Jamuary 2023
07 février 2023
Écoute et téléchargement :
https://johannbourquenez.com/faircamp/johann-bourquenez-jamuary2023
Bonjour à tous·tes
Durant tout le mois de janvier j’ai participé à un genre de défi internet : Jamuary. Il s’agit d’enregistrer et de publier, tous les jours, un truc original. Une impro, une compo, une reprise, ce qu’on veut, mais enregistré le jour même. À la base le Jamuary rassemble plutôt des musiciens électroniques, qui se la donnent aux synthé modulaires et autres boites-à-rythmes. Mais je me suis dit que je pourrais participer au piano, et j’ai été bien accueilli !
J’ai donc publié tout ça sur YouTube, en discutant avec les autres Jamuaristes, et en écoutant leurs morceaux. Il y avait un petit forum dédié, avec un « indice » donné chaque jour, avec une tonalité et un tempo, à suivre ou pas. Je les ai suivi la plupart du temps. Ça a été une expérience intense, très riche. J’ai beaucoup appris, à plusieurs niveaux, artistiques, technique de piano, technique de production musicale…
Et la question du devenir de ces enregistrements s’est posée. Plusieurs Jamuaristes parlaient d’en faire une sélection pour un album sur BandCamp. Bingo, c’est ce que j’ai décidé de faire aussi. Certes, tout est enregistré avec mon piano numérique, mais tant pis, j’ose croire que ça a une certaine valeur artistique quand même. J’ai gardé 16 morceaux, et je les ai mixés comme j’ai pu.
Je suis content du résultat. Ça part dans pas mal de directions. Il y a quelques drones de piano « à l’ancienne », mais aussi des standards de Jazz, une petite valse, plusieurs explorations. J’avais du mal à me constituer un répertoire solo au piano, et ça m’a permis de faire le point et de dépasser certains blocages.
Ce qui se passe après ? Je ne sais pas. À chaque fois que j’ai dit des choses du genre « je vais faire ceci » ou « j’espère cela », ça ne s’est pas passé comme prévu. Alors je préfère ne rien dire.
Je sors donc aujourd’hui sur Faircamp ce petit recueil de ces compos d’un jour. 16 morceaux, 30 minutes et quelques, gratuit.
Ciao
Johann
*
Presse : A not-so-dry January
an article by Richard Williams, february 2023
(...) I’ve liked his playing since I first heard Plaistow, the Swiss-based group in which he played for 10 years, at the 2014 London Jazz Festival. Their albums, including Citadelle and Titan, put them among a clutch of piano trios — alongside the Necks, Triosk and even GoGo Penguin — who were stretching the format. Now Bourquenez is pursuing solo projects.
Participants in Jamuary are given daily prompts. These might take the form of a key or a tempo, and they can be followed or not. Bourquenez’s pieces head in all sorts of directions, in a sense providing an exploded diagram of the elements that make up his own music.(...)
♡ ☆ ♡
(english version)
07 february 2023
Listen and download :
https://johannbourquenez.com/faircamp/johann-bourquenez-jamuary2023
Hello everybody
During the whole month of January I participated to some kind of internet challenge : Jamuary. It's about recording and publishing, every day, an original thing. An improvisation, a composition, a cover, whatever you want, but recorded on that day. Originally, Jamuary gathers electronic musicians, who play with modular synths and other rhythm boxes. But I thought I could participate at the piano, and I was well received!
So I posted all this on YouTube, chatting with the other Jamuarists, and listening to their tracks. There was a little dedicated forum, with a « prompt » given each day, with a key and a tempo, to be followed or not. I followed them most of the time. It was an intense experience, very rich. I learned a lot, on several levels, artistic, piano technique, musical production technique...
Then, the question of the future of these recordings emerged. Several Jamuarists were talking about making a selection for an album on BandCamp. Bingo, that's what I decided to do too. True, everything is recorded with my digital piano, but I dare to believe that there is a certain artistic value in those pieces anyway. I kept 16 tracks, and I mixed them as I could.
I'm happy with the result. It goes in a lot of directions. There are some « traditional » piano drones, but also some Jazz standards, a little waltz, several explorations. I had trouble building up a solo piano repertoire, and this allowed me to take stock and overcome certain blockages.
What happens next? I don't know. Every time I've said things like « I'm going to do this » or « I hope to do that » and it hasn't gone as planned. So I'd rather not say anything.
So today I'm releasing on Faircamp this little collection of these one-day compositions. 16 tracks, 30 minutes and some, for free.
Ciao
Johann
*
Press : A not-so-dry January
an article by Richard Williams, february 2023
(...) I’ve liked his playing since I first heard Plaistow, the Swiss-based group in which he played for 10 years, at the 2014 London Jazz Festival. Their albums, including Citadelle and Titan, put them among a clutch of piano trios — alongside the Necks, Triosk and even GoGo Penguin — who were stretching the format. Now Bourquenez is pursuing solo projects.
Participants in Jamuary are given daily prompts. These might take the form of a key or a tempo, and they can be followed or not. Bourquenez’s pieces head in all sorts of directions, in a sense providing an exploded diagram of the elements that make up his own music.(...)