Julien Lourau’s rumba sax

The Paris Afro-Cuban sound

Paris 

25/04/2007 - 

The last we heard from Julien Lourau was his double electro-electric album Fire & Forget. Now the versatile sax virtuoso has branched out in another unexpected direction on his new album, Julien Lourau vs Rumbabierta, working with a group of Cuban percussionists and vocalists based in Paris. The result is a radical and compelling reworking of Afro-Cuban tradition. Lourau, one of three music stars invited to co-host the Jazz Festival at La Villette (29 August - 9 September), will be taking his new sound to the stage on this occasion.

RFI Musique : How did the Rumbabierta project get off the ground?
Julien Lourau: I actually discovered Rumbabierta through Sebastian Quezada, a Chilean friend of mine who’s a singer and percussionist. He’s the absolute lynchpin, the mastermind behind the whole project. The project’s based on a collective of Cuban musicians who’ve been living in Paris for at least five years – many of them, including the guy who’s the son of the legendary Puntilla, for much longer than that even! Anyway these guys used to get together every Sunday and play rumba at Le Babaloo, a club down near Bastille. They’d perform material from the traditional rumba repertoire but what’s really interesting about them is that they also mixed in all kinds of other classics reworked Afro-Cuban style. They even do a version of Billie Jean! That’s where their name Rumbabierta comes from – it literally means "open rumba." The group take the basic codes of rumba, a style based on traditional bata drums and hypnotic vocals, and open them up to other influences.

A bit like your own musical universe which actually veers more towards jazz… How did you go about working with the group?
It all happened very simply, very naturally. I’d jammed with Rumbabierta several times before and then I took things a bit further. I was doing an artistic residency in Chambéry and I called them up and suggested taking our collaboration a stage further. I put a lot of work into licking the project into shape. But I was very much "in & out" on the album because I was obviously working with a group that was already formed.

Did you spend much time listening to rumba before throwing yourself into this project?
I’ve always listened to rumba, both in its traditional form, descargas from the 50s, and the more experimental work developed by the Gonzalez brothers in New York in the 70s. But I think there’s also a Cuban tradition in Paris that goes back a fair way, a tradition that extends from the Cuban musicians who used to play in Paris clubs in the 20s and 30s right through to Rumbabierta today. I really wanted to promote the Paris Cuban sound. The music’s got a very unique feel to it - Cubans visiting Paris who discover it are generally pretty surprised by it. I’vie seen a lot of them left completely gobsmacked. Take Rumbaed, for instance, they really push Jungian - one of the rhythmic bases repeated over and over in this music - to extremes. And then I come along on top of that and add my own approach, which is obviously really unusual in a rumba context. Then we’vie got Eric Lither throwing in his saturated guitar sounds and the Congolese guitarist Maiga Mun am adding a whole African feel to things.

Do you see yourself as fitting into the tradition of Latin jazz saxophonists?
No, not really. I have to say I don’t actually listen to Latin jazz all that much. My sole reference in that domain is the Argentinian Ga to Barber - and even then I’m only really interested in his early stuff. This album’s not all about sax. The emphasis is much more on the vocals with the saxophone weaving around them or cutting in and out…

And this obviously influences the whole playing style when it comes to the sax…
Yes, it does. I’d say I go in for more Flea Kati-style chorus stuff. I play it raw and hard, with the instrument squealing away almost trance-like live on stage. Rhythmically speaking, I’d say up until now I’vie had a solid Latin music base, but this project has really helped me progress way beyond that. And then there’s been all the work on the vocals, positioning the saxophone in imaginative ways – as counterpoint, harmony and response. It’s incredibly varied.

On this album you also play a bit of Fender Rhodes…
Yes, but sparingly. I’d say it’s the same kind of relationship Miles (Davis) had with synthesizers – it’s all about adding musical colours.

Speaking of adding a bit of musical colour, have you ever witnessed the ritual ceremonies where rumba is traditionally performed?
Yes, I went along to the annual rumba ceremony. But I have to admit that six hours of bata drums pounding away non-stop actually ends up being a bit boring. I feel that as far as French rumba adepts are concerned, it’s more of an obsessional cerebral exercise where they get off on the whole polyrhythmic thing and a good dose of mysticism. Cubans primarily see the bata drum as an instrument, even though some drums are sacred according to the rituals they’re used in. But they don’t go round trying to convert everyone! My take on the whole thing is that I totally respect rumba tradition, but this project doesn’t have a sacred element to it. The only mysticism we’re interested in is the music.

Weren’t you worried about leaving some of your fans a bit bewildered? After all, this album follows your double electro-electric album Fire and Forget and that took a fair few people by surprise…
It’s the same every time really. The criticism that’s always leveled at me is that the last album was ‘totally different’. But the simple truth is I don’t want to end up churning out the same thing over and over again! It’s the same again this time round. It’s going to take people a bit of time to get into it, but they will in the end. Plenty of people come up to me these days and congratulate me on Gambit.
I think this new project’s done me a lot of good. This is the first time in more than a decade that I’m not actually carrying the whole thing on my shoulders. There are other musicians involved and the whole thing happened so naturally, as easily as breathing. It’s given me a huge energy boost which I really needed.

And do you have any new projects in the pipeline?
Well, I’ve just set up a quartet that I’m co-directing with the pianist Laurent Coq. We’re going to be accompanied by two different rhythm sections: either Ari Hoenig and Thomas Bramerie or Otis Brown and Vincent Artaud. We set the whole thing up in Lyons in January. Laurent and I have chosen the repertoire together, it’s going to be contemporary jazz, a music that always revives me. The plan is to present the quartet live on stage this autumn at the jazz festival at La Villette where I’ve been invited as a sort of guest host together with Steve Coleman and Wayne Shorter. The idea is to present groups and musical styles that have influenced me and played a major role in my career to date. There’ll definitely be some sort of electro line-up with my friend Jeff Sharell and, of course, an appearance from Rumbabierta, too.

Julien Lourau, Julien Lourau vs Rumbabierta (Label Bleu) 2007

French tour begins 27 April 007

Jacques  Denis

Translation : Julie  Street