Perception - 1973 - Mestari

Perception

1973

Mestari

01. Chott Djerid (12:16)

02. Trabla air (10:46)

03. Mestari (19:07)

04. Waiting for Moby Dick (12:52)

- Didier Levallet / bass

- Jeff "Yochk'o" Seffer / saxophones, clarinets

- Jean-My Truong / drums, percussion

- Siegfried Kessler / piano, clavinet

To finally become oneself: that was the lesson, in the 1960-1970s, that European musicians attracted to improvisation had learned from American free-jazz. Following this idea, the musicians of Perception, whilst individually accompanying Mal Waldron, Slide Hampton, Johnny Griffin or Hank Mobley when they played in Paris, decided early on to break free from what was going on across the Atlantic and seek their own authenticity.

When Mestari, their third and final album, came out, Yochk'O Seffer, Siegfried Kessler, Didier Levallet and Jean-My Truong had four years of questing and originality behind them developing their own individual language. A language in which the spontaneity of the improvisations did not exclude influences taken from European folk or classical traditions.

Balanced, ethereal and structured, Mestari was a return to the original core quartet (the previous album included numerous guest musicians). It opens infinite perspectives and is totally in phase with what was being produced in France at the same time by Cohelmec Ensemble and the Dharma Quintet.

Perception - 1972 - Perception & Friends

Perception

1972

Perception & Friends

01. Colima

02. Adeqxi / Ville D'Avril

03. Le Horla

04. The Outsider

05. Mamelai

- Didier Levallet / bass (A1, B1)

- Jean-François Jenny-Clarke / cello (B3)

- Jean-Charles Capon / cello (B1, B3)

- Kent Carter / cello (B1)

- Teddy Lasry / clarinet, saxophone (A1)

- Manuel Villaroel / piano (A1, A2, B2, B3)

- Siegfried Kessler / piano (B1)

- Daniel Brulé / trombone (A1)

- Louis Toesca / trumpet (A1)

- Jean-My Truong / drums

- Jeff "Yochk'o" Seffer / saxophones, clarinets

After their first album which came out in 1971 on Futura Records, Perception wanted to rapidly record a second, but Gérard Terronès did not want to produce another, especially so soon after the first. Therefore, the only solution was to produce it themselves. It is thus completely logical that it came out on the label of the Association for the Development of Improvised Music (A.D.M.I.) created by Didier Levallet with the aim of promoting creative music ( and, on this subject, it was this same label which also produced the excellent Inter Fréquences by the Free Jazz Workshop).

As the album was entirely created from A to Z by Perception, they decided on a more ambitious project, exploring a wider palette of colours by augmenting the original quartet with additional instruments. So, it was with numerous guests including Teddy Lasry, Jean-Charles Capon, Kent Carter and Jean-François Jenny-Clark, that Perception developed still further the apparently contradictory directions which were their specificity. This is further highlighted by the fact that Siegfried Kessler, largely absent on this recording, is temporarily replaced by Manuel Villaroel, a pianist from Chile with a completely different temperament (and, by-the-by, already the name behind the superb Terremoto with the Matchi-oul Septet).

Contrary to the first album, which seems in comparison much more compact and united this second (and second-to last, not counting the live recordings), with the many different options proposed, would seem to predict the different directions that musicians from Perception would subsequently take. One track, by Yochk'O Seffer, who had already been part of Magma two years previously, looks forward to the more structured Neffesh Music, whilst, in the opposite direction, another track, by Didier Levallet, is more evocative of the future arrangements on Swing Strings System. It is, to sum up, a nice paradox that all these different elements, from tightly written pieces to wild improvisation, work so well together and are one the key attributes of a group free like few others.

Perception - 1971 - Perception

Perception

1971

Perception

01. Chirato (6:50)
02. Phénobarbital - Septième Songe (12:45)
03. Debora (8:00)
04. Enitram - Narcisse (11:50)

- Didier Levallet / bass
- Jeff "Yochk'o" Seffer / saxophones, clarinets
- Jean-My Truong / drums
- Siegfried Kessler / piano, flute

This album is not zeuhl, despite the obvious link to Magma, the owners of the genre. Of course, this album was made in 1971, the same year Jeff Seffer began his stint in Magma, so the influence may not have settled in at this time.

This album shows a strong nod toward Miles Davis and his disciples of fusion. Most of Davis' fusion albums and his band's offshoots in these years were playing this style. Set up the song with a loose melody, play around with it for a short while, and see where the jam takes you.

Here, the music centers mostly around Seffer's airy woodwinds and Siegfried Kessler's electric piano. While their performances are nice, and even matches in intensity some of the similar American fusion albums at the time, it rarely lifts above the median level of this style of fusion.

The one part that stands out is the first half of Ph'nobarbital - Septi'me Songe. With Kessler playing sparse acoustic piano, and Seffer on what sounds like a bass clarinet, the song has a chamber rock feel, similar to what Univers Zero would be doing a few years later. Unfortunately, instead of buildin on this style, the piece evolves into the same free form jamming as the rest of the album.