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The word jazz, by itself, is capable of driving many people away without even having heard a note. It is often considered elitist or snobbish music, and to some extent it is. Jazz by nature does not give concessions, and it is common for it to challenge the listener, as much as it surprises and enthralls him/her.
Jazz is not for everyone, as many other genres are not for everyone, whether they are "elitist" or not. But there are musicians who, being jazz musicians, do not like this label and shake it off all the time, experimenting, exploring new paths, and in this journey they demonstrate, many times without meaning to, that jazz is much more than what some people think, and it is not necessarily difficult and inaccessible. One of these musicians is the French trumpeter Erik Truffaz .
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Truffaz was a child prodigy of music who was born in 1960, and at the age of 6 he was already reading sheet music, at 7 he was already playing his first instrument, at eleven he was listening to the music of Deep Purple and at 13 he discovers Miles Davis, because of his predilection for the trumpet.
Erik Truffaz is one of the most representative artists of the so-called nu-jazz, and is considered by many specialists as the father of electro-jazz, although personally he does not consider himself a jazzman.
Since his beginnings as a musician he has gained avant-garde fame for mixing jazz with rock, hip-hop, world music, and various styles of electronic music.
He is a very prolific musician with already around twenty productions, both alone, in collaboration with other musicians, or as part of the Erik Truffaz Quartet, together with Marcelo Giuliano on bass, Patrick Muller on keyboards, and Marc Erbetta on early stage drums, who recently gave way to Arthur Hnatek in his place.
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Truffaz has a very particular style, not based on technical displays or spectacular solos, but on a melodic sound, deceptively simple and even minimal at times, so much so that sometimes it seems that he always plays the same thing, but that is due to his own and very particular stamp.
Something interesting about Truffaz is that it is common for him to give effects to the sound of his trumpet, either with pedalboards such as guitarists, or sequencers, and other gadgets typical of electronic music. In his live performances his use of these resources is appreciated, since he even samples himself while playing live, and on the sample just made he plays a solo or another melody, so that two trumpets are heard at the time.
Integrated in this post there are 4 videos that show you part of how much Erik Truffaz is capable of. In the first video we see him with his quartet, accompanied by a guest saxophonist and a rapper, in a song that mixes jazz and hip-hop.
In the second we have him alone with his trio in a live presentation interpreting a song with strong influences from electronic music and in which we can see him sample himself, and we can notice the different sounds that he gives to his trumpet through of electronic equipment.
In the third we see him again with his quartet but playing a more classic theme with latin influences on the rhythmic base, especially on drums. And finally the last video contains a very particular presentation in which he shares the stage with the Mexican DJ Fernando Corona, better known as Murcof, who was part of the Nortec Collective, and with whom he has recorded two albums, “México” in 2008, and “Being Human Being” in 2014, and with the Indian musician Talvin Singh, who mixes electronic music and Indian music in his productions.
In this presentation we only have Truffaz's trumpet, Singh's percussions and Murcof in charge of atmospheric and ambient sounds. It is a very relaxing album that shows the quality of the three musicians and that is ideal for background music while reading a book and having a coffee.
I invite you to take the time to listen to all the songs, they may echo in you, and if not at least you will have expanded your knowledge about a genre that is very despised at times and that, like rock and electronic music, has so many aspects and styles, which is worth giving more than one try.
©bonzopoe, 2021.
Thank you very much for reading this post and dedicating a moment of your time. Until next time and remember to leave a comment.
Thank you for introducing this musician on this so well documented post. If you visit my blog you'll see I've published more than 2000 posts about jazz and I haven't heard of him before. Looking forward to see the videos and finding out more about what he plays. It's a pleasure to see more people interested on this kind of music in the Hive community. Have a great day! 😀
There is nothing to be thankful for, I only share some of what I know of the musicians that I like and I consider that it is worth sharing. I confess that you have aroused my curiosity with that of the 2000 posts about Jazz, so as soon as I have time I will return your visit.
Thank you very much for your comment, and greetings from Mexico!
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