Tickets price: 60 PLN
A 10% discount is available when purchasing 2 tickets for 2 different concerts in Firlej
A 15% discount is available when purchasing 3 tickets for 3 different concerts in Firlej
A 20% discount is available when purchasing 4 tickets for 4 different concerts in Firlej
Discounts are available only at the organizer’s ticket offices:
+48 508 491 901, +48 508 492 270
Michel Benita “Looking at Sounds”
Michel Benita – double bass, compositions
Matthieu Michel – flugelhorn
Jozef Dumoulin – Rhodes
John Hadfield – drums
photo credit: Jean Baptiste Millot
Following up on his ECM 2015 leader debut, River Silver with his Ethics band, Algerian bassist, Michel Benita introduces his new quartet with an album that brings an entirely fresh sound and concept to his music. Retaining the services of drummer, Philippe Garcia and Matthieu Michel on flugelhorn from the earlier set, he brings to the mix Belgian keyboard wizard, Jozef Dumoulin on Fender Rhodes and thus introduces an original voice and tonal palette that helps define and shape the music in the most magnificent manner.
With the subtle use of electronics, and Benita’s strong and masterful melodies, Dumoulin’s unique take on the role of the Fender Rhodes gives the music a lightness of feel, yet solid grounding, with shifting textures that imbue the music with an almost mystical sense of being. The music often has this floating feeling that gently carries the listener along, but can also dig in when needed, as if to emphasise a point or bring to the fore a strong melodic idea or rhythmic motif. The compositions lend themselves to this way of music making, utilising melodic fragments and textures from this most unconventional of rhythm sections, upon which Michel delivers his lyrical flugelhorn to wonderful effect. From the delicate Barroco and Low Tide to the elegant theme of Dervish Diva with its quite insistence and getting its own way.
The title track, Looking At Sounds brings forth an emphasis on the quartet’s use of colour and texture to develop and channel the music through a longer piece, through the use slowly evolving soundscapes that lead to the main melody as the natural climax to the performance. This is cleverly done by the use of Dumoulin’s distinctive vocabulary on the electric piano that at times will remind one, albeit a little more quietly, of Chick Corea’s use of the instrument with Miles as the music develops a harder edge, and Michel’s more plangent tone on the flugel. This device is also used to great effect on Slick Team that again uses the electronic hardware to fine effect, and a more obtuse line from Matthieu Michel before the whole comes together to resolve itself with a more clearly defined role for Michel that morphs seamlessly into the catchy closing theme.
