Jean Derome & Somebody Special - Le Sourire [Ambiances Magnetiques]

Another fresh album released via the Ambiances Magnetiques label on April 17th, 2k26 is "Le Sourire", the new longplay outing by flute player, composer and saxophone player Jean Derome who, once again, performs with and writes for the band x ensemble outfit named Somebody Special on this one. Over the course of eleven pieces and a total runtime of approx. 63 minutes and a set of eleven songs the group pays homage to 1934-born composer and soprano sax player Steve Lacy who passed away in 2004 at age 70, laying down seductive and well fascinating Jazz grooves with pieces like "The Smile", presenting opulent emotional Chansons with a deep twist with tunes like "The Cuckoo" / "Sands" and "Stand" whilst "Jump" and its innate fire absolutely heat up every peak time Jazz dancefloor, the spine-tingling "Love And Politics" and its story-telling weigh in a bit of a theatrical / stage production element peaking in dramatically rushed piano movements whereas especially the intro sequence of "Morning Joy" and its hard mechanical piano tones might probably justify to think about the term Industrial Jazz as a potential genre drawer even though the expressive vocals and hot uptempo grooves rather gravitate toward Dancefloor Jazz-adjacent vibes for a reason. Defo a fascinating ride and a highly recommended album, this.

Album artwork on Instagram!