Le Monde de Kota: Murmures

If I had to choose a "pick of year 2006" record, Murmures would probably be it. I first saw Le Monde de Kota at the St Aignan harmonica festival in May and I fell in love with their music. Back then, I purchased their self-produced album which has now been released officially and is distributed in France. I went back to see them live a couple of weeks ago and purchased the alternate version of Murmures of which this is a review.

Le Monde de Kota is an atypical jazz quartet. The first thing that is unusual about them is the line-up: double-bass, trombone, chromatic harmonica and electric guitar. The other, more surprising thing about them is that they play an extremely progressive brand of instrumental jazz and yet, despite pushing the limits quite far in my opinion, they manage to keep the music accessible even to the layman's ears.

Murmures opens with Quand le Chat n'est pas Là, composed by harmonica player Olivier Goulet, which is quite typical of the approach displayed on this album. It starts with a fairly simple, catchy melody which is gradually broken down. The tune then shifts into a fairly open middle section, with double bass and trombone laying down a quiet background thread and the harmonica improvising widly over and around it. The harmonica then continues solo, with some vocalizing done by Olivier, a very weird sound all in all. Then, out of this maelstrom of odd sounds emerge first components of the harmony underlying the melody, then the foundations of the melody again, and gradually we move back into melodic territory.

The album travels through various moods, from the upbeat orientalness of Phara to the slightly mad deconstruction of L'Ascenscion d'un Nuage de Bonheur to the somber melancholy of Pourpre or the bucolic peacefulness of Verde Atteso. This variety makes its listening always pleasant and never monotonous. The album draws you in the World de Kota and then takes you by the hand to explore its depths.

There are two things that make Murmures really exceptional to me. The first is the combination of strong personalities into a coherent whole, something quite rare, especially with a quartet of instruments that are not backed into a specific role in the whole  the harmonica and trombone often contribute to the harmony, the bass often takes the lead, the harmonica alone builds chord progression through arpeggios, etc. The four players have a distinct personality that is perceptible, and yet the music in the end is cohesive, a powerful blend of these personalities without any of them being crushed in the process. In fact, therein lies, perhaps, my single, slight, frustration about the album: I do wish, at times, that Julien Ormé, the guitar player, would bite a little more. As it is, he underpins the whole superbly, but his solo spots are a little too tame to really stand as tall as the other three musically.

The other thing that is quite expectional on this record (and even more perceptible live) is its soundscape. The instrumentation and the interplay between the instruments sculpts a truly unique sound. The incredible breadth of the trombone, from delicate, velvet phrases to flashes of brass, growling, screeching, and back to breathy croaks of dying sound... The double-bass often leaves the straight path of rhythmic support to fly all around the expected bass line, it clicks, it slaps, it slides, highlights with shining harmonics, hits the notes with bow, with stick; its use of sound is no less striking. And the harmonica, fluid, fast without being furious, answers both the softness and the excess of the trombone, clicks, moans, breathes, lives.

Olivier Goulet's specific path to the chromatic harmonica, to me, is its integration in the whole that constitutes Le Monde de Kota's music. He doesn't have the most stunning sound, and probably not the most inventive soloing either. But he has a capacity to interact with the rest of the band, to be not just a solo instrument, that I haven't heard in many harmonica players. He's young, and I have no doubt that his sound and harmonic inventiveness will evolve (just so I'm clear, they are already extremely impressive, it's just not what shines the most in his playing in my opinion) but already, he has found his own path.

I listen to Murmures very regularly and I can only recommend, as strongly as possible, that you get a hold of this record. If you want to form your own opinion, you can check out Le Monde de Kota's website, it features many sound samples (as well as en English version).

Comments

[marc]

Thanks for posting this--I really like the samples on their site. It's certainly not a new CD, but I recently got a copy of Monk Alters Chi by Chris Michalek and Christopher Strone (available at cdbaby.com). It came out in 2005 and is great (a lot of diverse influences showcased in this jazz album). I believe Chris's new band (thebuddhasgroove.com) will be coming out with a CD sometime this year.

[Benoît F.]

Hey marc, thanks for the comments. Monk Alters Chis was reviewed here, in the review section. Here's a direct link if you want to check it out http://harmonica.typepad.com/harmonica_ramblings/2005/04/michalekstrone_.html. I'm afraid I wasn't as enthusiatic as you on the final product, but I'll certainly acknowledge that people like Chris are pushing the envelope of what is good music for the harmonica, and that's very positive!

[marc]

I figured you had probably reviewed it, but there's usually no easy way to search someone's blog and I only looked under the "Artists" category before posting. As I'm relatively new to the harmonica (been playing about 5 months) and actually paying attention to or seeking out harmonica music itself, I'll be interested to see how this CD sits with me in a year or two. A lot of "world" music and "fusion" stuff frequently sounds technically impressive to me, but ultimately kind of without soul. Like someone using 4 languages to say one sentence--my reaction: "wow, impressive! did that person just say anything?" what i liked about this album was that it displayed impressive skills but still seemed to convey some individuality. Again, not being a seasoned harmonica listener, I was probably not as critical of Chris as you, but I think you brought up some pretty fair points. Chris seems like a pretty cerebral player.

If I were to buy my first JJ Milteau CD, which would you recommend? From the samples I've heard, and what I've read of your comments, Fragile seems like a good bet.

[Benoît F.]

Marc,

I think I'd go for Blue 3rd over Fragile. Blue 3rd is slightly less consistent, most of the instrumentals are a bit elevator-y, but the good bits are awesome. On Fragile, everything is good, but it's less awesome...
Of course, if you think of buying it through the amazon link provided on this very page, I'd be very happy !
BTW, there's also a review of Blue 3rd within these pages, here : http://harmonica.typepad.com/harmonica_ramblings/2005/04/jeanjacques_mil.html

[marc]

Thanks for recommendation--I just bought a copy through the Amazon link on your review page of the CD!

It's funny how I now hear harmonica everywhere--from bad TV commercials to Sigur Ros's "( )" album...

[marc]

BTW, I see Milteau has got some "live, hot 'n blue" album coming out in February... You, of course, probably already knew this ; )