Mario Canonge & Michel Zenino "Paraphrases"

For nineteen years, they've been extending their musical adolescence—straight-A students style—by playfully twisting the "classical texts" of jazz standards into games of hide and seek, "right hand or left hand?", disappearances and reappearances... Reappropriation, for sure. Claude Nougaro charmingly called it "recreation," a delightful double entendre to remind us that it’s all about play. The boppers had turned it into a sophisticated art of composition, scaling the melodies of musicals by their harmonic framework.

Faithful to their now legendary residency at Baiser Salé (since 2008!), Mario Canonge and Michel Zenino dive into songs from the 1930s and 40s, primarily, only to bring them back to life in the here and now. In their hands, nearly a century of jazz; in their ears, a mutual listening ability that defines great duos. Not just for the art of conversation—they’re like tightrope walkers dancing together on the wire—but for the "social game" they offer, a series of riddles to decipher. It takes years of rallying back and forth from the baseline to reach the net together like they do on "Night in Tunisia" or "Jitterbug Waltz," "The Preacher" or "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams." Now it’s your turn to play!