The band.

For the occasion of a Carte Blanche for Brosella Folk and Jazz Festival 2017, Lynn put a 7 piece band together and wrote new music for it. She named it Imaginary Band.

The core of the band is a contemporary piano trio with it’s roots deeply embedded in jazz, formed by the Erik Vermeulen Trio (Django d’Or) with Manolo Cabras(bass) and Marek Patrman(drums). The trio has two records under it’s own name and each member of it has been a busy sideman for the last three decades. Recording and playing with musicians like: Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Joe Lovano, Steve Grossman, Art Farmer, Michael Moore, John Ruocco, Barre Philips, Marshall Allen, Toots Thielemans, Enrico Rava, Charles Gayle…

While the top of the band consists of a less obvious ‘jazz’ instrumentation, such as the violin, played by Ananta Roosens whom we may know from Gotham Project, Oba Loba, La Sieste du Dromadaire,….. and the euphonium player Niels Van Heertum that has been a prominent part of the Belgian Improv Scene for the last decade, being part of a vast number of ensembles and orchestras such as; Ifa y Xango, Book of Air, Solo, Chantal Acda, Platel/Cassol: Requiem pour L., …. Last member of this divers band is Sylvain Debaisieux on tenor and soprano saxophones. Sylvain has been noticed on the jazz scene being part of Stéphane Galland & The Mystery of KEM, Pentadox, Eve Beuvens’ Heptatomic, etc…

The music.

Cassiers wrote the music in order to give value to the wide range of timbres and dynamics of the band. Looking for structures that could offer enough freedom to the rhythm section and at the same time provide a good platform to express the voice, through song or merely sound. Looking for textures where the individuality of the different instruments could come to live, applying various kinds of approaches in improvisation to harmonic and non harmonic contexts.  The result is a ‘layered’ music that relies on open structures, flirting with pop aesthetics as much as with free jazz and electronic improvised music while the rhythm trio pulls the repertoire through the history of jazz. Influences you might distinguish are Ornette Coleman, Paul Bley, Frank Zappa, Annette Peacock, Ligeti, Miles Davis Quintet, and any band she’s played in the last 15 years.

The lyrics.

Theme-wise, this album treats different subjects. It’s about what it means to stand in this society today. Rather daily issues than world problems. Difficulties new medias may bring upon us, referring to new and old (mis-) communication, consummation, social pressure, control of the intellect. But also more classic issues that may include; loss of dear ones, existential questions and escapism. The approach to lyrics is, as it is to the music, a very free one. Although the ideas above lie on the basis of most of the texts, the lyrics often may seem to have no content. Built up by phrases with little determined information, they stay open for interpretation of the listeners imagination.

The record.

The record came out on Clean Feed the 11th of May. Recorded in December 2017 at DADA Studios by Peter Soldan and Thibault Dupont. Mixed and Mastered by Manolo Cabras. Album Artwork and Photography by Sophie Saporosi.

LINE UP:

Sylvain Debaisieux: soprano and tenor saxophone

Ananta Roosens: violin, trumpet

Niels Van Heertum: euphonium

Erik Vermeulen: piano

Manolo Cabras: double bass

Marek Patrman: drums

Lynn Cassiers: voice, electronics, composition