French reed player Emile Parisien is counted among the top of contemporary European jazz. A role he gratefully sealed in 2021 on the experimental and electronically oriented album
XXXX (2021) by the quartet around keyboardist
Michael Wollny. On the album Louise he seems to want to demonstrate above all that European jazz, how could it be otherwise, comes from America. No fewer than three Americans
… flank him in his sextet, including trumpeter Theo Crocker and the extremely inventive drummer Nasheet Waits. Louise winks at the post-bop of, for example, the Miles Davis Quintet of the 1960s with concentrated ensemble playing that sounds complex and disciplined, but also seeks musical freedom in collective improvisation. With compositions by almost all members, Parisien allows his sextet to shine especially as a band, with prominent roles for all members. The result is a highly driven and rich album full of European-American jazz. (MR)more
