Artist: Pascal Le Boeuf
Album: Ritual Being
Genre: Modern Creative, Post-Bop
Label: SoundSpore Records
Released: 2023
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Ritual Awakening (Le Boeuf) - 0:47
- Transition Behavior (Le Boeuf) - 3:51
- Wanderlust (Le Boeuf) - 6:27
- Media Control (Le Boeuf) - 6:46
- Ritual Being, Pt.1 (Le Boeuf) - 6:49
- Rituals of Change, Pt.1 (Le Boeuf) - 1:54
- Rituals of Change, Pt.2 (Le Boeuf) - 1:34
- Rituals of Change, Pt.3 (Le Boeuf) - 1:50
- Rituals of Change, Pt.4 (Le Boeuf) - 2:12
- Obliquely Wrecked (Le Boeuf) - 8:21
- Transition Behavior Redux (Le Boeuf) - 1:47
- Ritual Being, Pt.2 (Le Boeuf) - 3:02
- Family of Others (Le Boeuf) - 8:06
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While not his first album, 2023's Ritual Being feels like the perfect introduction, as well as a crowning achievement following a decade-long rise for pianist/composer Pascal Le Boeuf. Hailing from the Bay Area, Le Boeuf first garnered acclaim alongside his brother, saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf, in their exploratory contemporary jazz group. It was with that ensemble that Pascal picked up a Grammy nomination for his song "Alkaline' off 2016's Imaginist, an orchestral production that featured the progressive JACK string quartet. Prior to that, he made his official solo debut with 2013's Pascal's Triangle, a sophisticated trio album with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Justin Brown. Taken together, both Imaginist and Pascal's Triangle feel like key building blocks in Le Boeuf's sound, equal parts post-bop improvisation, classical orchestration, and nuanced trio interplay. He brings all of these elements together on Ritual Being, an album of spine-tingling chamber pieces. Along with leading his trio with Oh and Brown, Le Boeuf is joined here by a handful of adept string players, including members of both San Francisco's Friction Quartet and New York's Shattered Glass. Also featured are Pascal's brother on alto saxophone and fellow Bay Area native Ben Wendel on tenor saxophone.
Le Boeuf was raised by biologist parents who studied marine mammals and their social behavior. Growing up, he began to see parallels in the way humans moved through their lives, making subconscious choices that affect their work, relationships, the environment, and even their art. This focus on our daily rituals is the conceptual focus of Ritual Being. From the opening breathing diaphragm-like string and piano swell of "Ritual Awakening," it's clear that Le Boeuf has crafted something that feels more like a soundtrack album to a phantasmagoric sci-fi film than a jazz or classical album. What's particularly impressive is how the composed parts of the album feel just as alive and unpredictable as the more improvised moments. "Transition Behavior" starts with a ratatat speed-metal string and percussion intro that sounds like an orchestral version of a Megadeth song. Similarly, the off-kilter "Media Control," with its stabbing violin hits and lizard-like flute and sax chirps, seems to manifest the inflammatory paranoia of the 24-hour news cycle. The three-part "Rituals of Change" is more languid in feeling, featuring Le Boeuf's sultry piano lines framed against a burning sunset of string harmonies like the soundtrack to a '60s romantic thriller. Part three has a spiritual jazz quality like something John Coltrane might have recorded in the late '60s with saxophonists Ben Wendel and Remy Le Boeuf moaning skyward over a golden shimmer of drums and bowed strings. Yet more artfully textural compositions follow, as on "Obliquely Wrecked," where Pascal blends strummed piano strings, woody percussion knocks, and tinnitus-sounding violin squeals. There's also the Rachmaninov-esque piano cascade of "Ritual Being, Pt. 2" which reveals just how technically gifted a player he is, while the warm sunbath of orchestral chords in "Family of Others" brings the album to a hushed, deeply ruminative close.
Review by Matt Collar