Guitarist Marc Ducret is best known, at least this side of the Atlantic, as the whiz-bang guitarist in Tim Berne's Big Satan (and likewise Bigger Satan), and perhaps for a couple of releases on Berne's label, Screwgun (un certain malaise and l'ombra di verdi). But back home in France, he has a considerable discography that shows his kinship with Berne. Both favor challenging compositions with long, knotty themes, although Ducret seems to push for tighter structures than Berne's organic, extended works.
Le Sens de Marche is one of the more impressive of his always interesting Franco-releases. Recorded in 2007 with an 11-piece band, the five involved compositions contain enough taut complexity to draw in jazz fans on the proggy fusion end of the spectrum, but the energetic playing will console those who flee from the egghead forms. The ensemble includes three reeds, a trumpet and a trombone along with an extended rhythm section of vibes and marimba, piano, clavinet and Fender Rhodes, electric and upright bass (the excellent Bruno Chevillon) and drums, as well as a sampler. Within all of that, Ducret — a fantastic, hard-edged player — only occasionally steps forward to solo, but that is more than made up for by his arrangements. He creates bright, swelling horn themes that can dissolve into unexpected syncopations, thoughtful ballads or ambient passages. And thankfully, the warm, clear recording (especially given that it's a concert tape), all of the various twists of Ducret's fancy are close at hand.
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Kurt Gottschalk 2009-06-01
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