MICHEL ZENINO

With ZEwOAÏ, Michel Zenino returns to the sextet format. His sextet was, in 1988, the first group to unanimously win the Jazz Orchestra Competition of La Défense. Portrait by Arnaud Merlin

"The double bassist Michel Zenino is a unifier. A mixer of music, sounds, images, and adventures. Not just a skilled instrumentalist, adept at the science of accompanying a soloist, but truly an animator, a real orchestrator of personalities. A quality (...) that he intelligently uses within his own ensembles, which have been awarded several times in major orchestra competitions. (...) Whether it's personal or borrowed material, the story, the scenario that he imposes on himself – or that is proposed to him – is transfigured to become a mastered space of sound organization, of musical and poetic dramaturgy. A living, energetic, invigorating aesthetic, nourished by the best sources in the history of jazz, with a strong and developed sensitivity, an art of varying atmospheres and colors..." Arnaud Merlin is a journalist (Le Monde de la Musique, Jazzman, ...), producer for France Musique, and a member of the “Académie du Jazz” & “Académie Charles-Cros”.

Michel will present a mix of old and new compositions arranged for this new group.