Igloo has been re-publishing its earliest releases so that people can (re)discover some pearls from its catalogue. To coincide with the 30th anniversary of Trio Grande (that ties in with a new album, “Impertinence”), it seemed the right time to re-release the first two LPs of what we could call the group’s “ancestor”, Trio Bravo.

A trans-genre formation anchored in free-like jazz with borrowings from traditional popular music (X Mus), contemporary music (Mr and Mrs Jonathan) and the energy of rock through themes that unfold in loops with a feel for binary rhythms. A success from their very first concerts, “the world’s smallest big band” manages to rally jazz audiences and rock fans!

In many respects, the Trio Bravo adventure, born in the heart of Liège’s cultural scene of the early 1980s and in the steps of the jazz-rock groups of the seventies, marked a break with the local jazz habits. As a permanent group (eight years of intense activity), it has flirted with stylistic barriers (jazz, rock, classical, world), broadened its audience, and transformed not only the repertoire but also the way in which jazz was performed. In contrast to the jazz-rock of the 1970s, which was played by musicians who also played classical jazz, the Trio’s contacts with the jazz scene, while real at first, gradually faded. However, even if the age-old question of whether or not jazz is still jazz has been raised in fundamentalist quarters, it is clear that Trio Bravo continues to be part of the big blue family – if only to be its black sheep, its young lion or both.
(Jean-Pol Schroeder, extract from “Sur la Piste du Collectif du Lion, une aventure plus que musicale”, Les voies de la Création Culturelle vol 5)

Fermer