Michel Godard trio with Florian Weber and Anne Paceo (*)
Did I hear a slight flicker of emotion, even of nostalgia in Philippe Ochem‘s voice as he announced the opening of the sixteenth Jazzdor Berlin-Strasbourg Festival last night? If there was, it wouldn’t be surprising, because he and the festival which he has directed since its inception are at the beginning of a transition.
As Ochem posted a few day ago on Facebook: “It’s on a rainy day… and no doubt with a twinge of sadness …that I’m informing you that I’ll be stepping down as General and Artistic Director of Jazzdor at the end of August 2025 after 36 years in the business.” Ochem has been a central, hugely influential figure in the development of the French and European jazz scenes of the past two decades; these are (metaphorically) massive shoes to fill.
Linkedin devotees will have already seen the post advertised and possibly even read the very clearly expressed job spec (LINK). Close followers of the scene will also know the complexities of such a role. It involves putting together a plan which doesn’t only need to be compelling and exciting, it also means playing a multi-dimensional chess game which not only keeps four levels of French funders happy but also, and more importantly, ensures that they remain committed to the organisation.
So much for what was unsaid at the opening of the festival. The opening act brought the first appearance in Berlin of the top-flight trio of French tuba player Michel Godard, German pianist Florian Weber and French Drummer Anne Paceo.
Here’s a thing: it turns out that the “Landesmusikräte” of Germany have officially declared the tuba to be “Instrument of the Year 2024” (LINK). One puzzled observer told me he was curious why the tuba required to be treated like an endangered species, but when it turned out that a substantial part of last night’s audience had never been to a Jazzdor concert before, I wondered if that might be the point of such an exercise.
(Incidentally, tuba fans also seriously need to clock Fanny Meteier who is making good things happen in a Bob Stewart-ish way Fidel Fourneyron’s Brass band – VIDEO)
Godard/Weber/Paceo is a trio of wonderfully collaborative musicians, and from what I heard last night, it sounded like they had been given the time and space to develop a really strong programme, Godard has a real strength in his multiphonics, and one also senses how every short phrase he proposes is intended as the starting point for a conversation, And for a conversation to get going there is nobody better than Florian Weber. He is an artist absolutely in his prime, he keeps on throwing in new ideas and keeping exchanges going a natural communicator able to provide an opulent harmonic coating for the single voice of the tuba. Anne Paceo has a wonderful instinctive feel for textural variety and level. I love this sentence from here official biography: “Anne spent the first three years of her life in Daloa, Ivory Coast, lulled by the sound of percussionists rehearsing next to the family home. At the age of 10, she discovered the drums which became her refuge.”
The mention above of endangered species brings me, circuitously but inevitably, to the serpent. In Godard’s hands it is much gentler and more lyrical voice than the tuba. He makes it into a magnificent ballad instrument tapping into the sentimental side of French chanson. There was a phrase in Godard’s tune that brought Léo Ferré’s Avec le temps, which took me back to a season I did in an onstage choir for a Léo Ferré show… I really can’t get that tune out of my head now.
I am looking forward to the three remaining nights of the Jazzdor programme, which this year is also part of Jazzwoche Berlin.
(*) The opening evening also included a concert by bassoonist Sophie Bernardo which I was unable to attend.
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