Bee Jazz
Wallemme is an in demand bass player on the Paris and French scene, and this well executed, well conceived album reflects much the cultural melting pot of contemporary Paris. France's colonial past has meant over the latter half of the twentieth century it has assimilated а wide range of immigrants from the African, North African and Mid-Eastern Diaspora, аll with their own musical traditions and traditional instruments. These have been thoughtfully integrated into Wallemme's music in а wholly organic way; the use of bass clarinet and percussion (dholak, ghatam, tabla, Kanjira) on ‘Holi' or the swirling mid-Eastern feel of Mon Jules' and 'Le Temps Des Moussons' using tabala, ghatam and various Indian percussion together with soprano lead lines and guitar unisons perfectly evoke an Arabian bazaar. This music is tastefully conceived and executed - even down to the framing of Wallemme's bass solo on ‘Namaste' - it may be world jazz, but it is not writ large, rather you hear the music first then the devices used in its construction, which is as it should be.
Stuart Nicholson
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