Summary

Fredéric Gassita : Bio

“That rhythm is unsustainable, exclaims conductor Paul Rouger, in charge of conducting two of the major British orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Pianist and composer Frédéric Gassita had the chance to work with those orchestras on his new project, two double albums entitled “Frederic Gassita With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra” and “Symphonic Visions From Gabon.” The making of those albums was a real challenge : how to record the best jazz musicians along with the most prestigious European orchestras ? “These albums are first and foremost a tribute to both my home country, Gabon, and jazz and classical music, claims Frédéric Gassita. All I wanted to show was what is exactly a musician’s life.”

Frédéric Gassita has been working on this project for several years, and start the recording sessions in 2010. For the first double CD, "Frederic Gassita With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra", the pianist re-orchestrated old material appearing on his previous opus published between 2004 and 2008, then he started to write new titles specifically for an orchestra. “writing for a large ensemble is a thing I’ve dreamed for many years. The first step was to adapt my songs with more contemporary arrangements, said the composer. For this first test, I wrote the full scores and gave my old material a symphonic arrangement in my studio in Libreville, then I worked with the conductor Paul Rouger.” Also, when you compare the two results, the sound and the density changed dramatically. “The work is completely different, Frederic said. We always tend to exaggerate  when we play with a symphonic orchestra ! The melodies which should be just underlined shows suddenly an unknown volume and it’s this is what you have to point !”

The interest of Fred for orchestrations started at the Berklee College in Boston, where he studied  music production, sound engeneering and Jazz Performance for four years. He gets graduated in classical music in France, and, when he arrived in Boston, the classical orchestra of the Berklee College impressed him : "I’ve attended all the rehearsals of the symphonic Institute orchestra, remembers Frederic. I didn’t missed a session ! So I bought a lot of books to understand how all this works.”

Ravel and Debussy, but Chick Corea or Herbie Hancock - he met this legendary musician when he was a student in Boston – are Frédéric Gassita’s main influences. But for his musical work, the musician brings its own history, its African roots and rhythms. Today, it’s time to try to make a balance of the career he started in the early 80's. He quites medicine studies to start his international career. The result of “Frederic Gassita With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra” pushes him to start the double CD "Symphonic Visions From Gabon", a tribute to Africa and in his native country, Gabon, telling an amazing musical story, made of meetings, travels, but also a kind of musical and  personal introspection.

“Each theme has a story, says the musician, but to realise this kind of album requires a lot of pragmatism : those albums seem to be original soundtracks, my own lifetime soundtrack. I told my childhood in Gabon, my travels around the world and more important, the people I had the chance to meet.” He met Ali Bongo Ondimba, the co-composer, in a party : “We spoke for a moment then we started a four hands jam, as all the musicians are used to do ! Fred says. And we played together until the next morning...” From this day, the fellowship between the two men has gone to such an extent that Ali Bongo Ondimba played an important role in all Fred’s albums and especially these two double CDs ; he even came to the recording sessions in London with the LSO. Thus, each theme is worked with four hands before being orchestrated by Fred.

The challenge was different for Paul Rouger, the conductor  : “I’m very proud to get involved on this project, exclaims the conductor. Mixing those unknown rhythms with strange melodies and classical arrangements was a real challenge. However, working with Fred and the bands was a real pleasure.”

“The albums have been recorded in London's legendary Air Studio, says Pascal Bomy, the sound engineer and executive producer. We needed the sound paste that can only be provided by studios like Abbey Road and Air. We choose the Air Lyndhurst Hall, given our recording setup.” The amazing sound of this albums illuminates Fred’s music : it gives a new dimension to the pianist virtuoso playing manner, and to the featurings of the guests musicians : Bireli Lagrene, André Ceccarelli, Baptiste Herbin or Sylvain Luc. But the more important, this music highlights the original musician and composer vision which is running through this definitive original project, a moving tribute to his native country, Gabon.