Jeff Seffer / Siegfried Kessler / Didier Levallet

Perhaps because of – or in spite of – the presence of many American Free Jazzers in the country, the local French improvisation scene got off the ground a later than those in many other countries. More imperative documents appeared in the 1970s than in the 1960s, yet as elsewhere appreciation for the form waned by the end of the decade. Perception’s Live at Le Stadium, for instance, the influential Paris quartet’s swan song, took place in a converted skating rink in 1977. As elsewhere the popularity of accessible so-called Jazz-Rock fusion and mainstream Jazz decimated the initially enthusiastic audience, with many exploratory players having to wait another 20 years before a concentrated search for new sounds created a renewed interest in Free Music.

Oversight sometimes creates opportunities and Perception’s final iteration was as robust an ensemble as the original. In place of the group’s usual drummer was mercurial Jacques Thollot (1946-2014), who had earlier worked with Eric Dolphy and Don Cherry and would end his career collaborating with younger improvisers like Noël Akchoté. Besides that the album features the group’s other original members: pianist Siegfried Kessler (1935-2007), latterly known for his many gigs with Archie Shepp; saxophonist/clarinetist Jeff Seffer (b. 1939), who was also part of avant-rock group Magma; and bassist Didier Levallet (b. 1944), who besides playing with Byard Lancaster, Tony Oxley and others, was director of l’Orchestre national de jazz from1997 to 2000.

There’s nothing orchestral about the five hard-hitting selections here. Although Kessler’s electric piano comping adds a tinny overlay to some selections, not helped by the boomy rink acoustics, the overriding characteristic is raw power. As the drummer’s pounding rumbles move the tracks forward, the bassist’s echoing pizzicato strokes are sometimes supplemented with bowed buzzing that harmonizes with extended altissimo cries or pinched snarls from Seffer. Elsewhere the pianist’s fluid grace notes are mated with upwards soaring tongue flutters from the saxophonist.

Of a piece, the program is buttressed by the final tracks when Levallet’s positive string thumping is doubled with Kessler’s piano pulse, although the acoustics make the contributions appear more distant then they are. “Ville d’Avril”, featuring Seffer outputting wide intervals with a woody tone from his bass clarinet is taken with enough brio to reveal a relaxed, yet steadfast feel that it could come from a Rock-ballad. Finally the nearly 20-minute “Chott Djerid/Hymus” wraps all these influences in a distinctive contemporary package. Between Levallet’s echoing plucks and Seffer’s shrill, elongated soprano saxophone shrills early; adventurous Weather Report is evoked, especially when coupled with Kessler’s sweeping keyboard cascades. Freer and more Jazz-affiliated than the American Jazz Rockers, counterpoint distributed among the four confirms Perception’s vibrating horizontal progress. An anthemic finale featuring melancholy tenor saxophone and piano echoes confirms the quartet’s distinctiveness.

Live at Le Stadium is a valuable addendum to the first flowering of under-recorded French Free Jazz scene. Too bad the live sound couldn’t have been better.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Un coq d’Amailloux 2. Stadium exchanges 3. Adexqi 4. Ville d’Avril 5. Chott Djerid/Hymus

Personnel: Jeff Seffer (tenor, soprano and sopranino saxophones, bass clarinet); Siegfried Kessler (piano and electric piano); Didier Levallet (bass) and Jacques Thollot (drums)