Quartet Base: Le Diapason

Quartet Base got their foot in the door with the 2009 release Allo?. Le Diapason makes clear that this free-range, classically trained electronic jazz group will continue to screw around with your idea of music whether you like it or not. Listening to Le Diapason is a fun exercise of “What in the Hell Is Going on Now?” The album is made up of a variety of suites with names like “That Too Much Hurts Me”, “Changes of Love”, “Like a Sun” and “Una Vez Mas” (the last one being broken up and scattered across the album).

With trumpet, voice, guitar, bass and drums, Quartet Base move from free noise to indie mope and back again in one song. Trumpeter Christophe Motury’s voice is a bit of an acquired taste, mainly because fans of this music are not accustomed to hearing any vocals in the first place. But his odd baritone does have a place within the quartet by virtue of their eccentricity. The greatest achievement of all is that Le Diapason plays out like a united body of work.