Picture ©
Picture ©
Poetic and fascinating chamber jazz
Released in April 2025 on Igloo Records and BMC (Budapest Music Centre) label.
What happens when you recognize someone without knowing them? A taste of love. And what could be even softer, than if this encounter is evoked by music?
We can all envy Tom Bourgeois to have encountered the compositions of Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) this way.
But we can also thank him for transforming this meeting into a tribute album of rare intensity. Through 14 titles, the composer and saxophonist does not only offer a sensitive interpretation of the work, he goes even further by exploring the echoes of this music – written a century ago- can have with its own approach. Thus, musical colors and a certain form of lyricism constitute the common markers of an eminently current landscape, which Bourgeois has already explored with his numerous other projects (including Murmures, Moanin’ Birds, Rumeurs or solo).
The result is a type of music that sometimes draws on jazz, sometimes on contemporary music, but without merely just creating a collage. On the contrary, it is rather the singularity of a coherent voice which forms this alliance.
Tom Bourgeois offers us paradoxical music with Lili, very constructed and also free at the same time. A very alive sound reminding us that love transcends gender and years. He had already carried out this same type of work with Maurice Ravel, via a “reinterpretation” of the “
String quartet” on the second CD of his double album ‘Murmures’ (2018).. This type of rewriting is aimed at making the music resonate differently. And most certainly, to pay homage to Lili Boulanger.
Maxime Coton
Quartet :
Tom Bourgeois [saxophones]
Alex Koo [piano]
Lennart Heyndels [double bass]
Théo Lanau [drums]
Guests :
Veronika Harcsa [voice] – Vincent Courtois [cello]
Tom Bourgeois’ music is mystical, introspective and spiritual, but can also be angry, exalted and heretical.
There is something solemn and pagan at the same time. This exciting double album makes us question everything and distracts us from single-minded thinking. It is all about delicacy and contrast.
Nothing is ever completely black or white.
Neither is anything ever completely grey.
Tom Bourgeois plays on this fragile balance.
Influences from Ravel (‘Sonatine II’), Thom Yorke (‘La tête dans la radio’ and ‘La radio dans la tête’) and John Dowland (‘Tell Me, True Love’ and ‘Love, Tell Me The Truth’) can be recognised behind certain tracks.
We move from the Renaissance and Baroque periods to jazz, from improvisation to chamber music and from hints of blues to disjointed swing.
Tom Bourgeois [saxophones, bass clarinet, composition, arrangements] – Florent Jeunieaux [guitar] – Thibault Dille [accordion] – Jelle Van Giel [drums] – Victor Foulon [double bass] – Dorian Dumont [piano] – Thomas Mayade [trumpet] – Quinten De Craecker [trombone] – Esinam Dogbatse [flute, percussion] – Ruben Verbruggen [saxophones] – Veronika Harcsa [voice]
‘Solos’ is a project composed and recorded by Tom Bourgeois between March and June 2020.
It is a compositional exploration for solo saxophone and/or bass clarinet. The musical universe is inspired by jazz, contemporary music and improvisation.
These shows are recognised by “Les Tournées Art et Vie” (FWB)
Thèmes & Variations #1
Vieille prière bouddhique
Rumeurs “Sweet 370”
News about LILI, the album by the Tom Bourgeois Quartet + guests
The album’s release has been met with rave reviews. The press coverage is growing daily; here is an excerpt that sums up the general impression well.
The album ‘L’Oubli’ by the Pauline Leblond Double Quartet, PLD4 to its friends, will be released on 10 October 2025 on CD and all platforms.
Cathy LORGE, Manager
So What? Productions
Phone: +32 485 80 89 37
Mail : cathy[at]silex.net