The Getdown

Gathered around Laurent Coulondre on organ and Arnaud Dolmen on drums, the septet The Getdown rolls out the red carpet for groove and nimble melodies.

Two musicians who have made their way on the jazz scene these past fifteen years but had never played together, until at a ceremony where Laurent Coulondre and Arnaud Dolmen are invited to collaborate around a piece.

The fuse is lit and burns brighter on an incandescent recording and then on other stages, where The Getdown reinvents itself as a collective with variable geometry by placing Caribbean music, from the French Antilles and Cuba at the centre of the project.

It is with a septet of overflowing energy that The Getdown will perform on the Jazz à la Villette stage. It brings together Rolando Luna, one of the most brilliant Cuban pianists of his generation and Mario Canonge, an exceptional figure of Antillean piano.

Around the organ, keyboards and drums, join the talented saxophonist Ferdi and trumpeter Yasek Manzano as well as the promising flautist and singer Mélodie Spartacus.

With pleasure as the only compass, each avoids staying meekly in their place: the keyboards provide most of the melodic verve but have a strong sense of rhythm – marked by the legacy of Michel Petrucciani – while the drums play on the fluidity of tempo to bring melody closer to its curves.

Opening act: aja monet.