Five experienced French free improvisers, all playing deep-toned instruments gathered for a performance at the Festival Musique Action in Vandoeuvre in May 2003. The five musicians are Daunik Lazro who played the baritone sax, Jouk Minor who played the rarely heard contrabass sarrusophone, Thierry Madiot who played the bass trombone and telescopic tubes, David Chiésa who played a 5 string double bass (on the left channel of the recording) and Louis-Michel Marion who also played a 5 string double bass (on the right channel). These basses allow the Chiésa and Marion to reach lower registers.

The title of the album, Sonoris Causa, suggests that these five improvisers were investigating the resonating sonorities of their instruments for this 66-minute performance. The musicians declare that their goal was to offer a collective improvisation of their low-range instruments in order to build a sculpture of sound. «Music as an organic matter developing by itself».

The bassists bow their basses most of the time and set the hyper-resonant, ripples-like basis of this improvisation. Lazro contrast their deep-toned, dark and woody sounds with the highest-pitched instrument in this setting and often his baritone sax vocalizes the main course of the improvisation. But this sound-oriented improvisation, which employs an array of extended bowing and circular breathing techniques, is focused on negotiating these low-range frequencies while arranging, sculpting and deconstructing them constantly in the performance space and within loose and abstract drone structures. In a patient and organic manner, these drone structures gravitate into quiet and meditative textures with brief melodic overtones articulated by Lazro, offering a deep, reverberating sonic haven.

Eyal Hareuveni

Daunik Lazro (bs), Jouk Minor (contrabass sarrusophone), Thierry Madiot (btb, telescopic tubes), David Chiésa (5 strings b (left channel)), Louis-Michel Marion (5 strings b (right channel))