André Manoukian & Gainsbourg's 'Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais' ****

After enjoying hearing the voice of Serge Gainsbourg on Julien Daïan's 'Trop c'est Trop' the other day, (see more) now this gentle and well-delivered instrumental-only treatment of 'Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais' appeals. A stillness hangs …

Published: 2 May 2021. Updated: 2 years.

After enjoying hearing the voice of Serge Gainsbourg on Julien Daïan's 'Trop c'est Trop' the other day, (see more) now this gentle and well-delivered instrumental-only treatment of 'Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais' appeals. A stillness hangs in the air. From pianist André Manoukian with double bassist Gilles Coquard, drummer Pierre-Alain Tocanier, percussionist Inor Sotolongo and cellist Guillaume Latil, the interpretation, which includes a brief hint of an improvisation, is drawn from Les pianos de Gainsbourg, which is an album themed around Gainsbourg's piano bar days. Among the other tracks Melody Gardot appears highly effectively on 'La javanaise.'

'Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais' ('I came to tell you that I am leaving') appeared on Gainsbourg 1973 album Vu de l'extérieur (Seen From the Outside). André Manoukian, top. Photo: Enzo Productions. Les Pianos De Gainsbourg is on Decca France.

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Tremendous Charles Owens trio cover of 'If 6 was 9' by Jimi Hendrix

Axis: Bold as Love song 'If 6 was 9' on a single just released by Charles Owens trio finds the band delivering once again. See more on the Owens trio here. Listening I was thinking of other jazz covers and how other top groups in the past have …

Published: 2 May 2021. Updated: 15 months.

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Axis: Bold as Love song 'If 6 was 9' on a single just released by Charles Owens trio finds the band delivering once again. See more on the Owens trio here.
Listening I was thinking of other jazz covers and how other top groups in the past have covered the song. Heading my list is definitely the World Saxophone Quartet's treatment on 2004's superb slice of Hendrixiana, Experience. Check it out. Sax heaven and the WSQ take it quite free through superb intertwining interplay. Check David Murray's scalding start to the freer section. The Owens trio pare things back by contrast and concentrate on superlative groove.

Go back further to 1998 and to Don Byron, a player who I'd rate as just about the world's greatest living jazz clarinetttist leader (I've seen him live a few times eg in Berlin and Cheltenham so that convinced me as of course first of all did his classic Tuskegee Experiments [1992]), melding vocals and improvisation again in a very different treatment that has a swaying beat to it that works in a very loose way all of its own Byron wailing like no one's business. Later the tune goes into The Turtles' 'Happy Together'. SG. Charles Owens trio, top