François Tusques, l'Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra & Jo Maka - Vol.4

Souffle Continu Records - LP

France, 2025

Modal / Jazz / Spiritual

After reissuing the life-affirming Le Musichien, Le Souffle Continu further delves into the catalogue of François Tusques's Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra, with the high-quality reissue of two flamboyant recordings. 

Almost a decade after Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra's first recordings on Le Temps des Cerises, the shape-shifting band led by François Tusques, had completed a few revolutions, leaving the cradle of free and spiritual jazz for revolutionary fanfares, fusing its sound with that of folk musicians from Bretagne or Ocitanie, and eventually back to the land of the free, with their penultimate LP's, Vol. 4 Joe Maka, a tribute to the late Guinean saxpohonist who takes the lead on most of the songs.

Recorded live at Théâtre Dunois in Paris's 13ème arrondissement, where the band has been playing for quite a while, offering sorts of public dances in a leftist tradition. And that's a tremendous difference between Vol. 4 and the other reissues of L'Intercommunal: rather than a well carried-out studio session, a 23min-long morphing tune like "Le Musichien", songs are played for an audience, therefore in a more traditional way of playing jazz, the musicians living room for each other's chorus. They play their own songs, like "Vive La Commune", but also proper jazz standards like Charlie Mingus's "Fables Of Faubus" in versions tailored for the stage. It's an incredible document, and an important companion to their studio albums, reflecting what might be the most important facet of the band, its bond with its audiences. Splendid reissue, as always with Souffle Continu. (M/M -  wholesale: shops, contact us)