D.R.H.

Danilo Rodriguez (guitar), Rémi Matrat (sax), Alexandre Phalippon (bass), Josselin Hazard (drums).

French quartet from Lyon takes the original music that is best classified as jazz-rock. However, jazz component in it is quite traditional and, in any case, descriptive and correct. As for the rock part, it is rather the pressure, volume, and a aptitude for straightforward rhythms in a given period of time. D.R.H. is clearly much closer to the jazz world than the rock music and, nevertheless, they are enthusiastically accepted by the conservative audience of both styles. The reasons are simple: first, it is talent, and secondly, lack of creative compromise, thirdly, there is a zest in works of DRH. It is caused primarily by the biography of guitarist Danilo Rodriguez who spent his childhood and teenage years in Colombia (!) where in the age of thirteen he actively played guitar in local rock bands. The Latin American experience clearly penetrated his later jazz history, which has started in Europe; but precisely because we are talking about the Latin American rock, not Latin jazz, the resulting sound of DRH is radically different from what may come to mind. Does the average Russian (and French) listener know what the sound of rock in Bogota may be like? Of course, no more than a resident of Bogota knows about rock music in Russia.

D.R.H. are generally pretty rich with personal and artistic biography: saxophonist Remy Matra, for example, played one time in the French rock band with a promising name Nadejda. So it is quite natural to assume that the live performance of the team – is a phenomenon worthy of attention.