PRESS (English reviews extracts)
Full of varied and rich compositions and fantastic performances from the band, Mary’s Ideas does a wonderful job of reckoning with the legacy of one of jazz’s great innovators.
THE WIRE
This set is a treasure trove for anyone hankering for more insight into her (M.L. Williams') world, rendered as she intended without the simplifications and truncations that so often affected the original realizations.
NYC JAZZ RECORDS
While the band generally brings a period sound, as on the crisp swing of the title theme, it’s not afraid to cast its subject as the modernist she was.
"This is one brilliant and astonishing document."
Best Recordings 2021 ALL ABOUT JAZZ
At its heart, Umlaut Big Band presents as a classic dance band (...) but the two-and-a-half-hour set is infused with a strong sense of modernity and avant-garde innovation.
THE FREE JAZZ COLLECTIVE
It’s also important to recall that the majority of Williams’ works were conceived of within the constraints of Jazz-dance bands (...). That means that nearly every one of the tracks here is buoyantly played to reach foot tappers and high steppers.
This music is seriously informed and it’s a true labor of love (...) The music is mind-blowing all the way through, this rich journey into the essence of Jazz creativity.
Under the leadership of Pierre-Antoine Badaroux, the large format Umlaut remains within his codes. Those of the brilliant exegete, those of the tireless pulsator and those of the patient smuggler. The Umlaut machine is radical in its precision, frankly communicative in its realization.
There’s a fabulous variety of moods here - refined, intellectual, wistful and zany, sometimes all within the same selection. Solos are maddeningly brief but sharp, keen, danceable a-plenty.
Just as Ellington would rehearse constantly to obtain a precision to his sound, the Umaut Big Band is punctilious, and in that punctiliousness an infectious swing is born. To quote Fats Waller, "yeaaaah."
There’s not disjunction between using the big band to play both vintage swing and jagged contemporary pieces. In fact, since he (P.-A. Badaroux) plays the saxophone at age 7, he’s looked beyond genre. DOWNBEAT
Usually playing in contemporary improvised music ensembles, the fourteen musicians (...) have delivered the essence of the spirit of this beautiful music by establishing a strong link between past and future, tradition and creation.
In terms of slightly off-centre inspirations, consider the Umlaut Big Band’s Euro Swing Vol. 2 .
While the 16-piece French orchestra puts a new spin on swing-era tunes, the transcriptions on which they’re based – mostly created by its saxophonist/director Pierre Antoine Badaroux – are unique.
Badaroux provides background information about the 15 tunes on the album, all of which are played with infectious buoyancy and precision.
Just as Ellington would rehearse constantly to obtain a precision to his sound, the Umlaut Big Band is punctilious, and in that punctiliousness an infectious swing is born.