Alto Duo @ La Maison Peinte

La Maison Peinte is by far the most impressive place I was given to perform or see concerts in in France. It is in no way a venue but in fact the living room of Heddy Boubaker's house, however it is not an ordinary house, it is his wife Zéhavite Cohen's master work of art. She is a painter and visual artist and this room is certainly her most impressive work. There is no point in describing or picturing it. To see it, even experience it, you have no choice but to actually be there.
On that night Heddy played a duo with Christine, both of them have worked together extensively, often with Jean-Luc Guionnet in an alto trio setting. You would expect a very mimetic concert from the two similar reeds but in fact since the very first sound they reflexively move in separate parallel directions, creating a distorted atmosphere: aquatic, aerial, creeping... There where some weaker moments when they would both try to create some very distinct breath or percussive sounds that would sound untypical of the alto, in an attempt to avoid the obvious ground on which they could operate on, but they would quickly find a new path towards other strange equilibriums. Wath else to say? They coverred the whole sound spectrum of this instrument and beyond, both with and without the mouthpiece.
Three years ago I used to consider Heddy as a good post-aylerian saxophonist, maybe I was wrong, but still I am amazed at how much ground he has coverred in a totally different area of the saxophone since then.
A great set in a great place.

Picture courtesy of Zéhavite Cohen.