Olivier Babaz- Virages (2014)

After an excellent debut with "Midnight Cafeine", French bass player and composer Olivier Babaz  returns with the imaginative "Virages", an enjoyable acoustic trio session filled with creative surprises. Joined by  Francois Jalbert on guitar and Mark Nelson on drums, he delivers with audacity an incursion in the world of improvisation and melodicity blending jazz-rock flavors with contemporary jazzy themes. The virtuosity of performers  is boosting up lots of energized improvisations, spontaneous shifts and twists true to the title of this warm toned album.
 Setting the stage, Bim Maloya is a reflective composition of an exotic impressionistic beauty continued on Still path and Virages. Bass is moving wisely backgrounds weaving lines beneath or rising to foreground to create connections of intense interplay on "La soucoupe", "The call of tadou", "Flic en flac", while on Saims, we hear a mysterious hard rock theme of a stunning impact.
Besides being a master of the floating beauty of the bass, Olivier Babaz has a special sense of composition and dynamics which leads him, to create a convincing sound of his own happily married to a cinematic dimension of the themes. A good listen  for those looking for a sounds fresh and youthful sound beyond beaten paths.

http://www.olivierbabaz.com