Arnaud Dolmen

LéNo duo is a complementary pair of experts. On one side, Leonardo Montana, pianist and composer, partner in crime and author of a fascinating solo, whose touch on the black and ivory instruments is as reminiscent of his South American origins as it is of his real roots in jazz. On the other, Arnaud Dolmen, drummer and composer, sought-after sideman and acclaimed leader, whose jazz drumming resonates with the rhythms of the ka drum (cf. concert on 9 April). Between the two, the flow is natural, running the gamut of sensations - dreamlike, carnal, spiritual - with improvisation as the common thread.

It's always moving to witness the birth of a band, and the one that performed last night at La Dynamo in Pantin has a bright future ahead of it.

Led by one of the best jazz drummers of recent years, Arnaud Dolmen, the man radiates happiness when he plays and when he talks to the audience.

Alongside him is Le Vitygroove: Sophye Soliveau on harp and vocals, Gabriel Gosse on electric guitar, Carl-Henri Morisset on keyboards, Swaéli Mbappé on electric bass and Adriano Tenorio on percussion (all of whom sing along with the music, their voices rainbowing Sophye Soliveau's).

In other words, it's a kind of all-star show where no one takes the spotlight and everyone puts their heart and soul into making sure that beauty triumphs.

Vitrygroove's music has a subtle Caribbean flavour; the groove is omnipresent, a nurturing pulse that makes children dance and older children clap their hands.

As part of his artistic residency at La Dynamo de Banlieues Bleues, Arnaud Dolmen met Sophye Soliveau to create the magnificent ‘Bat'man de Chœurs’ project. (Musical actions have been part of the DNA of Banlieues Bleues for ages). His stage presence is radiant, his voice solar and magnetising, his harp playing all stardust.

We haven't finished talking about Vitrygroove and Sophye Soliveau; we haven't finished waiting for their respective debut albums - the band's is due out next year, the harpist's next month... - and we haven't finished thinking about this memorable concert.

Fred Goaty

He was the man of the year in 2022 for French jazz, which finally recognised him for what he is: one of the most gifted drummers of his generation. Arnaud Dolmen, with his fiery Adjusting quartet, conceived during confinement and whose music questions our interconnectedness, our human experience in a world as beautiful as it is noisy. His highly contemporary jazz drumming resonates with the ancestral rhythms of the ka drum, learned when he was a child.

There's something profound going on in the French West Indies when it comes to jazz, and Arnaud Dolmen is one of its most remarkable expressions. Seen with saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart, flutist Naissam Jalal and singer David Linx, this drummer belongs to a generation of musicians in their thirties who, like their Caribbean cousins from Cuba and Puerto Rico, are seeking to reconcile a centuries-old rhythmic culture with the language of the most contemporary jazz. It's not surprising that you think of Dafnis Prieto or Miguel Zenon when you listen to his music: it's all part of the same drive to activate traditional rhythmic cells at the very heart of the liveliest jazz, to engage with its roots without lapsing into folklorism, avoiding exotic clichés at all costs.