NE DITES PAS NON, VOUS AVEZ SOURI
(Do not refuse, you have smiled)
A company of free and living music
Jazz music is central in every creation of our company. Written or improvised, it mixes up with academic or traditionnal musics.
Every show aims for music innovation in its writting and its concept. By inviting other forms of art, it opens to a wider audience.
Our artists wish to surprise their audience. They are always looking for new poetic languages and are inspired by meeting people and other artists.
The company was created in 2016 by Simon Deslandes. It gathers the different projects he created. As an adventurous musician and composer, Simon is always looking to explore improvised music and new jazz styles. For 15 years, he has played in multidisciplinary creations, always questionning the frontiers between music, circus, dance, theater or visual arts.
Simon implication in the stage performances colors his compositions with a peculiar tone. In a perpetual movement, he has kept the same artistic goal : to bring the jazz in new territories, to shake it and make it shine in today’s scene.
Through meetings with other artists, the first creations of the company, Le Cri des Insectes (The Insects’ scream) and Le cri des minuscules (The tiny ones’ scream) were created in 2017 and 2018. After these two projects, mixing music and visual art, the company started a new creation cycle. In 2020 and 2021 were created Periph.Fluide and the Brame de Zephyr quintet.
The latest project was created in February 2023 and is called Echoes of the Jungle. The show proposes a dialogue between music and dance. The company also developped a smaller version of that show, consisting of a trio playing the music of the original performance.
In addition to the shows, our artists are concerned with sharing their creative process, by placing it to everyone’s reach. This essential value is caracterised by actions oriented to sensibilised the audience to that music, whether it is before or after a show, during a creation residency or for a dedicated event.
ON TOUR
ECHOES OF THE JUNGLE TRIO
Distribution
Simon Deslandes : Trumpet
Samuel Frin : Baritone Saxophone
Nicolas Lelièvre : Drums
A one hour and a half show for jazz lovers, families, and everyone who loves music !
Created in 2022.
Echoes of the Jungle Trio reviews with mischief the Duke Ellington Big Band repertoire from the 20’s-30’s.
The three musicians playfully transpose this orchestral music for a tiny acoustic band, to develop a raw, free and generous sound. Wild improvisations, harebrained groove and clever arrangements mixes up to create some kind of imaginary Blues.
Some rares tunes or more popular themes from the « jungle » period are played loud and clear or subtly whispered. Between rythmic transe, floating moments and mischievous surprises, the audience dives into the communicative energy of that suspended time where the great Duke soul is always around.
The musical trio of Simon Deslandes / Samuel Frin / Nicolas Lelièvre was born in 2018 after some improvisation sessions set to regroup the three musicians, who had played together on differents occasions for a few years.Quickly, a singular sound appeared, the listening quality and the spontaneousness of the trio build the core of the band. They develop a new will : to evolve as a small acoustic band, without any effects, to create a raw, free and generous sound. At that time, the music is fully improvised, without any composition, even if it allows instants of groove, simple melodies, to build a sort of imaginary Blues.
The trio decide to choose an artistic color to their work in exploring the 20’s-30’s big band repertoire. They focus on the work of the « master » Duke Ellington, one of the very first renown jazz composer whoes influence extended to the whole world. To conclude, Echoes of the Jungle Trio aspires to offer a new reading of this musical tradition. A reading cleverly and preciously modernised by the contemporary trio.
News corner
« We had to wait for the youth and boldness of those trhee musicians from Ne dites pas non vous avez souri to mix their improvised music – both mindblowing and a dancing-machine – with Duke Ellington’s repertoire. We fly back in time with Simon Deslandes (trumpet), Samuel Frin (baritone sax) and Nicolas Lelièvre (drums and percussions). The pieces of music go by along some fancy improvisations. The cymabls dance before the calm apears. Some random objects can be crushed or hit to enter the music at times. The audience recognize « Harlem Nocturne » or « sophisticated lady ».Now, the band deals maracas, percussions, metal boxes or even balls to the audience so they can play along on « Flamingo ».
« Echoes of the Jungle », the piece the show is named after, is played while the musiciens walk away to the near bridge, looking like the new Beatles on their Abbey Road. »
Citizen Jazz, Sept. 22, Marie Boisnel
Production : Cie Ne dites pas non, vous avez souri
The company is financially supported by the DRAC Normandie and the Région Normandie. It is also supported by ODIA Normandie and the Spedidam.
Coproduction and supports :
– Département du Calvados
– Ville de Caen
– Théâtre Municipal de Coutances – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national « Art, Enfance, Jeunesse »
BRAME DE ZEPHYR
Hybridation Jazz et musique Mandingue
Distribution
Simon Deslandes : Trumpet, Bugle
Raphael Quenehen : Saxophones
Didier Dufour : Kora
Nicolas Talbot : Double-bass
Philippe Boudot : Drums
Brame de Zéphyr is a mix between actual azz and Mandigo music. The Kora, the african harp, both percussive and soft, offers a singular and surprising sound to the quintet.
The deep connexion between the musicians creates a generous and living sound offered with sincerity. The music is composed mixing well-prepared musical scores and live arrangements. Therefore, it alternates between tempestuous moments rooted in some kind of tribal trance and peaceful melodical phases.
Far from a simple mix between two styles, Brame de Zéphyr creates its own imaginary folklore, where you can feel free to explore your imagination and experience the wealth of otherness.
First record : Afofona
Afofona is the first record from Brame de Zéphyr. It was released in June 2024.
Afofona is a word found in the secret language of new-borns. The sound of this ancestral cry goes beyond meaning.
In Bambara (a Mali variant of the mandigo language), Afofona could mean : speak or talk, unwillingly. One could relate this definition to the spontaneous burst of improvisation, this exciting state of freedom, close to the baby talk.
With its first album, Brame de Zéphyr sets its own dialect, inspired from mandigo sounds and today’s jazz. The musical scores give room to unleashed improvisations, creating an unknown sound for this out of the ordinary band.
This record is a five musicians dialogue, through six songs sometimes composed as suites. You will listen to a moving harmony (Tendre Laurence), a claves based rhythmical quest (Sisyphe), the power of the wind (Sirocco), a captivating place in the center of Vietnam (Hepa) and finally, some mysterious baby speech (Afofona, Hadzidzith).
News Corner
A first album that caught my attention… a young group that you want to go see on stage…
Alex Dutilh, Open Jazz, France Musique, June 2024.
If jazz is the expression of a certain syncretism, this album from Brame de Zephyr is firmly rooted in this music and contributes to its abundant openness. A huge pleasure to listen to.
J-M Gelin, Dernières nouvelles du Jazz, June 2024.
Brand new, the first album, Afofona, is overflowing with healthy energy and makes you want to get closer to these gentle Mandingo Normandy men.
L-J Nicolaou, Télérama, juin 2024.
Formed around Caen-based trumpeter Simon Deslandes, the jazz band Brame de Zéphyr creates musical universes that combine instruments and influences from all horizons. National radio stations open their airwaves to them.
Jean-Philippe Gautier, Ouest-France, June 2024.
Joy, balance, originality, crossbreeding, alternations of frenetic rhythms and meditative moments… We come away from listening to this magnificent album “Brame de Zéphyr” probably a little disoriented, perhaps slightly dizzy, and certainly very happy!
Antoine Petitjean, Jazz Infos France, juin 2024.
There is something that has to do with the earth, with a powerful, dull, heavy and serious groove. (…) The group has something mystical, in its heroic themes, shared between the melodic profusion of the strings and the counterpoints in the heights of the wind section. Like an opposition between the melodic sky and the rhythmic earth that would give birth to a sacred word.
Production
Production : Cie Ne dites pas non, vous avez souri
Creation : 2021, Festival « Les Traversées Tatihou », St Vaast la Hougue (50)
Coproductions : DRAC Normandie / Région Normandie / Conseil départemental de la Manche – Festival Traversée Tatihou (50) / Conseil Départemental du Calvados
Supports : Relais culturel Régional du Pays de la Baie du Mont Saint-Michel – Musique Expérience
(50) / Centre de résidence les Fours à chaux – Régneville-sur-mer (50) / Festival Les Concerts en Valognais (50)
For the writing of this repertoire, Simon Deslandes benefits from Aid for the writing of an original musical work from the Ministry of Culture.
Provision of permises : Les arts improvisés – Saint-Aubin-de-Bonneval (61) / Le DOC – Aurseulles (14) / École de musique de Ouistreham (14)
Afofona
Label : Mazeto Square
Distribution : Inouïe Distribution