Baptiste Bailly Trio

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The El Rincón del Jazz series at the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus welcomes French pianist and composer Baptiste Bailly, one of the most distinctive voices in current European jazz. His music is characterised by a constant quest for dialogue between diverse musical traditions, the result of a career shaped by his interest in flamenco, Mediterranean music and the French impressionist tradition. On this occasion he presents a project that explores the dancing and evocative character of music through a language that integrates jazz, musette, Celtic music and oriental sonorities. It is a sound universe where improvisation, timbral richness and melodic sensitivity coexist naturally. To bring this proposal to life, Bailly will be accompanied by a distinguished international ensemble made up of David Gadea (percussion), Bodek Janke (drums), Étienne Renard (double bass) and multi-instrumentalist Efrén López, seasoned musicians who contribute a great diversity of nuances and sound colours to the group. The result is an open, poetic and deeply personal proposal that invites the listener to travel through different musical landscapes in a new encounter with the diversity and creativity that characterise El Rincón del Jazz. Baptiste Bailly La Fascinante Pianist Baptiste Bailly wanted to gather in this album a set of influences from the world of what is called “traditional” music. To this end, he brought together David Gadea (Spain) on percussion, Bodek Janke (Poland) on drums, Étienne Renard (France) on double bass, and multi-instrumentalist Efrén López (Spain). Spain, jazz, musette, Celtic, Mediterranean and oriental music, and impressionism intertwine in a great nomadic and dreamlike dance. From oriental reminiscences and other Balkan turns (Ritournelle, Cours toujours...) to emotion in the form of a waltz (La Fascinante, actually in 5/8), passing through Irish music (Atherfields, a piece taken from accordionist Andy Cutting), Baptiste Bailly exalts the dancing character of his inspiration (see Dis c’est encore loin la mer), drawing on the living forces of the traditions that nourish him. Powerful and profound, these sources also nurture his playing and his taste for improvisation, which here evolves between delicacy, sensitivity of touch (Agua, ¿Dónde Vas?), clarity of articulation and instinctive poetry (Street Games). What emerges is a pianistic art that mobilises considerable resources, distilled with subtlety and character, revealing an undeniable musical fullness. Immersed in their respective cultures (Spain, Poland, France), the partners brought together by Baptiste delicately serve the leader’s intuitions. It is said that Stravinsky considered the piano a percussion instrument. In the hands of David Gadea, a lover of Mediterranean music, and Bodek Janke, a distinguished drummer who has stood out alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Lars Danielsson, Bobo Stenson and Gilad Hekselman, percussion itself very easily becomes harmonic, unfolding a whole rainbow of colours that resonate (see Les Rêves d’Enora), while the pulse – unfailingly steady – is revealed here as a shared collective responsibility. Räv, an ad lib solo for double bass, is in itself an indication of the trust that Baptiste places in Étienne Renard, a precious companion in adventure. As for Efrén López, his hurdy-gurdy on Atherfields could not be more fitting, while the loose phrasing of his fretless guitar on Vie de grenier gives this piece a unique sonic signature. Whether he lets the music unfold in an “organic” way (Cours toujours, Street Games) or structures it according to scenarios and perspectives that respond to his architectural demands, sometimes using one and the other by way of counterpoint (La Fascinante, emblematic in more than one sense), Baptiste Bailly constantly favours coherence and the clarity of the melodic curve, while seeking to cultivate what the Spanish call duende, that is, the search for the moment of grace. Baptiste Bailly Bio Baptiste Bailly discovered the piano as a self-taught musician at the age of 15, driven by the desire to compose and create his own microcosms. He then became interested in jazz, honing his skills in various courses, crossing paths with great pianists such as Aaron Parks, Yonathan Avishai, Albert Bover and Rémi Ploton, who gave him a free and enlightened vision of improvisation. Through his studies he discovered Spain, and with it a generous, powerful, organic music, thus collaborating with numerous artists of very diverse aesthetics, such as Carles Denia, Federico Nathan, Ales Cesarini, David Minguillón, Pepe Fernández, Elma Sambeat… His first album, the fruit of his travels between France and Spain, was released on the Freshsound New Talent label: Pension Almayer (2019) offers a subtle alchemy between French impressionism, world music and flamenco. Two years later, Suds (2021), recorded as a piano solo for the Neuklang label, continues this fusional search for bittersweet music, where “la neige recouvre l’olivier” (the snow covers the olive tree). Still reflecting his attachment to Spain, he directs and arranges the album Muerto de Amor (2021) by Elma Sambeat, a faithful reflection of the poetry and world of Federico García Lorca. Upon returning to France at the end of 2019, Baptiste worked with singer-songwriter Roxane Arnal on the creation of her album Elior (2022), developing a dreamy and inventive American folk. Based in Rennes, he also met guitarist Gwen Cahue, with whom he recorded Storyboard, released in 2023 by Label Ouest.