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Monday, August 14, 2017

André Hodeir - "L'écume des jours" OST, 45 rpm Vinyl Single, France, 1968 (Philips)


André Hodeir is a fascinating figure in French Jazz.  Think of him as sort of a more adventuresome Gil Evans.  Musician, composer, arranger, and author.  He wrote numerous books on Jazz aesthetics that were published by Grove Books in the 1960s.  Hodeir is also a challenging artist to find record wise.  Even in Paris I had trouble locating his works, but now, with the internet, it's a tad easier, but not a whole lot of recordings are readily available.   One of the hard finds for me, is this record, the soundtrack to Charles Belmont's French film "L'écume des jours."  It's based on a fantastic Boris Vian novel ("Foam of the Daze" which I published through my press TamTam Books).   

Header uses jazz as a foundation, but he also had an interest in Musique Concréte practices as well.  "L'écume des jours" in parts, is almost electronic in that he processes the children's vocals into a hypnotic and haunting sound.   There is nothing on this French EP that is predictable. Incredibly melodic in parts, but also obsessed with the sound process as well.  Hodeir was a genius and very worth while to locate his recordings.  I think I have most of his work in my collection, as well as a huge Boris Vian presence in my sound and book library.  




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