Festival Review: 2003 Europa Jazz Festival in Le Mans, France

By I May. 27, 2003

On April 1, the Europa Jazz Festival in Le Mans, France, kicked off. This home-grown event has a name that clearly defines its mission: to commission new projects by both established and emerging European improvisers and composers. The Europa festival is a leading member of an expanding network of alternative promoters in France and other European countries formed to counteract what they see as a severe case of “Uncle-Samism” on the international jazz circuit. Having American artists dominate the line-ups of European festivals was not an issue 40 years ago when they still had a lock on innovation in jazz. But events like the Europa Festival makes a good case for the argument that more original and exciting contemporary music is being created in, say, Amsterdam or Paris than in Manhattan or Chicago. The Netherlands was admirably represented at Le Mans this year by the Amsterdam String Trio featuring the manic cellist Ernest Reijseger and by Susanne Abbuehl, a compelling singer whose training in jazz with the late Jeanne Lee and studies of North Indian vocal styles has established her as one of the most original new voices to emerge internationally over the past two years. Meanwhile guitarist Raymond Boni, pianist Stephan Oliva, clarinetist Louis Sclavis and trombonist Yves Robert were just four of the many visionary French artists whose latest works were showcased by Europa in 2003.

Cooperative relationships that have developed between presenters in France and various Scandinavian countries as well as between French and Italian promoters were responsible for other memorable concerts. The French-Nordic Jazz Transit, a A new initiative that enabled several Norwegian artists to appear at France’s Grenoble Jazz Festival in March 2003, brought both young and veteran Danish musicians to Le Mans. Solo recitals by Carsten Dahl and Søren Nørbo highlighted the lyricism and romanticism of these talented Copenhagen-based pianists while guitarist Pierre Dørge and New Jungle Orchestra took listeners on a multi-cultural musical voyage that made stylistic references to music from Africa, Indonesia, China and the Middle East while saluting Duke Ellington along the way. Two generations of virtuoso Italian jazz pianists were featured in solo concerts by Stefano Bollani, one of the brightest rising stars on the current European jazz scene, and Enrico Pieranunzi, one of the most distinctive instrumental voices on the Continent for the past 25 years.

While artists imported from the U.S. weren’t totally boycotted by the French at Le Mans, only three of the 30 concerts held between April 30 and May 4 during the five-day marathon that traditionally concludes the event were headlined by Americans. These slots were evenly divided among the three categories of American musicians heard on the international scene today: an expatriate (pianist Eric Watson who has lived in Paris for the past 25 years), a Great White Hope (saxophonist Chris Potter) and a Great Black Music disciple (saxophonist Steve Coleman). Watson seems to have abandoned whatever blues sensibility he might have brought over with him from the U.S. to France for the more intellectual intensity that characterizes Northern European improvisation. Potter’s new quartet delivered a swinging set that made it sound like they were midway through their three-week tour as opposed to playing their first gig together. Coleman closed out the Europa Festival leading the latest incarnation of his group Five Elements. Although his current drummer and bassist could use considerably more seasoning, the band still energized an overflow crowd with a solid dose of his distinctive form of fusion that flirts with both free jazz and funk.

—Mitchell Feldman