Qui Parle? Well, Marc Ducret, for one, along with Leslie Sévenier, Philippe Agaël, and Laurence Blasco. And Anne Magouët sings. With all this vocalizing en Français, linguistically challenged stateside listeners -- even Ducret's fans -- may be inclined to pass up this Sketch label disc in favor of the French guitarist's purely instrumental offerings on labels like Winter & Winter and Screwgun, fearing non-comprehension of the CD's contents. They shouldn't worry about that, because Qui Parle? is arguably Ducret's finest recording as a leader to this point, displaying the full range of his talents and placing those talents into a most impressive setting overall. Plus, the vocals -- mainly spoken word snippets that arise here and there -- don't really make up a sizable portion of the nearly 75 minutes of extraordinary music on Qui Parle? Of course, hearing Ducret and Sévenier read an excerpt from nouveau roman author Alain Robbe-Grillet's Dans le Labyrinthe and understanding those words is important in contextualizing the music surrounding the words, but the music stands on its own regardless. Here, Ducret and his dependable trio partners of bassist Bruno Chevillon and drummer Éric Échampard are augmented from track to track by a host of other instrumentalists on piano, saxophones, trumpet, tuba, sampler, violin (by Dominique Pifarély, who goes unmentioned in the main CD credits), and more. As listeners of Ducret's solo recordings know, the guitarist is an expert in the use of space, often letting his chords and notes ring out into silence at carefully chosen moments. Qui Parle? reveals those same skills at times, but also shows that he is a varied composer who knows the best places to use density and how to integrate diverse instrumentation into his music. There are more ideas stuffed into this CD than most Ducret listeners might be prepared for -- everything from avant rock and jazz to free funk to modern chamber composition to acoustic folk and blues are part of the guitarist's lexicon. Yet, it all fits together and is far more than a series of disconnected experiments in style. Who speaks? Marc Ducret, in a language any music lover could understand. Knowledge of French may be helpful now and then, but is far from mandatory. - Dave Lynch
While he's turned in some brilliant interim work , it's been four years since Marc Ducret's last solo project. Now 46, Ducret worked more than two years on Qui parle? (which translates to "Who's speaking?"), wherein his conceptual thrust begins to overtake his colossal aptitude as a pure player. With the members of his working trio plus ten other musicians, three actors and a singer, Ducret has created a collage involving sound and studio as much as pen and paper.
Jazz is only a small part of "all the sounds: the beautiful ones, the unpleasant ones, the very strong ones, the very soft ones, the very calm ones" that Ducret adores and worships. This partially explains his love of percussive and extended technique on a torrent of axes, and his disdain for classification as an avant gardist.
"Le Menteur" begins as a rock riff punctured by obliquely voiced power chords, then a slowly syncopated trumpet and guitar unison line seemingly excerpted from a French spy movie. The air of mystery is bludgeoned by Nirvana-like power chords over laptop bleeps, yielding spare horns and acoustic guitar, with nothing but the ticking of a clock, perhaps attached to a time-bomb, marking tempo. The bomb indeed detonates, as does Ducret, into molten territory, spurring thoughts of what it might be like if he were to radically shift career paths and front is own rock band.
"L'Annexe" is introed in "rural" acoustic fashion, going electric as an instantly-classic distorted riff sinks into the ear, offset in succession by the members of a whack horn section. Deftly thrilling, the orchestration literally pauses for a deep breath, supplanted by pulsing bass before Ducret's magnificent solo turn. Marc often interrupts or overlaps legato fluidity and whammy-tremmed phraseology with staccato flurry, and it's particularly effective in this raw trio section. Few guitarists so thoroughly investigate the possibilities of toying with time: stretching, breaking it, or keeping the flow, often in direct contradiction of the rhythm section.
Cue up "Qui Parle" into to "Emportez-Moi" for encapsulation of the project's oeuvre. Following an introduction of entwining word-play, the music also strings together seemingly unrelated elements that should likewise be appreciated for their cadence and contour. One of the world's great fretless guitarists, Ducret spins out sitar-like phrases utilizing notes with pitches repeated on different strings, going choppily rapid fire before held tones climb the fretboard. The linked phrases and techniques descend us down a reticulating staircase into a soundtrack supplanted by dialogue seemingly from a Truffaut film, a seductive soliloquy redolent in analogy.
We can only scratch the surface on Ducret's latest ambitious statement-an alternative rock, avant-garde, textural, chamber-jazz soundtrack to his own film noir. This all just works so well it suggests that even within the context of his most famous and fruitful associations, Ducret may be unwittingly fragmenting, even constraining his concept, as well as the potential of his reach as an artist who truly matters. As the auteur himself says, roughly translated from French , "Often, the enthralling things, and those which endure, escape all categories." - Phil DiPietro
Tracks
01. On Ne Peut Pas Danser Là-Dessus
02. Le Menteur
03. L'Annexe (Rurale)
04. L'Annexe
05. Qui Parle? / text by Alain Robbe-Grillet
06. Emportez-Moi / text by Henri Michiaux
07. Double Entendre
08. Ce Sont Les Noms Des Mots
09. Double Simple
10. Emportez-Moi / text by Henri Michaux
HÉLÈNE LABARRIÈRE double bass (6, 8, 10)
DOMINIQUE PIFARÉLY violin (9)
THIERRY MADIOT trombone (8, 10)
PHILIPPE AGAËL voice (6, 8, 10)
JULIEN LOURAU saxophone (1, 8)
FRANÇOIS VERLY percussion (8)
MICHEL MASSOT tuba, trombone (2, 3, 4, 7)
ALAIN VANKENHOVE trumpet (1, 2, 3, 4, 7)
CHRISTOPHE MONNIOT saxophone (1)
LAURENCE BLASCO voice (1)
LESLIE SÉVENIER voice (5, 6)
YVES ROBERT trombone (1)
BRUNO CHEVILLON bass, double bass (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8)
ERIC ECHAMPARD drums, percussion (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8)
ALLIE DELFAU piano, keyboards, sampler (1, 6, 7, 8, 10)
BENOÎT DELBECQ piano, keyboreads, sampler (1, 6, 7, 8, 10)
ANNE MAGOUËT vocals
MARC DUCRET guitar, voice (5)
All music composed by Marc Ducret
Recorded in Studios Val d'Orge, Gimmick, Campus at the "Duc Des Lombards"& at Marc's by Pierre-Henri Thiébaut.
Sketch - SKE 333038 (France)