The warmth of Blooming (Aut) by percussionist Florian Chaigne is a mixture of Brian Blade, Billy Martin, and Charles Mingus, where spontaneous hits and rhythms are the steady string throughout but the music itself is what helps balance things and keeps listeners wanting more. At first, it reminded me a bit of Eberhart Weber’s Chorus where things kinda begin, drift into its own world and you’re unsure if you’re hearing a collection of songs or just one song divided 17 ways. Even a bit of spoken word from Taran Singh will remind people of the works of Rod McKuen. What also pulled me in was the bass work of Sulvain Didou, especially in “Wo Shi”, where he dominates the composition but allows everyone to balance each other out, perhaps what Blooming as a title is all about.
As I often say when I listen to something new from Aut Records, hearing something new from the label is always an adventure and this was one adventure I enjoyed hearing for the first time and will be in the years to come.
This Is Book's Music 