A portrait is more than a frozen moment, like a photograph; it requires exploration beyond the image. Multi-anchor Clémentine Ristord is a prime example of an artist who must be presented from various angles to fully understand her journey thus far and the path ahead. She is the founder of the Petite Lucette quintet and a member of the Raffut Collectif. She is a musician who is making her mark. There is a very interesting duality that emerges when you look at the different orchestras of this Grenoble-born musician, who graduated from the CNSMDP jazz section in 2022. It is a duality that brings more coherence than rupture. From Tisser les Ombres, the trio she leads with her alter-ego, double bassist Pierre-Antoine Despatures, an improvisational orchestra that lays claim to the notion of Folklore Imaginaire, to Petite Lucette, the explosive quintet selected in the ninth cohort of Jazz Migration, you might think there’s a world out there, or even several. But that would be a mistake. Each of these musicians has a hidden side and an attraction that draws them together. It is in these connections and limbo that Clémentine Ristord’s true musical personality lies hidden. «I belong to the vast field of jazz, or rather improvised music. I compose, and I mainly work as a leader. While it’s my more ‘easy-listening’ projects that have come to the fore recently, from a media or other point of view, there’s another part of me that still cultivates a very improvised music, with a radical approach».

But Petite Lucette is unquestionably radical, with sudden ruptures and small explosions, like bubbles of joy. Born in the context of Uzeste: «It was in 2019 that I created Petite Lucette, following several experiences of a ball at the Uzeste festival, with jazz and improvised musicians who, when night fell, changed costume and became ball musicians. I soon discovered the importance of this complementarity and how essential these different postures of the musician are if he is not to shut himself away in an ivory tower of creation or in a role of soulless entertainment. That’s why I created Petite Lucette. Initially, we blended the two styles, aiming to get people dancing with our compositions. However, sometimes the complexity of our pieces proved too overwhelming, hindering the dance’s momentum. This experience taught us a lot, especially since we were accustomed to the ‘concert’ format. Ballroom is incredibly demanding, and it’s a continuous learning process.

[[a clear reflection of our feelings about today’s society and the undesirable future that awaits us]]

Clémentine Ristord and the quintet are not just another dance band from Uzeste and elsewhere. The travelling stage trailer designed for the occasion was a quick and independent way to get around, and the side roads were easy to take. The selection by Jazz Migration accelerated a process of broadening the repertoire that went much deeper than a simple mutation. For the upcoming album {Incendier les tristesses}, the orchestra is set to explore new, freer directions, with each piece telling a story and infused with a cinematic flair, often with a touch of humor. The repertoire is more inward-looking and darker compared to our first album and our ball. It’s a clear reflection of our feelings about today’s society and the undesirable future that awaits us. It’s a catharsis, a way to find joy in the collective before dancing. It’s a political approach, underpinning many of the aesthetic choices and the desire to {do collectively} that belonged more to the previous generation, that of the Vibrants Défricheurs, of whom Papanosh is a model for Ristord and Petite Lucette. «I was struck by the extent to which my fellow musicians, students, colleagues, or perhaps just our generation, are obsessed or caught up in our individual trajectories. The highly cohesive collective shows a definite taste for the traditional music of the different French basins, as is evident in Tisser les Ombres, or more certainly in La Cozna, the most accomplished orchestra of Clémentine Ristord and the Raffut Collectif. An orchestra with cellos, led the usual soprano saxophone player to turn to the bass clarinet -where she excels -to work on an orchestral texture close to the voice.

You can have both feet in jazz, cite Lee Konitz, the Liberation Music Orchestra and Carla Bley as references, and still have more in common with the trad music scene, if only in terms of a political stance: «It raises the question of heritage, where the music you play comes from, why you play it, what you’re part of? Trad opens up the question of territory, on a very small scale (…). I identify more with the demands made by musicians in this environment, in their positioning as artists, than with the current state of jazz, where I feel political questions are being sidelined in favour of {pure} artistic research turned in on itself. That’s not the kind of practice I want to be part of». Following in the footsteps of orchestras and collectives such as La Novia and Sourdure, and in the footsteps of what ARFI has been producing for decades, Clémentine Ristord presents a new and radical facet of this ongoing discussion between contemporary creation and traditional music. She looks at this from a distance, but with a strong connection to the city’s life. The young musician has a lot more to show us. She is undoubtedly a major player on today’s music scene, and she will continue to surprise us.

Franpi Barriaux / Citizen Jazz