|
For all of their critical acclaim since their 1999 debut, Garage a Trois actually came together as an afterthought. The unholy jazz/funk/R&B trinity of Stanton Moore, Charlie Hunter and Skerik first convened in New Orleans in the spring of 1998 – just after Mardi Gras – to record Moore’s debut album, All Kooked Out.
After three days in the studio, Moore had his album, but the trio had discovered something else in the process. They shared a common vision for a totally new and innovative concept: an all-live, dubbed-out trio playing club-ready but sample free grooves. Sounding like the future and the past at the same time, the trio immediately got busy on a recording under their new moniker of Garage a Trois.
The result was the 1999 EP, Mysteryfunk, a set that coalesced organically rather than by any premeditated design. All four tracks were improvised on the spot and recorded entirely live – no overdubs, no headphones, no samples. While common wisdom suggests that a musical trio is, by definition, subject to certain limitations, Mysterfunk proved to be no place for common wisdom. The three multi-instrumentalists managed a careful balance guitar, bass, keys, sax and drums that sounded like the work of a half-dozen players.
Emphasizer, Garage a Trois’ first full-length recording, followed in 2003. This second effort included a fourth member, percussionist Mike Dillon, who added vibes, marimba and other goodies to the mix.
Garage a Trois joins the Telarc label with the release of Outre Mer in 2005. The album is a soundtrack to the independent French film of the same name crafted by producer/director Klaus Tontine. The film is a masterpiece that spans the lifetime of a brave but solitary figure and subtly illuminates the alternating joys and sorrows of isolation, parental devotion, romantic love and other universal themes that are common to every culture. To date, it has been screened for a limited number of French critics, who have unanimously hailed it as a tour de force. As of the summer of 2005, the film’s producers and distributors were still attempting to iron out legal problems that have put plans for a wider release on indefinite hold.
But the soundtrack is on a much more fortunate trajectory. It weaves a brilliant tapestry on a par with Tontine’s stirring cinematic imagery. Like the film’s resourceful protagonist, the four players aim every ounce of their own individual and collective energies at creative excellence. The resulting recording – which synthesizes a variety of world music sensibilities – never falls short.
Each of the individuals who make up Garage a Trois brings with him a varied and diverse resume. Well before the band’s inception, Charlie Hunter had already established a reputation – via a series of recordings on Blue Note and elsewhere – as a virtuoso of the eight-string guitar. Armed with five guitar strings and three bass strings on a single axe, he essentially plays two instruments at once – a unique talent that has underscored the work of numerous artists over the past several years, including Norah Jones, Chinna Smith, D’Angelo and Mos Def.
Stanton Moore co-founded Galactic in the ‘90s, and has also collaborated with Corrosion of Conformity and Chris Wood (of Medeski, Martin & Wood) on past projects. Skerik’s list of associations includes Les Claypool, John Scofield and Roger Waters. Dillon has also played with Claypool, as well as Brave Combo, the Malachy Papers and many others.
Outre Mer is just as much an artistic achievement as the film for which it was written. In a sea of jazz/funk experimenters, Garage a Trois is an innovative combo that stands head and shoulders above the crowd.
|
