New Album: October 9th, 2020 Simon Moullier: Spirit Song
“...there’s a rare crystalline quality to Moullier’s sound on the vibraphone, which is inherently a percussion/piano hybrid but in Moullier’s hands takes on the quality of a voice.”
Vibraphonist SIMON MOULLIER Shines on Stunning Debut, “Spirit Song” feat. Dayna Stephens & Morgan Guerin
Leading an extraordinary group of players, Moullier offers original music of surpassing melodic depth and rhythmic intensity
Simon Moullier has traveled many miles, literally and artistically, since his days coming up as a classically trained multi-percussionist in his native Nantes, France. Now based in Brooklyn, he’s become a major voice on the vibraphone, with formidable improvising ability and a capacious musical vision that he’s documented on a must-hear debut album, Spirit Song.
His original compositions evoke the spirits of earth and sun, wind, moon, water and not least of all the human spirit itself. The songs bring together a soaring, sometimes hymn-like melodic gift with a strong rhythmic dance that stems naturally from his percussion background. Synthesizer textures and a chromatic balafon from Burkina Faso enliven the sonic atmosphere all the more. Two of jazz’s most compelling saxophonists, Morgan Guerin and Dayna Stephens, appear on the album as well. No doubt Spirit Song bears out the recognition that Moullier has received from such greats and mentors as Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones. “His music is fresh, it speaks to everyone,” says Hancock. “Best vibes player I’ve heard,” Jones remarks.
Moullier studied with Hancock during his time as a student at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in Los Angeles, where the first of two main sessions for Spirit Song took place in 2017. He came to the attention of Quincy Jones at the Havana International Jazz Festival in Cuba; the two reconnected back in LA and began a series of hours-long informal hangs, during which Moullier learned and grew immeasurably. Acknowledging his deep gratitude for Black American Music, Moullier humbly offers Spirit Song to his teachers and the forebears of this artform. “I am and will always be a guest in this room,” he says.
On both the November 2017 session and the May 2020 session that make up the bulk of Spirit Song, bassist Luca Alemanno and drummer Jongkuk “J.K.” Kim emerge as a forceful but endlessly subtle rhythm section. Moullier, Alemanno and Kim have a wealth of shared experience as roommates and good friends, and the music captures their emotional connection. Two marvelous pianists also appear: on the 2017 session it’s Moullier’s fellow Frenchman Simon Chivallon, steeped in classical harmony, with a radiant tone evident particularly on the rubato intro of “Kenyalang” (dedicated to the messenger spirit of legend among the Iban people of Borneo). Isaac Wilson, pianist on the 2020 tracks (“Spirit Song,” “Wind Chaser,” “Beings of Light”), is Moullier’s current roommate and close musical kin, “with a dedication to music like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Moullier declares.
There’s a rare crystalline quality to Moullier’s sound on the vibraphone, which is inherently a percussion/piano hybrid but in Moullier’s hands takes on the quality of a voice. “A lot of it comes from the mind and the way I think of the instrument,” Moullier says of his refined voice-like articulation. “I let my ears direct the sound.” The two quartet tracks without saxophone, “Kenyalang” and the highly personal rendering of the standard “I’ll Remember April,” feature that clear, elevated vibraphone tone even more intimately.
The synthesizer on “Wind Chaser” and the unaccompanied solo piece “Prophecy” conjure a sound world that Moullier links unhesitatingly to his love of sci-fi. On “Acceptance” and the closing “Bala” — another unaccompanied piece, with looping pedal — Moullier unveils his custom chromatic balafon, rich with bass resonance and natural wood timbre that bring a new dimension to his improvised flights. “When I’m creating,” Moullier says in conclusion, “I focus on the aura of the song and the overall energy and message.”
