René Urtreger & Agnès Desarthe - Premier Rendez-Vous (2017)

Between René Urtreger and Agnès Desarthe the story is written in several chapters. First, their first meeting followed by regular interviews that allow the writer to collect the confidences of the pianist. From these elements she wrote a superb biography entitled "King René". In the wake of the many meetings that preceded the writing of the book, the pianist discovers the interest of Agnès Desarthe for the music she learned and practiced in her youth. From there the events are linked. During a literary festival (in Nevers) and presentations of the book (in Paris to the Duke of Lombards) the two accomplices have the opportunity to meet in music around piano and microphone.

There is then a step to go from the stage to the studio for the recording of an album and it is now done. René Urtreger invites Agnès Desarthe to join him for a recording in the studio. "Premier Rendez-vous" is therefore the last chapter (… to date) of the collaboration between René Urtreger and Agnès Desarthe.

On "First Appointment" Agnès Desarthe says three texts. Perfect diction of texts of his own which move or lend to smile. The Giant accompanied by the violin, The Hay in duo with the drums and The Outdoor Shower with the piano. Past the world of letters to the world of notes, Agnès Desarthe revives the vocabulary and syntax of music even if her participation as a jazz singer is modest.

She sings in English, The Man I Love accompanied by the piano-saxophone-drums trio and Body and Soul and You Go To My Head in duo with the piano. In French, she takes again with all the musicians Premier-Rendez-Vous, the title immortalized by the late Danielle Darieux. With intelligence, she is not trapped in the role of the jazz singer "who would take for …".

Agnès Desarthe just takes the risk of being herself. Neat and sensitive interpretation. Just and well placed the voice is more spoken than sung. She delicately asks herself about the time with which she plays to better outwit him.

The pianist intervenes on the thirteen titles of the album. His return to the news of the disc has everything to delight those who recently listened to René Urtreger in concert in the province or in the capital. Thus we find him solo on two beautiful ballads, Valsajane and Everything Happens To Me that he also enjoys playing in concert. He also honors the bop with Bouncing with Bud and a disheveled version of Cole Porter's Just One Of Those Things where Géraldine Laurent is having a blast. René Urtreger has lost nothing of its superb and if he masters totally the art of the epure it is nonetheless that he still takes great pleasure in phrasing bop and do not be confessed.

TRACKLIST

01. The Man I love (feat. Géraldine Laurent, Simon Goubert)
02. Le premier rendez-vous (feat. Géraldine Laurent, Pierre Boussaguet, Simon Goubert, Alexis Lograda)
03. Thème pour un ami (feat. Pierre Boussaguet)
04. La géante (feat. Alexis Lograda)
05. Lady Amanda (feat. Géraldine Laurent, Pierre Boussaguet, Simon Goubert)
06. Everything Happens to Me
07. La douche en plein air
08. Just One of Those Things (feat. Géraldine Laurent, Pierre Boussaguet, Simon Goubert)
09. Body and Soul
10. Valsajane
11. Le foin (feat. Simon Goubert)
12. You Go to My Head
13. Bouncing with Bud (feat. Pierre Boussaguet, Simon Goubert)