CONSTANT

Drummer, composer and songwriter Guilhem Flouzat has more than one trick up his sleeve. He produced an album of standards with pianist Sullivan Fortner another one of songs for which he wrote music and lyrics, sung by Isabel Sorling. His drumming, honed with teachers like Eric Harland, Dan Weiss, Mark Guiliana and John Riley, always serves his compositional approach.
He perfected his beat and shaped his musical identity during the 7 years he spent in New York, where he collaborated with the likes of Lionel Loueke, Becca Stevens, Steve Wilson, Dave Liebman, Linda Oh and Gilad Hekselman. The grandson of pianist and organist Henriette Puig-Roget, he grew up under the spell of Ravel and Poulenc. Literary studies gave him the taste for seizing experience with words. These are the sources of a musical universe both narrative and profound.
For ten years now, he has been following his own compass on the european and American scene, being a sideman for Youn Sun Nah, Camila Meza and Seamus Blake among others. His debut album, “One Way…Or Another”, hailed as “the best thing to happen to French Jazz in a long time” by journalist Vincent Bessières, saw him play duo with Tigran Hamasyan. He joined the Sunnyside label for his sophomore effort “Portraits”, a series of musical depictions of the eight musicians on the album, amongst whom Becca Stevens and Ben Wendel. “A Thing Called Joe”, a trio offering delving into tin pan alley repertoire was praised as a “classic” by French and American reviews, and followed by several tours with Sullivan Fortner. The same year the collaborative effort “Constant Stranger” was released on Fresh Sound/New Talent featuring Richard Sears on piano and Martin Nevin on bass, reminiscent of Ellington and Scriabine.
His first full album as a songwriter featuring Isabel Sorling, “Turn The Sun To Green” will be released on Shed Music on 02.21.2021, a series of tunes imagined late at night on his neighbor’s piano in Washington Heights, just before returning to Paris.
Drummer, composer and songwriter Guilhem Flouzat has more than one trick up his sleeve. He produced an album of standards with pianist Sullivan Fortner another one of songs for which he wrote music and lyrics, sung by Isabel Sorling. His drumming, honed with teachers like Eric Harland, Dan Weiss, Mark Guiliana and John Riley, always serves his compositional approach.
He perfected his beat and shaped his musical identity during the 7 years he spent in New York, where he collaborated with the likes of Lionel Loueke, Becca Stevens, Steve Wilson, Dave Liebman, Linda Oh and Gilad Hekselman. The grandson of pianist and organist Henriette Puig-Roget, he grew up under the spell of Ravel and Poulenc. Literary studies gave him the taste for seizing experience with words. These are the sources of a musical universe both narrative and profound.
For ten years now, he has been following his own compass on the european and American scene, being a sideman for Youn Sun Nah, Camila Meza and Seamus Blake among others. His debut album, “One Way…Or Another”, hailed as “the best thing to happen to French Jazz in a long time” by journalist Vincent Bessières, saw him play duo with Tigran Hamasyan. He joined the Sunnyside label for his sophomore effort “Portraits”, a series of musical depictions of the eight musicians on the album, amongst whom Becca Stevens and Ben Wendel. “A Thing Called Joe”, a trio offering delving into tin pan alley repertoire was praised as a “classic” by French and American reviews, and followed by several tours with Sullivan Fortner. The same year the collaborative effort “Constant Stranger” was released on Fresh Sound/New Talent featuring Richard Sears on piano and Martin Nevin on bass, reminiscent of Ellington and Scriabine.
His first full album as a songwriter featuring Isabel Sorling, “Turn The Sun To Green” will be released on Shed Music on 02.21.2021, a series of tunes imagined late at night on his neighbor’s piano in Washington Heights, just before returning to Paris.
A songwriting project conceived in New York, perfected in Paris on adulthood, dreams and creation, sung by Isabel Sorling.
Constant Stranger is a trio of composers, open and equalitarian in writing and improvisation. Recorded on two balmy days in Echo Park, Los Angeles, an arresting daydream steeped in ancestral grooves ft Dayna Stephens and Sam Gendel
“With its classic feel, the astute selection of tunes, the adept sequencing, and the superb playing all around, A Thing Called Joe is one of those feelgood jazz discs that stays in the stack next to the stereo, always somewhere near the top.” Dan Mc Clelaghan, All About Jazz (New York)
A gallery of musical portraits inspired by his sidemen and women, Borrowing from their musical universe and their personalities. Featuring Ben Wendel and Becca Stevens.
Une songwriteuse unique entre le Chili et les Etats-Unis, qui participe plusieurs fois au projet de Guilhem (voir bootlegs) et fait plusieurs fois appel à lui pour ses tournées.
“Mr. Flouzat is an agile young drummer originally from Paris, and now part of peer group in New York, which informed his smart recent album, “Portraits.”
-Nate Chinen, New York Times
“The best thing to happen to French Jazz in a long time”
-Vincent Bessières, curator of the exhibition “We Want Miles”
“Guilhem Flouzat’s compositions and drumming are adventurous and mature. His unique amalgamation of tradition and current trends is very refined and a joy to listen to.”
-John Riley, drummer and educator
“Guilhem Flouzat is one of the most exciting young drummers I’ve heard in a while. On top of having a fine understanding of the art of jazz drumming, with a particularly strong feel for form, he his an accomplished composer with an original and fresh conception of development within a piece. I look forward to hearing much more music from Guilhem.”
-Dan Tepfer, pianist and composer
“Guilhem is one of the most talented young drummers i have met. He has a sincere dedication to his craft and he possesses an immense focus. He has a very bright future ahead of him and he is capable of many things.”
-Dan Weiss, drummer and composer
On Flouzat’s third record, “A Thing Called Joe” (Sunnyside Records)
With its classic feel, the astute selection of tunes, the adept sequencing, and the superb playing all around, A Thing Called Joe is one of those feelgood jazz discs that stays in the stack next to the stereo, always somewhere near the top.
Dan Mc Clelaghan, All About Jazz
Everybody plays standards, but to make them your own with grace, elegance and taste isn’t for everyone. Guilhem Flouzat aces it.
Jean-Charles Doukhan, TSF Radio
A Thing Called Joe is one of those albums that you can listen to from beginning to end. Thereʼs not a bad track in the mix.
Tom Schnabel, KCRW (Jazz favorites of 2017)
An ongoing love story with the American Songbook. The delight is in the details.
JohnEphland, Downbeat
Soon as you delve into this beautiful collection of standards, the refinment and subtlety come to light. A simple and very beautiful jazz record.
David Koperhant, INDISPENSABLE JazzNews
You can’t miss this.
Michel Contat, Telerama
An informal standards sessions with a timeless charm, celebrating the great tradition of the trio with subtlety and intelligence.
Pascal Rozat, CHOC Jazz Magazine
Guilhem Flouzat, 32, is a different drummer. His third album as a leader is a radical move. He plays songs you know. He leads this piano trio from behind. He has a subtle touch but always imprints himself on the music, sometimes subliminally.
Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes
“An absolute gem.”
Michel Denis, Qobuz
On Flouzat’s second record, “Portraits” (Sunnyside Records)
“Even at its most creatively untamed, this album exudes the sense of, here, these are the perfect words spoken at the perfect time and we used only as many as we absolutely needed and not one word more. Just go buy this thing; no way you’re gonna be disappointed.”
-Dave Sumner, Bird Is The Worm blog
“Guilhem Flouzat, a Parisian now based in New York, is a drummer who operates within an ensemble like a sophisticated composer, because he is one. His songs are clean, stark, asymmetrical forms, activated by his diverse, intelligent drum energy.”
-Thomas Conrad, Jazztimes
“Flouzat makes a distinct if airily abstract impression with Portraits, his second album and Sunnyside debut. Besides writing all the music plus lyrics for two tracks, Flouzat produced the program to showcase eight collaborative friends.”
-Howard Mandel, DownBeat
“Portraits is the most agreeable of musical conversations, luring the listener to pay attention to every theme, every solo, every emotion, every arranging idea. A most sensuous recording”
-Noadya Arnoux, Jazz Magazine (France)
“Drummer Flouzat creates the kind of sophisticated jazz that can’t be defined easily, combining influences as vast as chamber music and funk into a smart and cohesive modern vision. This is a fine example of where jazz should be going”
-Kyle O’Brien, JazzScene
“What makes Portraits such a gem of an album is that drummer Guilhem Flouzat and his excellent band take an approach both elemental and exploratory, resulting in what could be described as cerebral groove. Flouzat’s composing has an open- spaced framework providing ample room for solo and group expression.”
-Terell Holmes, New York City Jazz Record
«Dreaam / Escaape / Mind Traavel» – Dalvaard – Shed Music – 2020
«Process» – Roberto Nieva – Fresh Sound New Talent – 2019
«Animi» – Shauli Einav Quintet – Berthold Records – 2019
«Five Hours» – Age – Lundgren Music – 2018
«Ajoyo» – Ajoyo – RopeADope – 2015
«Visions» – Kavita Shah – Inner Circle – 2014
«Things» – Basak Yavuz – Z Music – 2014
«Simple Beauty» – Adam Larson – Autoproduit 2013
«Remnants» – Steve Newcombe Orchestra – Listen Hear Collective – 2013
«Blue Shadows» – Nerissa Campbell – Autoproduit – 2013
«Travelers» – Matteo Bortone – Zone di Musica – 2013
«Parallel Worlds» – Tony Tixier – Unsigned – 2010
«Symbols» – Nicola Sergio Trio – Challenge Records – 2010
«Pulsar» – Nicola Andrioli Paris Quartet – Dodicilune – 2009
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On the label that revealed many of today’s jazz leading voices, the three New York friends’ display a narrative sense, poise and emotional depth that belies their youth. On piano, Richard Sears channels the heritage of poets and free thinkers such as Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor and Bud Powell. On bass Martin Nevin’s time feel is ocean deep, his composing evocative of Prokofiev and Rachmaninov. A true melodist, drummer Guilhem Flouzat writes enticing and elegant interludes, always shaping the music from within. Two of the most original voices on saxophone today join them : Dayna Stephens on tenor, Sam Gendel on alto. The musicians recorded in the same room, putting kinship and interplay before control.
This trio started with sessions at Manhattan School, for which Guilhem learned the lyrics to lesser known standards. Later came the idea to make an album out of it. There was a leisurely afternoon before the recording picking tunes and checking out versions, a homecooked dinner and casual conversation. The next day Flouzat, Sullivan Fortner and Desmond White met at Bunker studios and took turns calling tunes from a list, suggesting arrangements in the spur of the moment, rarely doing more than two takes. As Thomas Conrad from JazzTimes put it, “unsentimental expressions of actual happiness never go out of style”, and the album received raving reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, before touring France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
CHOC Jazz Magazine, INDISPENSABLE JazzNews, TTT Télérama, disque du jour TSF, TOP Musique et culture, Best of 2017 KCRW
The opening composition, Ben’s Song aims at conveying the urgency and infectious lyricism of Ben Wendel, who was already present on Flouzat’s previous album. In Where We Should Go, the subtle portrayal of a newborn love, vocalist Becca Stevens delivers a stunning performance on lyrics written by the leader himself. Underachiever is a gently ironic nod to young lion Adam Larson, an odd meter tour de force morphing into a hypnotic trio tune. At This Juncture In Time uses the haiku metric form, contrapuntal lines and rich modulations dear to altist Jay Rattman to portray him. The one self-portrait of the album, the ethereal lullabye A Dream shows the interplay between Becca Stevens and the band reach telepathic highs. Sleepwalk is a brooding landscape designed for flautist Anna Webber, while Truce inverts one of pianist Laurent Coq‘s own compositions to honor his influence on Flouzat’s music. The album ends with tributes to the two other members of the rhythm section, Can Olgun on the through-composed What’s Up Yourself, and bassist Desmond White on the songlike Knight.
An intimate series of songs written in the turbulent Washington Heights night, using the neighbor’s piano. Striving to craft words and music with equal care, Turn The Sun To Green draws its title from the song Colors : Like the sun that turns the sun to green / May this moment be the seed for colors yet unseen / For words to speak, and later sing. Surrounded by a steadfast band with Laurent Coq on piano and Des White on bass, Guilhem Flouzat brings in the versatile Ralph Lavital on guitar, and offers the introspection of a young man, as sung by a woman. Isabel Sorling makes every story her own and asks on Thirty One: Who’s to say that age can find my hiding place / Spoil the taste for wasting time on my own ? In turn joyful, somber or sensual, the album is recorded live in one day.