5th August 2013: BIG NEWS: Announcing the new album from Romain Pilon ‘Colorfield’ ft Walter Smith III, Jamire Williams & Michael Janisch
Announcing the debut WWR release from Romain Pilon
Oct 7 2013 Worldwide
Featuring:
Romain Pilon – Guitars
Walter Smith III – Saxophones
Michael Janisch – Double Bass
Jamire Williams – Drums
“Romain Pilon is a guitarist full of surprises. He has a flawless technique and a great harmonic sense. He is someone to keep an eye on.”
– Lionel Loueke
Colorfield is the debut WWR release from Paris-based guitarist Romain Pilon, one of France’s most gifted and lauded contemporary artists. The album builds off the international success he gained from his first solo release NY3 (which features bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Colin Stranahan) and continues his development as both a virtuosic performer and composer of considerable note and conceptual purity. Colorfield also sees him at the helm of an exciting all-star cast in Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone, bassist Michael Janisch and drummer Jamire Williams. The program consists of seven beautifully crafted original compositions and a reworking of Horace Silver’s mystical ‘Lonely Woman.’ Throughout the album Pilon shines with an assured confidence of a seasoned veteran, while demonstrating his fleeting fretwork and notoriously infectious guitar tone.
One of the main influences for Pilon’s compositional approach on this album was the style of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s known simply as ‘Color Field Painting.’ Inspired by European Modernism and closely related to Abstract Expressionism, Color Field is characterized primarily by large fields of flat, solid color spread across or stained into the canvas, creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. The movement places less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favor of an overall consistency of form and process. Color is therefore freed from objective context and becomes the subject in itself. This visual influence is clearly evident in the overall vibe and sound palette on Colorfield, as if his compositions themselves are audible paintings, where lush, drawn out harmonies and driving ostinatos become the focal point as much as their complimenting melodies.
Pilon also prepared the music especially with the musicians in mind, and in his own words:
“When Whirlwind Recordings invited me to record an album, I felt like it was a very unique occasion to work with some musicians I had admired for a long time. I first heard Walter in 2000 when we studied at the Berklee College of Music, and I immediately became a huge fan. I remember going to Boston’s famous Wally’s Jazz Café almost every weekend to hear him play. It was always inspiring, and there’s no wonder he is a member of some of the best bands in the world today– he has it all: fire, creativity, swing, tone, vocabulary. He is simply the most influential tenor saxophonist of his generation.
Michael Janisch was also at Berklee at the same time, and we became friends while we performed in The Greg Hopkins Ensemble together. Since our Boston days we’ve continued to play and stay in touch, most recently embarking on a tour with alto phenom Perico Sambeat. I’ve had the pleasure hearing him with giants like George Garzone, Greg Osby and Lee Konitz, and was always surprised by the way he fits in the sound of the group, in any context. Michael is a also a really positive person and one can really hear that in his playing– he has that force, that drive, groove and energy – trademarks of great bass players.
While I was living in New York City shortly after I graduated from Berklee, I kept hearing about a young drummer to keep an eye on- Jamire Williams. Shortly after I saw him live with Kenny Garrett and later on in a smaller venue with Jacky Terrasson, I was struck by his amazing tone on the instrument and also the way in which he could sustain intensity even at low volumes. Truly, there are not many players on the planet that have his same level of sound concept. As a result he influenced my writing for this record a great deal as his playing is also diverse, easily working from hip hop to rock to jazz. Therefore, for the first time, I’ve tried to base tunes on grooves as much as on melodies and harmonies.
The material was written over the course of about 6 or 7 months, with the musician’s sound in mind, and I also think the music reflects a really joyful and stable period in my life. I’ve tried to keep it simple, singable, and thought about the record as a whole unit, which for me relates to the inspiration I get when viewing Color Field paintings as well.”
- Romain Pilon, Paris, July 2013
Check out the promo video below, and to hear preview tracks of the entire album, click here.