Sylvain Cathala/Print

A mature mainstream session celebrating the 25^th anniversary of Fance’s Print quintet, Secrets for You doesn’t break any new ground. However the group, led by tenor saxophonist Sylvain Cathala, creates enough internal synergy so that its performance evolves with maximum cohesion and minimum musical cleavage. Besides Cathala, who has worked with musicians as different as Laurent Blondiau and Alexandra Grimal, the band consists of four other experienced Gallic stylists: alto saxophonist Stéphane Payen, bassist Jean-Philippe Morel, Franck Vaillant who plays both acoustic and electronic percussion and Benjamin Moussay who moves between piano and modular piano.

Despite the potential for investing the nine tracks with voltage oscillations due to Moussay’s and Vaillant’s additional instruments, except for the odd decorative pulse, the disc is resolutely acoustic. Vaillant for instance spends more time coloring the performances than voltage exploration. The percussion varieties encompass a combination of drum back beats, cymbal splashes and distinctive rattles, clanks and pops from his percussion that resemble ruffs from timbales, conga drums, wood blocks and bell jingling. Moussay too adds the occasional modular shake, but mostly comps behind the soloists with appropriate clips and pressure or adds responsive keyboard flourishes when needed.

Tracks such as “Mirror of time” and “Study 4” depend upon piano advancement, the same way that “Study 1” owes its ambulation to Morel’s alternating wood raps and string buzzes. Although featured, he propels these coordinates with the same professional sangfroid he brings to other sequences, where his pulses lock in with drum ruffs and dynamic piano patterning.

Mostly invested in outputting trills, flutters and slides for connection as much as ornamentation, Payen and Cathala also bring impressive close harmonies to the compositions, all written by the tenor saxophonist. Airy and relentlessly tonal, singly or together, emotional investment is also part of the saxophonists’ role. A track such as “Study 4” displays the tenor saxophonist’s distinctive  arrangements when the pianist slows the tempo to emphasize keyboard patterning and Cathala maintains a parallel line, but at a faster tempo.

Overall the compositions take advantage of the musicians more than two decades of cooperation  to emphasize each of the band member’s prime attributes and turn the program into a reflective whole. Still the only Secrets for You or an listener is rather than showcasing modifications in the formulations is how well musical consistency is maintained.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Fifteen minutes to change 2. Study 5 3. Mirror of time 4. Eleven dimensions 5. Study 1 6. Study 4 7. Study 2 8. Study 3 9. Study 6

Personnel: Stéphane Payen (alto saxophone); Sylvain Cathala saxophone (tenor saxophone); Benjamin Moussay  (piano and modular piano); Jean-Philippe Morel (bass) and Franck Vaillant (acoustic and electronic percussion)