PRESS (English reviews extracts)
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 (Pierre-Antoine 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.
FRENCH PRESS REVIEWS
