Eddy m’a dit Emmanuel Bex 2025 CD PW1017

1. Dum Dum - Our Kind of Sabi   8:57
2. Le petit Tavy   0:49
3. Les Éléphants   5:38
4. Eddy   5:16
5. Colchiques dans les Prés   5:26
6. La Biguine   3:22
7. Blues for Eddy   5:38
8. Come On DH   6:18
9. Caraïbes   5:33
10. Romance   5:49
11. Eddy m’a dit   3:45
12. Español   4:40

Emmanuel Bex is a majestic musician.
He has a natural place alongside some of the greatest French jazzmen: Michel Petrucciani, Biréli Lagrène, Richard Galliano, Didier Lockwood, Jean-Luc Ponty, Christian Escoudé, Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Bernard Lubat, Eddy Louiss; musicians without whom European jazz would not be quite what it is.
A certified virtuoso of the Hammond B3 organ, an inventive composer and arranger, a sought-after sideman or the initiator of (highly) original projects, his immense creative energy and insatiable appetite for noveltý have led him to explore many musical universes. Unconcerned with formats and constraints, endowed with unlimited fantasy and a pronounced taste for excess, he is one of those who best embodies the idea of total freedom.
Emmanuel Bex's sunny radiance needs no further demonstration.
Driven by a powerful vibration, his groove and his art of swing make him an authentic repository of the very essence of jazz. Between whispers and howls, his powerful phrasing is teeming with melodic delights. With Bex, everything is at the service of a concentrated lyricism where tenderness and fury miraculously coexist.

In 1978, barely out of his teens, Bex arrived from his native Normandy in Bernard Lubat's South-West and his "Jazz à Uzeste"; that day, Eddy was there, with his howling beast, the Hammond B3 organ. Electrified, overwhelmed, the young Bex made no mistake about the importance of the moment and let himself be bewitched body and soul by this incredible master of ceremonies.
"Eddy says tender, colourful, festive things to me. This musician passed on to me a desire, an urge, the idea that jazz is universal, baroque, animal. The idea that the organ could be a special, sensitive vehicle for it. Now it's up to me to pass it on."

As we prepare to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of the giant Eddy, who else but Emmanuel Bex could legitimately offer a tribute rereading of his repertoire?
"Eddy m'a dit" is an anthology of compositions mixing the different eras and worlds of Eddy Louiss.
Patiently constructed with all the creative input offered by the studio, "Eddy m'a dit" is a meticulously produced album, elaborated track by track. A musical edifice built by stacking colours and dynamics.

A musical edifice built by stacking colours and dynamics. It already stands out singularly in a very rich discography that has most often favoured the restitution of a spontaneouś and dazzling artistic gesture; Here on the contrary Emmanuel Bex and his producer Vincent Mahey Have sought to approach the quintessence of Eddy Louiss's art with a highly structured architecture for pieces that are most often short. Underpinned by a quest for purity and simplicity "Eddy m'a dit" is a story in song that tells the many beauties of Eddy Louiss's universe.

To bring his tale to life Bex summons an exceptional team of musicians from different generations to the party.
Michel Alibo and Arnaud Dolmen shine as the guarantors of this very special pulse from the West Indies. Fidel Fourneyron's twirling trombone emerges masterfully from this magma of sound and the folksong "Caraïbes" to provide an equal counterpoint to the Bex organ.
A sensitive evocation of the Ponty-Humair-Louiss trio revisited by the great Simon Goubert and Dominique Pifarely in "Eddy" and "Colchiques dans les prés".
Solo, pure and simple, with this previously unreleased Biguine bequeathed by Pierre Louiss. "Dum Dum - Our Kind of Saby", two compositions immortalised by Stan Getz on the dynasty album - as well as "Blues for Eddy" and "Romance" are played in trio with the highly inspired Antonin Fresson and Tristan Bex, clear proof that the next generation is well and truly assured. The electro-hallucinatory additions of David Catman Taieb, Phil Reptil and Vincent Mahey add a fresh sound design to these versions.
André Minvielle finds just the right words in "Eddy m'a dit", an original ritornello carried away by "the oval swing".
Finally, "Español" takes us into the psychedelic aspirations of these two genial jacks-of-all-trades. Recorded forty years apart, the voices of Eddy and Emmanuel intermingle, defying the laws of time.

"C'est Eddy, tout est dit", as Claude Nougaro once sang.

Produced, recorded and mixed by Vincent Mahey
Executive production: Virginie Crouail

Recorded at Sextan Studios A and B between June and October 2024
Second engineer and Pro-Tools operator: Tristan Barège
Assistants: Tristan Chiffoleau and Matthias Giovannone
"Eddy m'a dit" recorded by Arthur Gouret and Tristan Barège
"Colchiques" and "Eddy" recorded by Vincent Mahey and Christophe Hauser
Studio preparation and technical direction: Nicolas Servant
Mastering: Raphaël Jonin J RAPH i.n.g
PeeWee! musical advisor: Simon Goubert

Graphic design: Atelier Bagarit
Liner notes: Franck Bergerot
English translation: Pamela Hargreaves
Photos: Jean-Baptiste Millot
Videos: Igor Juget

A PeeWee! and Pulsaction production
With the support of Adami and SPPF
Production manager for Pulsaction: Sophie Bex
Booking: Laurent Carrier - Colore