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Not only do they have the incredible Vijay Iyer on board (check out his latest album Solo released this week) but also Nguyên Lê (he of Signature Edition 1 and Saiyuk to name just two) and now we can add the Céline Bonacina Trio.

The trio consists of Céline (baritone, alto and soprano saxophones, vocals), Nicolas Garnier (electric bass) and Hary Ratimbazafy (drums and vocals).

Hang on! Baritone? Yeah, Céline’s main instrument in the baritone sax. She was brought to the attention of label boss Siggi Loch by Lê after meeting her at a festival in 2008. A couple of years later and Lê features on four of the 13 tracks on the debut Way Of Life.

The opener ‘ZigZag Blues’ hits you in the balls with its full on bass-ness with Gallic tones. But this is anything but a blues album. Her sound is so full; very full. On the cusp of brimming over and it’s not because she’s a woman that were impressed by her playing I must point out.

Most of the album is composited by her and ‘Wake Up’ is avant-funk (she’s played in Nils Langren’s band in the passed) and is one of the many highlights along with ‘Course Pour Suite’ as there’s a quirky spirit here (perhaps it’s because Hary is Madagascian and Nicolas comes from a love of rock/fusion background).

We know that Lê likes to collaborate and he’s at his finest here with subtle contributions (like Saiyuk) to full-on solos. Best up is the jazz shuffler ‘Ra Bentr’ol’ and the heavy fusion of ‘Ekena’ of ‘Jungle’. And on ‘Entre deux Rêves’, is Mahavishnu in the house? Or is it Albert Ayler?) Spirits Rejoice! jazz fusion is coming back I tell you.

As you might guess, the Trio want to show off their range on Way Of Life so it does often flip from one extreme (the gentle expression of ‘Free Woman’) to the world tinged ‘Travel Story’ and to the rockin’ ‘RAB’ and somewhere in between, ‘Histoire de’ (and I love those Swingle Singers vocals) to the modern jazz fusion.

This band are destined to be as big as the baritone sound that Bonacina commands so well and Nguyên Lê invitation is pure bonus - more proof that ACT is Jazz label of the year 2010!

Reviewed: Céline Bonacina Trio feat. Nguyên Lê - Way Of Life (ACT) Cat. No. ACT 9498-2 Release date: 2nd August 2010 Artwork: Untitled by Erwin Wurm.
Tracklisting:
1. ZigZag Blues (3:21)
2. Course Pour Suite (4:17)
3. Ra Bentr’ol (6:05)
4. Wake Up (3:52)
5. Free Woman (4:56)
6. Travel Story (4:44)
7. Ekena (4:54)
8. Deep Red (1:34)
9. RAB (1:58)
10. Histoire de (2:53)
11. Jungle (5:02)
12. Entre deux Rêves (7:47)
13. Toty Come Bach (0:52)

Links:
www.myspace.com/celinebonacina
www.myspace.com/nguyenle1
actmusic.com
Echo Deutscher Musikpress - Jazz label of the year 2010