Trotignon: Anima

An eminent ambassador of the ‘French touch’ in jazz and winner of many awards (Django-Reinhardt, Victoires du Jazz, Django d’Or, SACEM jazz awards) – Baptiste Trotignon has been composing for symphony orchestras and classical musicians for several years. The music on this album is not ‘symphonic jazz’, says Trotignon, ‘but you can hear the sounds of the Afro-American musical language, whether in the harmonies or in the very motoric rhythms that are always in motion (dances, toccatas, grooves)’. There are three pieces on the programme: Anima, the most ambitious work he has written to date, not only in terms of length but also in terms of orchestration, density ‘and a much stronger desire to make the orchestra sing’; Hiatus et Turbulences, his very first piece with orchestra; and finally L’air de rien, a lighter piece which ends with a tango, and on which he himself plays the piano and adds improvised sections.