Heavens (Amadeus & The Duke) Raphaël Imbert

• 1Dancers In Love03:08
• 2Such Sweet Thunder03:12
• 3Quintette avec clarinette, K. 581 - Allegretto con variazioni05:49
• 4Das Lied der Trennung, K. 51904:57
• 5Ethiopi-K2303:39
• 6My Love02:42
• 7Les Dissonances, K. 46501:39
• 8Introduction - Heaven04:27
• 9Zwei geharnischte Männer02:36
• 10Black And Tan Fantasy04:25
• 11A Cenar Teco04:31
• 12Praise God03:21
• 13Man Came To Jesus03:40
• 14Happy Go Lucky Local - The Beautiful American04:59
• 15New World A-Comin'01:38
• 16Come Sunday04:30
• 17Die Himmlischen04:08
• 18Ave verum corpus, K. 61804:49
• 19My Love (musical saw version) (Bonus Track)02:29
• Total Runtime01:10:39

Info for Heavens (Amadeus & The Duke)

This project creates an exciting new bridge between Western classical music and African-American music. With his band of virtuosos, Raphaël Imbert weaves together the common themes in the worlds of Ellington and Mozart. Making each echo to the other's sound, he conjoins them in a musical marriage which brilliantly merges their works. Heavens is an immense modern jam session, drawing on eclectic multicultural sources: blues, chamber music, secular song, German lied, sacred music, stomp, gospel, opera...

Inspired by both written and oral traditions, driven by improvisation and a swinging momentum, the saxophonist reveals the genius of these two great Masters. He brings to the fore their humour and their spirituality, a spirituality which at times touches the universal imagination. If their worlds combine so harmoniously, it is also because the three creators of this exceptional work, Mozart, Ellington and Imbert, are all blessed with the same innocence, the same passion, the same joy in sharing. In Heavens, the music lover is raised to a rainbow paradise where the hearts of jazz and classical music collide and beat together, and where music is as much a state of mind as a question of style. How happy are we to experience the union of this trinity!

"Heavens: Amadeus & the Duke, a Raphael Imbert project is like Forest Gump’s momma’s box of chocolate— you never know what you’re gonna get, but it’s always pretty good. Call this a crossover album. It opens with wierd, electronic, squeaky bugs and bats nachtmusik, into which a solo sax riffs uncertain tones, and soon the band is playing 30’s swing with a funky flavour and the tone of sax is like a kazoo. Track 2 goes all Tom Waits whining, carnie, harmonies, and in Track 3 here comes the “Allegretto con variazioni” of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, K. 581: that goes goofy for a bit then the quintet comes back plus a rude, mocking sax, followed by Mozart’s Das Lied der Trennung, K. 519, given a very classy vocal treatment, like the Weil/Brecht “Barbara Song.” I could listen to a whole album of that, but then there’s anguished wailing of sax going crazy, then a soft voiced Pirate Jenny singing of that ship “the black freighter.” There follows sax and congas doing a perp mobile that calms down to a slow and lovely Track 5 that in track 6 explodes into heavily orchestrated song of a falsetto singing “my love my love” over and over with funky big band and gritty solo sax. Track 7 is more Mozart. On track 8, “Introduction/Heaven” a great girl singer, goes uptempo on guitar with drums. 9 is classical violin and then dissonant string quartet with snare drums and human German vocal of very excellent quality excerpting from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. 10 offers broken cabaret sounds from Ellington’s Black and Tan Fantasy. 11 is an intrumental of an Aria by the Commendatore from Mozart’s Don Giovanni entitled A “Cenar Teco,” (“You invited me to dinner”) that sounds, not inappropriately like the killing of chickens. Not a bad thing. That takes us to 12 of the 18 track total here, and you probably got the gist of what I’m feeling, so, end of story. Coda. This is a wonderful ride. Take it any time, if you are bent that way." (Stanley Fefferman, www.opusonereview.com)

Raphaël Imbert, bass clarinet, saxophone
Jean-Luc Di Fraya, chant, drums
Marion Rampal, chant
Emmanuel Haratyk, alto saxophone
Thomas Weirich, guitars
Luigi Vecchioni, violin
Marie Bereau, violin
Christian Wolff, violin
Florent Héau, clarinet
Simon Sieger, trombone

Raphaël Imbert
saxophonist and jazz composer, recipient of a ‘Villa Médicis hors les murs’ award for his research into sacred music and jazz, who won the 28th national jazz competition at La Défense in 2005 with his ensemble Newtopia. Selfmade man, Raphaël Imbert started jazz at Marseille Conservatory with Philippe Renault and met there regional musicans with whom he plays regularly (Emile Atsas, Jean-Luc Difraja, Vincent Lafont, Pierre Fenichel...). He wins with Jean-Jacques Élangué the first price of Marseille Conservatory and creates 2 groups "Hemlé orchestra" and " Atsas imbert consort", with whom he will play in numerous festivals (Vienne, Nice, Fiesta des Suds, Théâtre des Salins...). He develops his taste for composition and the most eclectic musical situations. He creates a vision of music and jazz connected to spirituality very essential to the jazzman approach. For this purpose, he creates « Nine Spirit » to play "sacred music" of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler and others, and to produce shows which are inspired by powerful texts written by Théodore Monod, Amadou Hampatê Bâ, Martin Luther King ... Raphaël Imbert worked on a study focused on the Sacred in Jazz and becomes recipient of Villa Médicis Hors Les Murs, managed by AFAA and the french foreign affairs ministry which enabled him to stay in New York during october 2003. Raphaël Imbert develops many teaching project in Marseille Conservatory, at Festival Cluny and Fai’art. He belongs to the Orchestre National de Jazz administration board since september 2004 and wins the 28th national jazz competition at La Défense in 2005 with his ensemble Newtopia. He writes music for cinema and television for Philippe Carrése et Isabelle Boni-Claverie projects. Raphaël Imbert manages 2 groups within the Nine Spirit Company, 2 records are released with Zig Zag Territoires Label : la Suite Elegiaque"with Newtopia Project (ZZT 061103) , and a special christmas album, Pieces for Christmas Peace with Sixtine Group distribution Harmonia Mundi.

Booklet for Heavens (Amadeus & The Duke)