Émile Parisien Quartet (FR)

In a perfect world, the French soprano saxophonist and composer Émile Parisien would have lived up to his name and been born and raised in Paris. But that was not to be. Parisien did not move to Paris until he was a budding twenty-year-old musician, who soon formed his first own quartet, which will be performing for the first time at the Tampere Jazz Happening.

It could very well be that Parisien’s (b. 1982) early years growing up in the southern rural areas of France strongly moulded his identity, even though his tiny hometown of Marciac, which is far from large population centres, had its very own annual jazz festival. Or maybe he didn’t find himself until he reached adulthood, when he realised that role models are not the be all and end all. But it is quite certain that his own music is uniquely distinctive in the same way as other French jazz musicians who have toured Finland extensively. And in fact, Parisien is one of these ‘free voices’: he has already performed in different parts of Finland some thirty times, mostly in a duo with a French pianist or accordionist.

The Émile Parisien Quartet, which was formed in 2004, is by far his longest standing band, not to mention that, except for the drummer, the composition of the ensemble has remained unchanged all these years. However, the name of the quartet might be a bit misleading, even though Parisien is the key soloist. Each of the quartet’s members contribute to composing: Parisien, pianist Julien Touéry, double bassist Ivan Gélugne and drummer Julien Loutelier.

Their collective power can also be heard on the quartet’s latest album Let Them Cook (2024), whose cover photo – an upside-down smile emoji in a party hat – might be a sign of things to come. In September 2024, it was voted the best French Jazz Album of the Year, receiving the Victoires du Jazz award, which is the French equivalent of a Grammy.