In 2016, at the jazz festival in Ramatuelle, France, two legends of European saxophone came together for a rare performance that demonstrated intergenerational virtuosity and endless good vibes. It was meant to be a meeting between three giants, with Joachim Kühn pulling out at the last minute due to food poisoning. Yet, with improvisation being the heartbeat of jazz the show went on, and the repertoire that night was full of spontaneous and authentic energy, darting from joyful to melancholic to chaotic and everything in between.
Émile Parisien is a leading light of the new generation in European jazz. In his early 30s at the time of this concert, he was already an accomplished bandleader and a stellar, multi-award-winning composer. His rise is due to the incredible lyricism he delivers on the sax (especially the soprano), and for this year he was given the freedom to invite special guests to join him on stage. The one who made it was Michel Portal, an octogenarian saxophonist, clarinettist and bandoneonist who is a veteran improviser and a genre-bender. They are joined by a cast of the best European sidemen for a trans-generational dialogue: Parisien, at his young age, is already a beacon of wisdom while Portal is a fountain of youth and energy.
