Today is the official release date on Yolk Records of "The Beginner's Guide To Diving And Flying", the first record of my French acoustic quintet Orca Noise Unit. The record features Sylvaine Hélary on flutes, Antonin Tri Hoang on alto saxophone and clarinets, Bruno Chevillon on double bass, Toma Gouband on percussion and myself on piano and percussion.
I'm happy to notice the very positive first reception by the press, of which the CHOC in the French Jazz Magazine is an example.
Orca Noise Unit is an anagram of 'oneironautics', or the practice of being awake in one's dreams. It's a topic I could talk or write about for a very long time, but I'll keep it to this: The very exciting part for me about this record is that I have the feeling to have found a musical shape (the ensemble of all the songs of the records) that perfectly reflects the zone I go into, when I'm dealing with with my own dream world, and all the worlds that are related to it.
Furthermore, this music has been recorded only a week after the passing of my dad, and is - for my part - dedicated to his loving memory.