz.
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