CD review: Octet La Nocturne – High Octane 2023: Video, CD cover

High Octane is the exciting new Odradek Jazz release from the Octet La Nocturne, a French jazz ensemble based in Montpellier. Formed in 2015, Octet La Nocturne began life as a gathering of musicians passionate about the jazz of the 1950s and 60s, especially that from America.

Inspired by Charles Mingus’s workshop, their first objective was to play improvised jazz with the configuration and sound of a 60s octet. Their name comes from their first composition,Lost in a Nocturne, which is featured on this album. High Octane blends the thrills of fast-paced improvisation with the subtle range of timbres created by an octet.

The tracks on the album reflect Octet La Nocturne’s love of the great American jazzmen, such as Mingus, Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane, combining a hard bop aesthetic with moments of romantic lyricism and ironic good humour as well as allusions to contemporary music. The result is an essential new jazz release: American-style jazz delivered with a Gallic shrug.

Well, this album is very special for the band because it is the first one. It is the results of several years of playing together. The recording session was pretty hard, 13 hours of driving, very high temperature in our house, not so much time to record and mix the album, we had to be ready. We won’t forget this record session for sure. Now we remember it with a smile. It’s been a very good “team building” session. For me it is even more special, It is my first album entirely composed by myself. It’s an honor to have all those excellent musicians ready to play my music. It is so much fun! Also it is a privilege to be supported by the label Odradek Records, a beautiful label by the way, a democratic, artist-controlled, non-profit cooperative, promoting new artists and fresh repertoire. Thanks to theme I’m here answering your questions, the album is available on all platforms, I am very proud. You know in Montpellier, the place where I started to play music, we are all a big “Jazz Family”. There are people from the jazz conservatoire, old jazzmens, young ones, some play be-bop, some play old jazz, some of them play modern fusion jazz, and we are all a big family, playing together, partying together, in this small city. That is how I met the musicians of l’Octet la Nocturne. We haven’t been this same team from the beginning, half of the band has been staying all the time,- an interview with me said Gabriel Rigaud a leader of Octet La Nocturne.

We definitely recommend that you own this CD and enjoy it…

1. Ouverture des Champions (5:39)
2. Ah Bon ?! (6:47)
3. Au Bout d’un Moment (5:52)
4. La Première Colline (10:51)
5. Lost in a Nocturne (5:12)
6. Huile d’Olive Blues (6:49)
7. La Troisième Variation (6:26)
8. Opel Corsa Tuning (8:12)
9. La Marche Nocturne (8:29)

Octet La Nocturne:

Gabriel Rigaud, piano
Yoann Godefroy, double bass
Valentin Jam, drums
Olivier Dullion, trumpoet
Sami Khalfoune, trombone
Gabriel Fernandez, alto saxophone
Ezequiel Celada, tenor saxophone
Ténor Hugues Lehembre, baritone saxophone

Buy from here – New CD 2023