Alain Bedard Auguste Quartet: Particules Sonores

The experience of bassist Alain Bedard's Partcules Sonores begins—for those who read liner notes—with a rumination on "sound waves that interact with every particle of matter they encounter. The energy created is transported and diffused, becoming sound particles."

Hm. A bit cerebral for some tastes, perhaps. But then jazz guys are known to go deep in describing their music. Ornette Coleman, anyone? Cecil Taylor? And in all of these cases—Coleman, Taylor and Bedard—it is the music that counts. The words are just sideshow, sometimes entertaining, often confusing and/or beyond a humble listener's reach, and sometimes they are just plain weird. (And this might be said of some reviews, too).

Particules Sonores, from Montreal-bred bassist Alain Bedard and his August Quartet, is a first modern jazz effort, one part early '60's Blue Note Records Wayne Shorter and two parts twenty-first-century exploratory sounds.

With a two-decade history of playing together, the band has shaped a distinctive art, featuring compositions the leader along with two from his bandmates, pianist Marie-Fatima Rudolf and drummer Michel Lambert. Reedist Mario Allard plays soprano sax with some grit, like Sidney Bechet, and sometimes with a sweet tang, like Branford Marsalis.

The set opens with the leader's "Compte-Rendu," described as evolving from "A series of events and research into the use and majesty of a rotating, modular melodic system." It is a circuitous tune, with a terrific piano solo from Rudolf and a winding road soprano sax solo from Allard, with the leader's bass taking a nicely comped (by the piano) solo of his own.

"Profumo Chaneleone" celebrates Chanel perfume (so we have sound particles and olfactory experiences playing a part here); and Rudolff's "Terrain Neutre" offers a segment of relaxation and introspection to the proceedings, and "Bamboozled" from drummer's Lambert's pen in a piano-less trio, with saxman Allard grumbling around a snappy rhythm on his baritone saxophone.

The band sounds as if it has been together for twenty years—oh, right; they have been—and they make off-kilter music (for those looking for cookie- cutter stuff, this is not it) that is compelling and enjoyable from start to finish.

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