The Michel Meis 4Tet have put together something special. It’s worth a listen!
Double Moon Records
Michel Meis – Drums, Effects; Alisa Klein – Trombone, Effects; Cedric Hanriot – Piano, Rhodes, Synthesizer; Stephan Goldbach – Double Bass, Synthesizer
LOLLIPOP MOMENT was inspired by Ted Talk speaker Drew Dudley. He said something as simple as smiling at a stranger could be a way to reach someone’s heart. Michel Meis said he wants his music to touch people the same way.
Meis composed all the music for LOLLIPOP MOMENT, his third 4Tet recording. The personnel remain the same but he wanted a more electronic sound so he added synthesizers and electronic effects.
As far as his drumming goes he’s always tried to be different. He likes changing the rhythm, turning the beats into smaller pieces. That’s all still here.
‘Blue Hour ’starts things off sounding like something somberly cinematic. But when Alisa Klein’s trombone comes in on ‘Puff Puff Puff ’it sounds like she’s marching down Bourbon Street in New Orleans. A couple choruses from Cedric Hanriot’s Fender Rhodes make it sound all the more festive.
Paris resident Cedric Hanriot has won many awards but is probably best known for his collaborations with Herbie Hancock and Terri Lyne Carrington. Carrington was his professor at the Berkeley College of Music. Hanriot sounds right at home with all the crazy rhythm changes and complex harmony on LOLLIPOP MOMENT.
I really like his no-nonsene, straight ahead jazz approach on ‘Bye Bye Balloon.’ Hanriot is slamming out brisk runs up and down the scale with bassist Stephen Goldbach along for the ride soloing brilliantly.
‘Heyday, ’a lovely lullaby, is even more mainstream. I don’t hear any electronics. Trombone is sitting out. This is piano trio at its best. Stephen Goldbach’s bass really impresses.
There’s a lot going on in ‘Joker ’but this is the Alisa Klein show. She’s double tonguing, smearing notes, trying to make her trombone sound like a percussion instrument. It sounds like there are three or four horns playing after the synthesizer and effects kick in. You hear the Rhodes stepping into and out of those trombone layers.
The drums have this cool funk beat going on. Meis breaks up the beat which sounds like he’s doubling the tempo. He likes snapping the drum head with a little work on the cymbal thrown in.
I don’t know if listening to LOLLIPOP MOMENT will make your life fundamentally better. It could. The Michel Meis 4Tet have put together something special. It’s worth a listen!
