« Music is a real trip for me ». For more than 30 years, music has made this native of Huy, a small town near Liège in France, “travel”, in all the senses of the word. An opera singer for a mother, a guitar player for a father; and he, a kid in little boy shorts, was exposed to all the classics, to better transcend them one day. First, Bach, then the incredible Erroll Garner, and a one way ticket to a thick sense of Swing. And then the trios of Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans and Chick Corea, milestones to which he always returned, off the beaten track. In 1988, at the age of 18, he heads for New York, the Mecca of jazz, to complete his mastery: Herbie Hancock and Kenny Kirkland. Even better, he plugs himself into the sound of the other America: hip-hop, funk, soul.
Two years later, he returns to Europe: Belgium for a while where he records "Never Let Me Go", before taking off for Paris in the luggage of Flavio Boltro and Stefano Di Battista. Here he becomes a pillar force on the Parisian scene, where he multiplies the runways: Joe Lovano and Serge Reggiani, Michael Brecker and Christophe, The Italien Pino Palladino and the Toulouse-born Claude Nougaro, the soul sister Kayna Saamet and the slamer Suleymane Diamanka, the legendary Bunky Green and Milton Nascimento, Yusef Lateef and Yvan Lins… The Guardians of the Temple might have feared a dead-end in all this mad eclecticism; but rather the contrary will happen, and through his polished versatility, a musician of his time will hatch, composing with a taste for others and imposing his trademark. His desire for music without limits is his fuel, and keeps his motor running.
Triptych
What happens next, to continue the tale, plays out as a trio, under his own name. "Miss Soul" in 2005, followed by "Big Boogaloo" the year after. The first in the line of 60’s jazz soul; the second veering firmly towards the stage and inviting accomplices Julien Lourau et Stéphane Belmondo to dig into the groove with him. And finally, "Trippin’ ", the ultimate chapter in this 'triology', dedicated to the art of the trio; all style and no mannerism. His own trio includes the names Franck Agulhon and Mathias Allamane, two partners of natural complicity, and an essential energy that has been tried and tested for over almost five years. The first pal is on drums, capable of holding the drive, of launching into a funky beat and falling back onto Cajun turnery. And so it goes, as long as it grooves. The second one is on the wooded double-bass, the middle pillar in the style of Paul Chambers or Ray Brown, but also with a style capable of pitting its strengths against sophisticated rhythms à la George Porter… In plain English, a virtuoso pair without airs, eclecticism without confusion, in sync with the lead; prepared to share in his trip, ready to humor his desires. « Like a DJ, I select tracks which I submit to them. I ask them to grasp their spirit, and it’s not about playing them by the book ». As a result, they comment on the spot, suggest ideas, make punctuations … That's how they polished-up on the repertoire of this album, clocking up more than 30 live concerts, before finding themselves in a recording studio. In brief, what’s necessary to create a sound of a trio - solid and knitted together...and capable of answering the question: « how to introduce jazz-funk into a soul jazz trio? ».
Trippin’
The title makes sense, reference to “Struttin’”, the Meters’ anthem album, and the sound of New Orleans. Straightaway, on the title-theme, the Fender gets into the trance. An old-style turnery, with two offbeat fingers. The Fender is again the one setting the tone on “Rock the days”, where the Fender forges ahead, and on “Doo-Goo” where it forms a lighter bedrock. In the same shade is “Casa Bamako”, with a more Afro flavor underlined by a touch of Gospel. The same which irrigates “Them That Got”, a blues track by Ray Charles, which Eric Legnini and his accomplices play classic, certainly not basic, evoking the “preacher” Les McCann, one the pianist’s heroes. Same when he borrows “Con Alma” from Dizzy, but “in the spirit of Jamal’s trio”. Further in, he gives a totally new shape to “The Secret Life of Plants” by Stevie Wonder, without betraying its poetic writing… So he goes, solo, for an “Introspection” with a graver tone, to make the ‘churchy’ sound – so spiritual - ring different. From clean lines to more abstract strokes, Eric Legnini paints a black and white self-portrait, more consistent with the diversity of his pianistic originality. What is the sensitive “The Sleeping Bee”, where the shadow of Bill Evans floats, telling us? It is another type of soul from someone who has an appetite for the more elevated style of a Ramsey Lewis. « Today I accept the whitest part that is in me ». Like in “The Shadow of Your Smile”, a story of melody on which he plays more openly and lyrically. Never over-playing or over-doing it. Less is better. It’s a classic. It’s always relevant. « It’s the place to which all musicians aspire. It simply requires time ». You have to “trip” well before you can recompose all the pieces of the puzzle of your own identity.
Tripe (Guts)
After three decades of music constructing himself with the multitude of all his influences, Eric Legnini takes his bearings, with no frenzied ego trip. Without looking backwards, without being revivalist, nor bitter, just being in the present time. « One has to accept and use all this past to build the Now ». With two hands, never with wrists tied to canonized formats. « What’s the point of doing a pseudo-Kenny Kirkland, I prefer to be and do a speudo-myself ». He and everything at once: enthusiast of hip-hop and swing, of the crazy seventies and the mixtapes of the years 2000, of virtuoso jazz and esthete soul… him at the consoles and the keyboards, composer and producer. This multiform identity appears and takes shape with this “nuclear” album, where he returns to the sources of the trio to throw himself forward. A drumstick beat on the left, a bass line on the right, the piano that balances it out … the four days of studio were not too many to take the time to perfect the takes, to place the mics, to test the amps. In other words, to assert the hypothesis of “old-school” sound, to refine the influence of hip-hop on the one who now spends hours behind the console. « It has to sound like break beats. It influences me as much in the writing as in the mix. I try to compose very precise parts that can be isolated ». This is what underpins it all, what draws in our ear. “Trippin’”, an album in the shape of a loop, a loop in the shape of a sphere - that is, opened up to the future. There is no doubt that by closing this chapter in his life, Eric Legnini is already writing the first lines of a new page, which heralds tomorrows in the making, enchanted? In the mean time, have a good trip…
