912 - Jean DEROME & Les Dangereux Zhoms "Navré"

Navré is quite another proposition. Jean Derome (reeds, flute & piccolo) is one of the leading figures on the Québec new music scene and his 6-piece reflects the varied interests of this scene—improv, avant-rock, free jazz, chamber composition, etc. Like L’Orkestre des pas perdus, Dangereux Zhoms have a nifty sense of humour, but deploy it in circumstances where greater freedom from composed strictures is encouraged. Any group which sports a daxophone must have a twinkle in its eye, though René Lussier’s exploits are less well known than Reichel’s. On Anchive the little beastie provides the perfect foil for Derome’s Ornettish alto. Train Pour Nuremberg cuts and thrusts between avant-rock and free jazz with shades of Henry Cow in Lussier’s guitar and Derome’s bassoon-like baritone exchanges. The themes (all by Derome) are suitably transparent and flexible enough to allow the improv to take hold and spread in many directions at once; Casse-Cou rations its effervescent tune to sudden outbursts, imaginatively spaced against the lugubrious colours of the improv. Group cohesion is outstanding making light work of complex eclecticism (akin to Curlew here); the other members are Pierre Cartier, Guillaume Dostaler, Pierre Tanguay and Torn Walsh The more I hear it, the more I love it.

in Rubberneck #23 (RU), 1 janvier 1996

All the works on Navré, the second record from this Montréal sextet, were composed by saxophonist Derome during tours with a variety of groups. The influence of the road might show in his predilection for extended structures in which long, slow passages are interrupted by sudden bursts, like the bebop-ish head of Navré or the staccato drumming of "Toronto. " Or maybe that’s the influence of John Lurie. Like the Lounge Lizards, Derome and his crew are skillful handlers of both atmospherics and dynamics, grounding moody, meandering lead lines in steady, rocking rhythms. They use rough textures—groaning "daxophone" on Anchive, the choked guitar comping on Train pour Nuremberg, the trombone’s growl on Navré—as counterpoints to eloquent melodic elements like the bright flute run on Casse-cou and the rollicking, R&B-flavored baritone sax of Train pour Nuremberg. Guitarist René Lussier, in particular, seems almost more inventive in the background than in the fore. Only Lindau seems derivative, edging towards lite jazz. It’s hard to tell on Navré what’s composition and what’s improvisation. Finer group playing is hard to come by.

par David Krasnow in Option #73 (ÉU), 1 mars 1997

«Les Dangereux Zhoms, c’est le mélange explosif de six personnalités musicales très contrastées, six couleurs qui se complètent d’une manière résolument vivante et vivifiante. Si j’avais moi-même la précision de Lussier, l’intensité de Cartier, la vitalité de Tanguay, la concentration de Dostaler et l’astuce de Walsh, je n’aurais pas eu le besoin de créer ce groupe. Chaque interprète prend une part active dans la composition en modifiant à tout moment le phrasé, les dynamiques, la forme, le choix de l’improvisation. Chaque pièce devient un jeu, qui comme une partie d’échecs, obéit à des règles bien précises tout en se renouvelant constamment. Mon travail de compositeur et de chef d’orchestre est de créer «un terrain d’entente» propice à l’avènement d’une chose très rare et très belle: la musique. Avis aux intéressés, le groupe est en fleur!» — Jean Derome