CD+DVD
At once intriguing and immediately appealing, Doubles Messieurs (Men’s Doubles) is an astonishing disc, a meeting of two very different musical minds - classical pianist (and well-known French television pundit) Jean-François Zygel and jazz pianist Antoine Hervé.
Zygel and Hervé met as schoolboys in Madame Lemitre’s music theory class and this reunion revealed a duo surprising for its combination of classical and jazz skills, whose main strengths are a shared sensibility and an unfailing musical complicity. Their first album together showcases a joint creative process generated by the encounter of two musicians outside their normal spheres of activity. What emerges is neither jazz nor classical, but the interplay of influences and a strong rapport with the audience, which result in an expressiveness that only improvisation can produce. This recording is a travel diary composed of excerpts from their concerts all over France, from Saint-Malo to Toulouse.
Jean-François Zygel regularly performs improvisation concerts for silent film, theatre or dance (Châtelet Theatre, Forum des Images, Bastille Opera, Avignon Festival, Lyon Auditorium, Louvre Museum, Orsay Museum…). Each month, accompanied by the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, he introduces the works of the musical greats to a young audience at Pleyel Hall and Radio France Auditorium. He is also in charge of the weekly live broadcast The Classical Cabaret of Jean-François Zygel aired by France Musique. In 2006 he created for television The Music Box of Jean-François Zygel (France 2 and Mezzo) dedicated to great composers. Several of these shows have been released on DVD by Naive. The label also issued the pianist’s solo disc, Improvisations (V5075), in 2008. Pianist, composer, conductor, and producer Antoine Hervé is a household name on the French music scene. From 1987 to 1989, he conducted the Orchestre National de Jazz in more than 140 concerts. He founded several organisations and has composed for musicals and contemporary classical ensembles. In the jazz field, he has performed or recorded with international stars such as Markus Stockhausen, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gil Evans, Quincy Jones, Chet Baker, Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Toots Thielmans, Martial Solal, Claude Nougaro, Didier Lockwood and Michel Portal.
