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Michel Marre - 2002 - "Mindelo" (48 min, "Great Winds" of "Musea") /Zero rating/ Tracklist: 1. Mindelo-toi 4:50 2. Etoile rouge 5:55 3. Youm malquaq-delhi 5:50 4. Y'en a qui baillent 3:54 5. Begin 3:02 6. Bailar 5:12 7. Noche 1:11 8. Down To the Fiesta 4:22 9. La fille sans coeur 1:47 10. Tammuriata nera 3:46 11. Jo maka 4:45 12. Bagad cafe 3:54 All tracks by M. Marre, except 5 (by J. C. Agou), 9 & 10 (trad.) Arrangements by M. Marre, except: 5 (by J. C. Agou). Line-up: Michel Marre - trumpets, tuba Jean-Charles Agou - saxophones Henri Donnadieu - tenor sax Doudou Gourirand - alt sax Denis Carterre - trombone Michel Godard - bass tuba Rene Nan - drums Chango Ibarra - percussion Pierre Peyras - bass Georges Vallon - trombone Plus a dozen of the guest musicians (most of which are percussionists) Produced by M. Marre. Prologue. Until now, I haven't heard of such a Jazzman as Michel Marre. However, I can say almost for sure that I'll be afraid of this album. For me, any distant Big Bang is better than any Big Band playing in my room. The Album. Yes, as I expected, the music that is presented on "Mindelo" is by no means my cup of tea. Furthermore, unlike Chris McGregor's album "Country Cooking", that I've reviewed last week, this album contains a very simplistic jazz. It's getting immediately clear that all the accessible, monotonous and sugary, melodies that are featured on most of the tracks of this album were composed. In other words, Michel Marre's Brass Band is nothing else but an ordinary jazz-dance ensemble. For some reason, most of the compositions by this French group have a Latin-American feel to them. What's especially interesting is that only four out of twenty pieces feature the improvisations, apart from the composed themes, all of which are just simple, bright, and melodious. This is NOT even Jazz, actually. Summary. Certainly, this album, full of poppy jazz melodies, has nothing to do with Progressive Music. In that way, the review of it can be placed only in "The Special Reports" section. There is no place for it among the 'progressive' reviews, God forbid! VM. May 14, 2002 Related Links: "Musea" web-site / online store: http://www.musearecords.com/

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