I’ve recently discovered the work of French pianist, composer, cosmos explorer, Christophe Chassol. His project is creating atmospheres, polyphonic and multicultural audiovisual experiences that combines different elements in a harmonic unity that he calls ‘ultrascores’.
In his fourth album, Big Sun, Chassol traveled to Martinique (his family’s West Indian birthplace) for a full immersion into the island’s sounds, culture, traditions. Along with a producer and a photography director, they compiled audio bites (from birds to spontaneous hip hop artists) and visual fragments that then he combined in a movie in a score back in his studio. The result is a very complete experimental jazz woven around the sights and sounds of Martinique that manages to take us there… in a very peculiar and beautiful way.
I saw his presentation last night in Madrid and previously I had a brief chat with him. If you read Spanish you can find it here. If you don’t you can read more about him here and here. In any case his soulful work is absolutely worth exploring… and it’s, somehow, a way of traveling without moving.
