ECM: Frankreich und JEAN-LOUIS MATINIER / KEVIN SEDDIKI & BENJAMIN MOUSSAY

Music and musicians from France have long been part of ECM’s international panorama, to which this week’s new releases make significant contributions. “There is something magically transportive about the rare accordion-guitar instrumentation,” writes Jazziz of Rivages by Jean-Louis Matinier and Kevin Seddiki: “As they draw on various folk musics and jazz, they evoke different scenes against a wide range of backdrops, from cinematic landscapes to Parisian cafés and beyond.”

Meanwhile, pianist Benjamin Moussay, last heard with Louis Sclavis, draws inspirations from French literature and films and the rockfaces of the Alps on Promontoire, described by The Guardian as “a series of  improvisations that often sound like perfectly plotted miniatures….Moussay’s default position is Satie-esque introspection – minor-key ballads with delightfully quizzical chord changes.”