Ethnocentric

First album under his name and finally the display of great talent. That of a musician who, alongside the latest generations from Jazz Departments and Schools, has known how to live and evolve at the pace that he alone has imposed on himself. The writing, the composition, the meetings and the birth of this Quartet, everything has been punctuated without constraint, in time, with always in the watermark, a certain sense of "good and beautiful". We are there, no challenge, no "monstrous", no "amazing", just an open universe, where multiple influences rub shoulders and collide, mixing the musical experience of each of the actors of the group. We feel here that the mind goes well with the body and that the music is shared by many and is addressed to all. We feel the dose of humor, the epicurean, the sensitive but above all the one who listened ... "Ethnocentric", you are there!

"Vincent Mondy really does have open ears. Many musicians claim this attribute, but far fewer actually possess it. Although Vincent has a hugely accomplished personal style, he has repeatedly shown himself open to the introduction of just about any possibility into his music, including those which might throw him off balance and destabilise his achievements as a technician and composer; this is a rare thing indeed in a musician. As a result, he has synthesised a group music somewhat unlike anything I’ve heard before. Richard and Thibault, two excitingly creative and challenging young musicians whose acquaintance might otherwise have escaped me, and who teach me new things every time we play. Thirdly, playing with Vincent has given me the opportunity to reexamine some of the repertoire that I wrote for my own jazz-based groups back in the 1980s – I hadn’t played them for over 20 years until the VM4 resuscitated them so successfully! Vincent is a musician who prefers to play music rather than talk about playing music; and this is indeed an enormous bonus for an expatriate Yorkshireman..." Simon H. FELL