ARMEL DUPAS “Everyday Superheroes”

ARTIST

Armel Dupas

ALBUM TITLE

“Everyday Superheroes”

LABEL

Self-produced

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Looking back on the 1960s in a lighthearted way yet with an eye to the future. With this spirit, Dupas and his two accomplices, the impeccable Billé and Piot, approach the songs on Everyday Superheroes.

The fiercely independent Nantes-based musician describes himself as a pianist, composer, and entrepreneur. This highlights his omnivorous and multidimensional creativity, as well as his inclination to experiment through diverse projects, as if he feared repetition and boredom. He has collaborated with leading French jazz figures such as Henri Texier and composed soundtracks for avant-garde filmmakers including Christophe Honoré, Michel Gondry, and Arnaud Desplechin.

This new work is Dupas’s fifth album with his trio. Parallel to that, he has developed solo initiatives like Home Piano Live, a series of intimate concerts performed in domestic settings for friends and fans, rather than in traditional listening spaces. He defines these gatherings as a social act and streams them on YouTube. Another project, Le Coaching Musical, invites audiences to engage with music differently in the name of personal well-being, sometimes even sitting around the piano. He has also composed music specifically for yoga practice.

Yet the ten compositions on this album transport us directly into the heart of groove and soul jazz (The West Coasters), drawing upon the Golden Age of Blue Note through the revival of classics like Invitation, a signature piece for both Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Gene Harris’s Three Sounds. There are also lively Latin touches such as Chocolate Cake and themes with a cinematic feel, like Vert Lagune. The result is one of the most delightful and entertaining albums in recent memory. The icing on the cake is a highly personal and effective rendition of John McLaughlin’s Spanish-tinged Encuentros. For comparison, the original appears as the fourth track on the 1995 Verve album After the Rain, where the South Yorkshire maestro is accompanied by Joey DeFrancesco and Elvin Jones.

Ivo Franchi

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www.armeldupas.com

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