Muse Chronicle

Eric Vercelletto, the Breton composer, has spent years developing a singular voice that treats cultural tradition not as a historical artifact but as living material for modern exploration. His approach to jazz improvisation carries Celtic memory, while his treatment of traditional Breton forms breathes with the spontaneity of modern composition. Vercelletto has discovered something essential: the spaces between genres often yield the most interesting music. His previous recordings have consistently demonstrated an ear for finding unexpected connections, but they’ve also revealed an artist who isn’t afraid to let silence and restraint do the heavy lifting.

“Kelc’h Digor” (Open Circle in Breton) establishes Vercelletto’s methodology immediately: spare piano lines that seem to emerge from some deep well of cultural memory.”

The Portuguese sessions likely brought a certain Mediterranean warmth to the proceedings, while the Breton recordings anchored everything in the composer’s ancestral landscape. His piano work never calls attention to itself through flashy technique or complex harmonic structures. He, instead, finds the emotional center of each piece and builds outward from there. Perhaps most impressively, “Kelc’h Digor” manages to be intellectually engaging without being emotionally distant.

The second track, “Marig Ar Pollanton,” a traditional Breton song, serves as a perfect example of Vercelletto’s approach. Rather than analyzing the original or wrapping it in modern jazz arrangements, he uncovers the hidden framework and discovers possibilities that were always there, waiting. Jazz has a long history of this kind of reinvention, from Bill Evans’ impressionistic standards to Brad Mehldau’s unexpected song choices, but Vercelletto brings something uniquely personal to the process.

Vercelletto has found a way to make written music feel spontaneous and composed music feel discovered in the moment. This kind of disciplined approach to improvisation and composition marks the difference between musicians who play at sophistication and those who inhabit it naturally. This balance is difficult to achieve and easy to lose, but it marks the work of a mature artist who understands that the best art operates on multiple levels simultaneously.

For jazz listeners, Vercelletto offers something different: music that whispers its revelations, music that trusts listeners to meet it halfway. “Kelc’h Digor” suggests a different path. The open circle, it turns out, has room for everyone willing to listen carefully enough to hear what’s actually being said.

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