Noël Akchoté - Books Of Bix – (Beiderbecke Cornet Solos, In The Text), (For Guitar)
Bandcamp, 2024
That mad French guitarist Noël Akchoté is at it again. When he is not revising the ancient texts of Plainsong, he is dipping deeply into the myth of early jazz. On Books Of Bix, the guitarist plays transcriptions of the coronet solos by the beautiful and doomed Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke. No matter what Akchoté addresses, he does so with humor and a not-so-small command of his instrument and the music.
This release consists of 27 ostensibly solo fragments from Beiderbecke’s recordings. They range in length from 0:28 (“Royal Garden”) to 4:07 (“Marmalade”), with 15 of the performances at 1:00 or more. The collection hangs together as a soundtrack for a film yet to be made. The longer pieces work the best, Akchoté devotes more time to the entire pieces, breaking up the shorter pieces nicely.
Akchoté plays his Gibson ES-175-D achieving a coherent sound that is easy to follow and pleasing to anyone’s aesthetic sense. The guitarist has spent the last years documenting as much music from as many genres as possible. He is fearless and undaunted and it is great to anticipate releases almost every week. It is always a great surprise.