French master improvisers guitarist Raymond Boni and percussionist Didier Lasserre belong to different generations but share a common language. Boni comes from the first generation of French free jazz musicians and free improvisers, known for his collaborative work with Joe McPhee that began in the late seventies and continues until today. Lasserre is a generation younger, an autodidact who often works with poets, dancers and art exhibitions. Both op for an economic gestures, implying concise ideas rather than ornamenting these ideas; their improvisations stress a unique sense of playing with space and silence and, obviously, their set of duets and solo pieces is based on deep listening.
«Soft Eyes», the duo debut recording, was recorded in Lasserre hometown, Bordeaux, on April 2015. The nine pieces highlight Boni and Lasserre rich, poetic language, often meditative and cryptic, deliberately avoiding predictable terrains. The duo can adopt a more intimate approach, yet an abstract one, when Boni plays the Harmonica, enabling Lasserre to color his fleeting ideas, as on «And Mysteries» or on Boni solo recreation of Donald Ayler «I Am Singing One Of These Songs». The duo arrangement of the standard «Nature Boy» is one of the most imaginative that I have listened to. Such beauty is a rare thing.
Eyal Hareuveni
Raymond Boni (g), Didier Lasserre (perc)
