YOLK RECORDS

about this album

QÜNTET (pronounced “qu’une tête”, which means “one head” in french) is an ensemble composed of five talented musicians who are passionate artists performing as one single entity.
Since its creation by Jean-Louis Pommier in 1998, the music of QÜNTET has remained deeply original, free but festive, crafty to mix what is written with what is improvised and to maintain a collective performance through soloists and libertarian musicians. Freed from its
past influences (Gerry Mulligan or Dave Holland’s quintet), Qüntêt is one of the most enthralling ensemble of the French scene.
Its writing is more adventurous than revolutionary.

The musicians of QÜNTET enjoy bombarding the material until it splits and frees the energy. In such atomizer one can find waltzes, tangos, swing, funk, solid and odd stuff, silence… The result of this is blue skies, laughter, pride, love and silence… a great deal of things that are shared with a great number of people living on the same planet!

Crosswords/Mots Croisés

In fourteen years of existence and two albums, this ensemble with no harmonic instrument has mixed various materials, many of which coming from the dynamics of dance. A new area/era of playing opens here with the writing of Mots Croisés (Crossed Words).
A voice/way caught between jazz, slam, rap, improv, freestyle, writing, English, French, acoustic, synthetic material, poetry and its depth, rage and its immediacy. A different way of writing underlined by a singular orchestration with no polyphonic instrument where harmony
remains permanently to be built up. A voice which is not the unique echo of sensitive urban areas, even though it borrows its rap energy and talks about the depths of mankind. Two languages in a single song.

Rap and slam have introduced a new dimension within the connection between words and music. Their birth in the Anglo-Saxon world has colored differently these new voices/ways just as their social source has inevitably left its mark on the sound and on the themes they
carry. Above all, for me jazz remains an attitude where musicians constantly solicit the nerve of reactivity. This attitude draws on the history of the music as much as on the new forms of languages which keep on coming out. The notions of pulse and flow naturally echo the quest of rhythm and beat specific to jazz.

As a link between jazz and songs, this project embodies the desire to introduce words into the music. « Mots Croisés » is the footbridge between slam and the world of Qüntêt. It has invited American singer Desdamona to join in for this new musical adventure. Welcoming an
extraordinary soloist, QÜNTET (pronounced “qu’une tête”, which means “one head” in french) is an ensemble
composed of five talented musicians who are passionate artists performing as one single
entity.
Since its creation by Jean-Louis Pommier in 1998, the music of QÜNTET has remained
deeply original, free but festive, crafty to mix what is written with what is improvised and to
maintain a collective performance through soloists and libertarian musicians. Freed from its
past influences (Gerry Mulligan or Dave Holland’s quintet), Qüntêt is one of the most
enthralling ensemble of the French scene.
Its writing is more adventurous than revolutionary.
The musicians of QÜNTET enjoy bombarding the material until it splits and frees the energy.
In such atomizer one can find waltzes, tangos, swing, funk, solid and odd stuff, silence… The
result of this is blue skies, laughter, pride, love and silence… a great deal of things that are
shared with a great number of people living on the same planet!
Mots Croisés
In fourteen years of existence and two albums, this ensemble with no harmonic instrument has
mixed various materials, many of which coming from the dynamics of dance. A new area/era
of playing opens here with the writing of Mots Croisés (Crossed Words).
A voice/way caught between jazz, slam, rap, improv, freestyle, writing, English, French,
acoustic, synthetic material, poetry and its depth, rage and its immediacy. A different way of
writing underlined by a singular orchestration with no polyphonic instrument where harmony
remains permanently to be built up. A voice which is not the unique echo of sensitive urban
areas, even though it borrows its rap energy and talks about the depths of mankind. Two
languages in a single song.
Rap and slam have introduced a new dimension within the connection between words and
music. Their birth in the Anglo-Saxon world has colored differently these new voices/ways
just as their social source has inevitably left its mark on the sound and on the themes they
carry. Above all, for me jazz remains an attitude where musicians constantly solicit the nerve
of reactivity. This attitude draws on the history of the music as much as on the new forms of
languages which keep on coming out. The notions of pulse and flow naturally echo the quest
of rhythm and beat specific to jazz.
As a link between jazz and songs, this project embodies the desire to introduce words into the
music. « Mots Croisés » is the footbridge between slam and the world of Qüntêt. It has invited
American singer Desdamona to join in for this new musical adventure. Welcoming an extraordinary soloist, François Thuillier, Qüntêt has boosted his bass and enlarged his grooves.

press

ELU

revue, column, blog

Revue de presse Qüntêt - Mots croises / crosswords

radio, audio

tracklist

1/ Tension Palpable/Tension
2/ How many times/Last Inkling
3/ Tout l’temps coupable
4/ Une journée compliquée/ Complicated Day
5/ Je vis avec et tout va Bien/ Metropolis
6/ Un état intermédiaire
7/ Soft and sad
8/ Quiet, you got to keep quiet
9/ Physical mood/ The Wake
10/ Corps à corps
11/ Education physique