Gasp 5tet - 19/12/2003, Geneva

Stefano Saccon - as, ss
Guillaume Perret - ts, ss
Gabriel Zufferey - p, fender rhodes
Francois Gallix - el b
Cyril Regamey - d

Even though I lived for several years in the Geneva region and having been to a few concerts there before moving to Brussels, last night was my first time ever in a Geneva jazz club. This one was called Le Contretemps (which could mean either the off-beat or delay/obstacle) and was a study in contrasts: first you get to it through some parking lot in a backstreet, then a short stairwell leads down to a nice, corporate building kind of glass door, which opens onto a small, too-brightly lit tickets/bar area. Another door leads into the somber rectangle concert area, which is painted entirely black (even the air ducts). The only splashes of colour are the red of the plastic chairs and of the door-frames. It called to mind a mixture of Kylie Minogue at the MTV Europe Music Awards and TRON.

The quintet was relatively young, although Gallix and Saccon were slightly more grizzled. The first set consisted of four compositionally and arrangementally (please excuse the barbaric term) quite involved compositions. The first one developed a long multi-thematic head over rumbling drums, which evolved to a slow, languid back-beat groove for the solos. The rapport between the two saxophones was consistently one of the most interesting parts of the concert. Saccon and Perret explored various types of unisson (tight, loose), little fugues, a bassline or riff under the other's improvisation, simultaneous improvising... For too brief a moment they slowly modulated long tones from unisson to harmony, creating interesting acoustic effects when the two frequencies were close.

The second set was less intellectual, looser, more overtly energetic and with shorter tunes, to which the crowd responded accordingly. The opening tune was a searing bop riff, over which both saxophonists gave solos that seemed to indicate that they had had stiff drinks during the break. Perret came out with a nice full-bodied tone and lines that built from soft and behind the beat to hard and urgent. This burst of excitement was followed by a ballad notable for Zufferey's delicate intro, strewn with little pools of delicately rich harmony, reminiscent of Herbie Hancock.

The last two tunes were quite memorable. The first opened with a melodic bass solo (thankfully shorn of any cod Jaco pyrotechnics) that Gallix doubled vocally, accompanied at first by Saccon's finger-snapping. The snapping built into clapping and eventually the whole band launched into a happy poppy-funky theme. Saccon gave a staccato funk solo over a nice tension-inducing restrained funk groove. The second, composed by Perret, called to mind Ellery Eskelin's trio work with its cyclical form: a strident melody played over a solid rock groove gave way to free improvisation (supported by Saccon's alto riff), only to return again and again in modified shapes. Afterwards, I asked him if he knew Eskelin. Perret said he didn't so I urged him to listen to Eskelin's recordings.