Bertrand Gauguet "Shiro" HERBAL Concrete Disc 1405

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HERBAL Concrete Disc 1405: Bertrand Gauguet "Shiro"



Bertrand Gauguet, aCouSTiC anD amplifieD alTo Saxophone

1 | Le temps de sable fin chante dans mes bras | 06:46 | amplified + guitar amp
2 | Shiro | 04:14 | acoustic
3 | Yügen | 14:07 | amplified with feed back
4 | Bloc noir | 02:55 | acoustic
5 | Sabi | 04:35 | amplified + guitar amp
6 | Jo-ha-kyü | 07:18 | acoustic
7 | Kuro | 02:28 | acoustic
8 | anitya | 07:01 | amplified with feed back

All music composed and performed by Bertrand Gauguet

I began this work in 2011 during my residence at Villa Kujoyama in Kyôto.

The recording took place at dominicains de haute-Alsace – innovations numériques pour la musique en Alsace – in Guebwiller (fr), July 19th.

Recorded by Augustin muller, mixed by Augustin muller, edited by Bertrand Gauguet.

Cover design by Denis Chevalier (ppt)
Art cover by Harada Chiaki
Photos by Bertrand Gauguet

Thanks to philippe dolfus and the dominicains’ crew

Audio CD, 6 panels digipak
50 minutes+
Release date: November 2014
12 Euros + shipping

Related resources:
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Rodolphe Alexis | Stéphane Rives : Winds Doors Poplars
Eric La Casa | Cédric Peyronnet : Zones Portuaires
Battus | Marchetti | Petit : La Vie Dans Les Bois
Pascal Battus : Simbol / L'Unique Trait D' Pinceau
Eric Cordier | Seijiro Murayama : Nuit
Eric La Casa : W2 [1998-2008]
Jean-Luc Guionnet : Non Organic Bias
Eric La Casa | Cédric Peyronnet : La Creuse
Eric Cordier : Osorezan

Musically connected
Seijiro Murayama: Broken Iteration
Jason Kahn: Beautiful Ghost Wave

[harsh1961]

There's a way to Listen to excerpts?

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Soon will be up here (together with other recent releases)
http://digitaldaylightdistribution.band ... -of-herbal

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Vital Weekly
The other Herbal International release, by Betrand Gauguet, who plays acoustic and amplified alto saxophone and works with the realms of improvisation. Here, however, solo, and in various pieces he offers a combination of both ends. In a piece like 'Yügen' he keeps the feedback very much under control, humming neatly like sine waves, and on top Gauguet plays long sustaining sounds. It sounds very meditative; it also reminds me of Alvin Lucier long string pieces. It's followed by 'Bloc Noir', a much shorter piece, but according to the cover 'acoustic' but effectively along similar lines, which I thought was great. Gauget creates something from both ends, acoustic and amplified, and unites them. When Gauguet uses a guitar amp, such as in 'Sabi', things become more noise based, and Gauguet is a one-man Borbetomagus. It's the only loud bit on this release, as the other seven pieces are much quieter and much more atmospheric. But such a noisy counterpoint is actually quite nice; it breaks up the release and avoids repetition too much. This is an excellent release of saxophone music.
- Frans De Waard -

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Touching Extremes
Before receiving the promo sheet I had already bathed twice in Shiro’s unpolluted waters. Perhaps influenced by the titles, my initial response was something around the lines of “this was probably recorded in a temple”. It’s not the case, but the quiet severity and the genuinely Zen attributes of this music are that persuasive. During a particular juncture I found myself sitting with the eyes naturally tending to closure, a sort of internal regrouping that developed autonomously as the sounds were flowing. No effort of excessive commitment to the act of listening was needed to join the vibrational current. It was just beautiful.

In two occasions, Gauguet employs a guitar amplifier (one of them – “Sabit” – results in the only relatively demanding segment, defined as it is by a substantial saturation). Elsewhere he produces feedback-grounded washes where adjacent partials generate superb aural luminescences; in that sense, the longest episode “Yügen” belongs to the “transcendental participation” category, provided that the mind is entirely delivered from thoughts of any kind. The whole album represents an authentication of the French reedist as one of the few rigorous researches remained in an acoustic field characterized by extreme difficulty in coming out with something truly compelling. Simple ideas accompanied by profundity will always work wonders in this house, and Gauguet managed to let us reconsider values and methods that we believed archived forever in the “once-it-was-interesting-now-it’s-trite” section of our memory.

Let me suggest a double approach (headphone / speakers) to fully grasp the extent of this program. You need to hear the minute details to elaborate a correct idea of how the sonic propagations are born; on the other hand, pitches and harmonic derivations thereof need to fully resonate and hover around for a while, thus improving our transitoriness via the access to a further level of perception.
- Massiomo Ricci

http://herbalinternational.blogspot.it/ ... shiro.html

https://touchingextremes.wordpress.com/ ... uet-shiro/

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http://herbalinternational.blogspot.com ... shiro.html

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Jazz World
For the past decade or so, French alto saxophonist Bertrand Gauguet has developed a reed strategy that involves hushed microtones, yet also uses amplifications to create a distinctive presence in group and/or solo situations. Following time in Japan studying the honkyoku repertoire, plus cementing links between improvising and meditation, Gauguet’s expanded agenda is exhibited here. Ironically, except for volume, novel reed techniques have become so internalized, that he can produce uniformly consequential work with or without electronic saxophone extensions.
The differences among the eight solo tracks on Shiro for instance, lie more in what is being created rather than how. Consider, for instance the variances and consistency that exist between “Yügen”, where the saxophone is amplified with feedback; and “Sabi”, where the electro-augmentations come from a guitar amp; with “Jo-ha-kyü” and “Bloc noir” which are all-acoustic performances. Featuring loud, dissonant and disjointed timbres, the textures on “Sabi” could as easily have been produced by a guitar. But while that pumped-up program encompasses jet-plane-like buzzing and fuzzy oscillations, guttural reed tones may be non-specific, but preserve their identity. More crucially, there’s an emphasis on breath control and chromatics remains on “Yügen”, despite swelling flanges and intermittent pings take up most of the foreground. By the finale a secondary ghostly line plus buzzing feedback has been shoved sideways to create context for a distinct alto saxophone tone.
Lacking plug-ins, the all-acoustic “Bloc noir” still manages to willfully inflate the alto’s sophisticated tone so that its parameters are undeniably established. The track also highlights Gauguet’s facility as an acoustic reedist. As expressive, but likely amplified by placing a microphone in the saxophone bell “Jo-ha-kyü” is bellicose and stentorian. As staccato asides swell into harsh whistles and fire-bell-like timbres a narrative strategy that is also magisterial is delineated.
- Ken Waxman -

http://herbalinternational.blogspot.com ... shiro.html

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Apologies for the delay, here is the sample of Bertrand Gauguet "Shiro"

https://digitaldaylightdistribution.ban ... guet-shiro

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Freistil
Bertrand Gauguet begann die arbeit an seiner Solo-CD Shiro während einer residenz in der Villa Kujoyama in Kyote. Er muss dort oder aber schon vorher eine grosse innere Ruhe gefunden haben. Die sieben Stücke strahlen eine meditative Gelassenheit aus. Lange, flächenartige Töne mischen sich mit sehr behutsamen, kontrollierten Feedbacks. Aber auch rein akustisch und ohne Unterstützung gelingt dem Franzosen sein Klangkonzept. Er spielt mit dem Blättchen, und Pausen werden voll ausgekostet. Ein einziges Mal wird es grob. In der Mitte der schön eingepackten CD heult das Feedback verzerrt auf und reisst mich aus dem Schwebezustand. Danach passiert es in Jo-Ha-Kyu noch ein paar Mal, bis einen die letzten beiden Strücke wieder ins Schwerelose tragen. Für den Hörer eine sehr wohltuende Angelegenheit, dieses von Bertrand Gauguet Höchst überzugende Werk.
- Sim -

http://herbalinternational.blogspot.com ... shiro.html

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Le Son Du Grisli
On ignore si les huit pièces de Shiro, travail engagé par Bertrand Gauguet en 2011 alors qu’il était en résidence à la Villa Kujoyama de Kyôto, forment un tout – c’est-à-dire : une cohérence – ou si elles sont les relevés emblématiques – mais disparates – de l’assimilation dynamique des chants d’un instrument acoustique et de ceux du même instrument amplifié.
S’il est affaire de balance, Shiro basculerait au moment de Sabi, cinquième plage d’intonations saturant qu’un ampli de guitare crache en machine bruitiste. De part et d’autre, c’est en diplomate ou en créateur méditatif (« Je travaille quotidiennement et, en un sens, cela peut s’approcher d’une forme de méditation », confiait Gauguet en 2011) que le saxophoniste consigne un exercice butchérien. Souffles introvertis, lignes sinueuses mesurées souvent à l’aune de feedbacks ou notes endurantes mais réservées, fuient alors les impasses de l’exercice improvisé (si ce n’est sur Yūgen qui, à force de trop approcher l’impasse, s’y oubliera) au son de polyphonies vaporeuses.
- Guillaume Belhomme -

http://herbalinternational.blogspot.com ... shiro.html

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【Improjazz】
L’horizon se veut introverti, rauque d’un large élan (Shiro). Puits sans fin où se nichent de maigres feedbacks (Yügen). Souffle non pas encagé mais délivré, vents s’engouffrant dans les bois (Le temps de sable fin chante dans mes bras). Horizons traversés (Bloc noir), gorgées d’harmoniques (Jo-Ha-Kuy, Kuro). Ici et là, Bertrand Gauguet et son saxophone alto détendent le souffle, blessent le son et se cognent aux furieux (Sabi). Puis s’effacent, s’éloignent, s’oublient (Anitya). Reste l’horizon, toujours l’horizon.
- Luc Bouquet -

http://herbalinternational.blogspot.com ... shiro.html