Atlantis Jazz Ensemble

Quel honneur d'avoir la chance de vous proposer le nouveau projet de Pierre Chrétien du groupe Souljazz Orchestra et Cinephonic !
La deuxième livraison de son groupe Atlantis Jazz Ensemble arrive fin Octobre ! Comme espéré c'est une pépite de jazz spirituel et modal. Pré-commande à partir du 15 septembre date de sorti du 1er single.

ATLANTIS JAZZ ENSEMBLE – CELESTIAL SUITE / MARLOW MR068

Atlantis rising anew with Celestial Suite

The Atlantis Jazz Ensemble is on the rise once again with Celestial Suite, a brilliant set of spiritual soul-jazz, with a righteous energy in the mode of some of the best work on independent labels such as Strata East or Tribe back in the day. With the blend of electric piano, sax, trumpet, bass and percussion presented here, the quintet has refined the searching, soaring quality of their sound, capturing over the course of two days in the studio an inspired session worthy of the skyward promise of the album’s title.

The group was first formed by Pierre Chrétien and Zakari Frantz of The Souljazz Orchestra back in 2013, as an outlet for the more modal, esoteric and spiritual compositions they were exploring outside the confines of their original unit. After the addition of trumpeter Ed Lister, bassist Alex Bilodeau and drummer Mike Essoudry, the Atlantis Jazz Ensemble released their maiden voyage Oceanic Suite in 2016, a bold first outing that became a bit of an underground classic, capturing the number two spot on the Canadian radio jazz charts that year (just behind BadBadNotGood’s IV), and leading Atlantis to open up live for the likes of Kamasi Washington and Anderson Paak.

However, the wind was somewhat taken out of the group’s sails when their original bassist suddenly moved away to Boston to study with Dave Holland, Cecil McBee, and other jazz luminaries. Atlantis sank into hiatus for a few years, until young double bass phenom Chris Pond blew into town from Eastern Canada, and the group rose up once again in 2022. After a fruitful residency in Ottawa’s hip Somerset Village that summer, perfecting the new set of original compositions that were to make up Celestial Suite, the quintet hit Metropolitan Studios in the fall, and laid down an especially inspired rendition of the suite, captured with all of the analogue warmth the studio is known for.

ATLANTIS JAZZ ENSEMBLE Celestial suite