Erik Truffaz

Playing film music is a tricky business for any musician! Soundtracks are the skin of films, their indistinct soul or, in the worst case scenario, a mere backdrop for feelings. So Truffaz delved into his memories as a cinephile, a lover and a child, to foment this homage of jazz to the film it illuminates.

For Rollin' & Clap!, Truffaz and his almost lifelong sidekick Marcello Giuliani first sketched out an ideal theme song. It's one of the striking things about Truffaz's career, this sense of casting - always a cast worthy of Marvels, superheroes of textures and aesthetic pileups. Here, in addition to Giuliani's acoustic bass, the band is fleshed out by Raphaël Chassin's old-fashioned drums, Alexis Anérilles' mined keyboards and Matthis Pascaud's Monkian guitar.

Little by little, the plot of this album takes shape. Erik Truffaz interferes in all the films of his life. If you've ever seen him on stage, you'll understand that he's a black-series actor, the felt hat, the long body of an escogriffe, it's not clear whether he's the bad guy or the good guy, but he puts drama wherever he blows. The brass jumps from one character to the next, it's the primary voice - never has the trumpeter sung so well as in these fictional avatars.