Erik Truffaz Quartet at Ethno Jazz Festival: trumpet, improvisation and urban influences
Erik Truffaz Quartet feature in the Ethno Jazz Festival announcement with music open to improvisation and urban rhythms. The leader’s trumpet meets the experience of the whole ensemble, while work with rappers, including Nya, broadens its jazz language through new uses of the voice.
Erik Truffaz Quartet’s concert forms part of the prestigious Ethno Jazz Festival, held in Wrocław for 9 years.
Eric Truffaz was born in Switzerland in 1960. He began learning to play at just 6 and performing publicly at 8. He plays trumpet but also studied piano. From the beginning of his artistic career, he showed broad musical interests, spanning diverse areas from dance music to a fusion of funk and jazz. This diversity has become Truffaz’s hallmark. Over time, new fascinations joined his original interests, and the music of the group he leads now forms an intriguing combination of jazz, rock, rap, drum ’n’ bass and even pop. The artists boldly and successfully experiment and play with convention.
Three characteristic elements stand out in Erik Truffaz Quartet’s music: the collective, sound and group dynamics. Within this cohesive collective, the musicians nevertheless have room for free improvisation. The band boldly use diverse forms of expression. Inviting decidedly “non-jazz” artists such as rappers Nya and Pierre Audeta adds urban colour to their pieces, making jazz more familiar in communities where it previously had little presence. Released in 2010, “The Dawn” brings further surprises: at an unhurried pace, stretching their sounds, the musicians seem to contemplate silence.
Among their own compositions, they included a Bob Dylan cover with guest Sophie Hunger; elsewhere, a banjo can be heard. The musicians have once again shown their readiness for new adventures and challenges, with Eric Truffaz emerging as a musical personality redrawing boundaries and setting standards.
The band’s discography comprises 17 records, documenting how their musical interests have changed. Eric Truffaz Quartet’s greatest exposure came with “Out of a Dream”, released in 1997. It was a musical event of such significance that legendary label Blue Note decided to release it, the first record by a French band in the label’s history. The album itself grew from Habib Anchour’s inspiration. Their collaboration produced “Out of a Dream”, which began Eric Truffaz4tet’s triumphant progress across the world’s concert stages.
Erik Truffaz Quartet’s line-up will be: Erik Truffaz: trumpet; Marcello Giuliani: bass; Arthur Hnatek: drums; Benoît Corboz: keyboards.
Event details
ERIK TRUFFAZ QUARTET
17 October 2015
Gothic Hall
Wrocław