Creation: 18 November 1984 at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
Commissioner: French Ministry of Culture
Duration: 20′
This piece could just as well have been called “Distraction”, “Divertissement” or any other term indicating that it is a work of diversion. Indeed, I believe it involves elements that are relatively unusual in the world of contemporary music. These elements, “imported” from jazz music, make certain more or less camouflaged, more or less hypocritical appearances. Is it a piece of jazz, a piece of contemporary music? I believe that it is rather a question, like all the pieces I write for groups whose main activity is not jazz, of a language comprising, in parallel, elements belonging to different types of music, but which can nowadays cohabit perfectly, partly thanks to the progress of … listeners. At one point I used “pluri-jazz” (a word invented today!), that is to say a superimposition of different tempos, which leads to a rhythmic complexity from which chance is not absent. Finally, I chose to give priority to notes played on keys, rather than to blows struck on skins or other objects. I would like to add that I am particularly happy to have been asked to write for Les Percussions de Strasbourg, a group I know well and have admired for years”.
Martial Solal