Hradcany-Bijan Chemirani-Serge Adam-Philippe Botta-David Venitucci

	Ethnotempo Janvier 2006

The HRADCANY trio was formed by the trumpet player Serge ADAM, creator of jazz ensembles (QUOI DE NEUF DOCTEUR, JAZZ MIC MAC), projects around improvising soloists and video images, and member of many groups (POLYSOFT.. .). He gathered around him the accordionist David VENITUCCI (John GREAVES, Romain DIDIER...) and the saxophonist and flautist Philippe BOTTA, who collaborated with Keyvan CHEMIRANI, Okay TEMIZ, Shamal MAITRA, and member of the SENEM DIYICI QUARTET. For this creation, set up since last November, the trio invited Bijan CHEMIRANI, Iranian zarb player. The compositions of Serge ADAM and Philippe BOTTA take us on a jazz journey inspired by popular Turkish and more generally Eastern European music. Pleasant, sometimes haunting and repetitive melodies transport us while the instruments weave colorful pictures alternating solos and dialogues of the instruments.		The accordion sometimes acts as a drone, the saxophone responds to the trumpet, the flutes hypnotize and the muffled trumpet lets out some fantasies. The percussions, (too) discreet invited, add Middle Eastern motifs and blend into the compositions, without ever taking over. The whole remains hushed and intimate, apart from a traditional Turkish piece, Alay Bey, which takes off in the middle of the compositions. The virtuoso musicians play with sobriety and do not let the lengths settle in the solos. The landing is smooth with an encore of a second version of Trifonov Market's Place (a tribute to the Bulgarian saxophonist of the same name) which contrasts with the usual cheeky interpretations of this music. This is of course not a “world” project intended to make people dance, but a creative project around encounters and interbreeding. An "imaginary jazz" invented to make people dream and travel. Commentary and photo: Sylvie Hamon

Ethnotempo Janvier 2006

Hradcany,serge adam,philippe,botta,david venitucci,quoi de neuf docteur

The HRADCANY trio was formed by the trumpet player Serge ADAM, creator of jazz ensembles (QUOI DE NEUF DOCTEUR, JAZZ MIC MAC), projects around improvising soloists and video images, and member of many groups (POLYSOFT.. .). He gathered around him the accordionist David VENITUCCI (John GREAVES, Romain DIDIER...) and the saxophonist and flautist Philippe BOTTA, who collaborated with Keyvan CHEMIRANI, Okay TEMIZ, Shamal MAITRA, and member of the SENEM DIYICI QUARTET. For this creation, set up since last November, the trio invited Bijan CHEMIRANI, Iranian zarb player. The compositions of Serge ADAM and Philippe BOTTA take us on a jazz journey inspired by popular Turkish and more generally Eastern European music. Pleasant, sometimes haunting and repetitive melodies transport us while the instruments weave colorful pictures alternating solos and dialogues of the instruments.

The accordion sometimes acts as a drone, the saxophone responds to the trumpet, the flutes hypnotize and the muffled trumpet lets out some fantasies. The percussions, (too) discreet invited, add Middle Eastern motifs and blend into the compositions, without ever taking over. The whole remains hushed and intimate, apart from a traditional Turkish piece, Alay Bey, which takes off in the middle of the compositions. The virtuoso musicians play with sobriety and do not let the lengths settle in the solos. The landing is smooth with an encore of a second version of Trifonov Market's Place (a tribute to the Bulgarian saxophonist of the same name) which contrasts with the usual cheeky interpretations of this music. This is of course not a “world” project intended to make people dance, but a creative project around encounters and interbreeding. An "imaginary jazz" invented to make people dream and travel. Commentary and photo: Sylvie Hamon

	*Jazzmag -* *october 2006*		*JazzMan january 2006*
HRADCANY BALKANIC JAZZ/WHAT'S NEW DOCTOR/THE SITE Listening to Hradčany, one imagines oneself aboard Nicolas Bouvier's Fiat Toppolino, crossing the Balkans (cf "the use of the world"). This is not one of those jazz of a new genre clumsily mixed with world music, but on the contrary a music of great authenticity, marked by the folklore of Eastern Europe and the imaginary Turkish. This group, which was formed four years ago, benefits from the great complicity of its members. In total: four remarkable musicians who produce a sound worthy of a nonet. David Venitucci's accordion never lets up, evolving on all levels while Philippe Botta on saxophones and flutes shows rare virtuosity. Serge Adam's trumpet flows like molten gold in each of the themes. Finally, note the essential contribution of Bijan Chemirani's zarb. What simplicity of forms, what almost outdated elegance... If it were up to me, I would sum up this review with one word: sublime, and would advise you to go to your nearest record store to grab this gem. This "balkanic jazz" promises you an unusual initiatory journey, punctuated by melancholic and cheerful emotions, strong (chjusella) and ephemeral like the wind. After listening to this record, you may look at your shoes to find that they have brought back grains of sand from some distant desert or filthy shop. Discover Hradcany, you will not forget it. Philippe Deneuve	HRADCANY Balkanic Jazz. Serge Adam (tp), Philippe Botta (sax, fl), David Venitucci (acc), Bijan Chemirani (traditional drums). Recorded January 9-13, 2006. *** Seductive. On the borders of Europe and the Orient, rhythmic and instrumental practices (especially with regard to the trumpet, the flute and the simple reeds) constitute singularly exciting challenges. As for the accordion, we know that it is through its popular world heritage that it has best succeeded in integrating into jazz. From world music to genre music, there is only one step often taken today. Hradčany preserves it more surely than on his first disc. Without renouncing the seduction of a wider public than that of jazz, more sensitive to recognizable folk outlines than to the abstractions inspired by the Balkans to other sectors of jazz that Serge Adam frequents elsewhere. The group will be credited with real writing skills, certainly imbued with local flavors, but often reduced among their competitors to simple juxtapositions of stereotypes. The direction of development finds its continuation in the qualities of improvisers of Serge Adam and Philippe Botta at which the experiment of the jazz and the frequentation of the musics of soil complement each other admirably and vis-a-vis which David Venitucci gained in repartee. The drums of Bijan Chemirani bring to the initial trio more than a simple guarantee and confirm the naturalness of what could be only an exercise in style additional. Franck Bergerot 1 CD What's New Doctor 3 341348 601373
Libération 26 august 2006	Vibrations march 2007

In 2000, trumpeter Serge Adam, saxophonist Philippe Botta and accordionist David Venitucci founded Hradčany, a powerfully improvising trio inspired with rare freedom by the music of the East and the Near East, which these musicians know on tip of the fingers. The trio joins the open percussionist Bijan Chemirani, son of the master of zarbs and dafiraniens Djamchid and brother of the audacious Keyvan. Hradcany and Bijan form an astonishing quartet where everyone is a soloist and accompanist at the same time to invent festive tunes. Bouziane Daoudi	Three sound researchers invite one of the great heirs of Iranian tradition. A great disc. Created four years ago, Hradčany is made up of trumpeter Serge Adam, founder of the Label Quoi de Neuf Docteur connected to new technologies, saxophonist Philippe Botta, whose work and career are at the crossroads of European improvised music and more in the south, and David Venitucci, gifted with the accordion which he plays in all types of contexts. To this trio are now added the percussions of Bijan Chemirani, bearer of a secular legacy but always quick to carry out experiments and encounters. It is all these heritages that they mix and project in a set of melodies that travel along the side of dances and music from Eastern Europe and Turkey. To concoct an imaginary folklore as inventive as it is festive, with a few hints of melancholy and lots of humorous notes between the virtuoso sentences. Jacques Denis

Jazzmag - october 2006

JazzMan january 2006

HRADCANY BALKANIC JAZZ/WHAT'S NEW DOCTOR/THE SITE

Listening to Hradčany, one imagines oneself aboard Nicolas Bouvier's Fiat Toppolino, crossing the Balkans (cf "the use of the world"). This is not one of those jazz of a new genre clumsily mixed with world music, but on the contrary a music of great authenticity, marked by the folklore of Eastern Europe and the imaginary Turkish. This group, which was formed four years ago, benefits from the great complicity of its members. In total: four remarkable musicians who produce a sound worthy of a nonet. David Venitucci's accordion never lets up, evolving on all levels while Philippe Botta on saxophones and flutes shows rare virtuosity. Serge Adam's trumpet flows like molten gold in each of the themes. Finally, note the essential contribution of Bijan Chemirani's zarb. What simplicity of forms, what almost outdated elegance... If it were up to me, I would sum up this review with one word: sublime, and would advise you to go to your nearest record store to grab this gem. This "balkanic jazz" promises you an unusual initiatory journey, punctuated by melancholic and cheerful emotions, strong (chjusella) and ephemeral like the wind. After listening to this record, you may look at your shoes to find that they have brought back grains of sand from some distant desert or filthy shop. Discover Hradcany, you will not forget it.
Philippe Deneuve

HRADCANY Balkanic Jazz. Serge Adam (tp), Philippe Botta (sax, fl), David Venitucci (acc), Bijan Chemirani (traditional drums). Recorded January 9-13, 2006. *** Seductive.

On the borders of Europe and the Orient, rhythmic and instrumental practices (especially with regard to the trumpet, the flute and the simple reeds) constitute singularly exciting challenges. As for the accordion, we know that it is through its popular world heritage that it has best succeeded in integrating into jazz. From world music to genre music, there is only one step often taken today. Hradčany preserves it more surely than on his first disc. Without renouncing the seduction of a wider public than that of jazz, more sensitive to recognizable folk outlines than to the abstractions inspired by the Balkans to other sectors of jazz that Serge Adam frequents elsewhere. The group will be credited with real writing skills, certainly imbued with local flavors, but often reduced among their competitors to simple juxtapositions of stereotypes. The direction of development finds its continuation in the qualities of improvisers of Serge Adam and Philippe Botta at which the experiment of the jazz and the frequentation of the musics of soil complement each other admirably and vis-a-vis which David Venitucci gained in repartee. The drums of Bijan Chemirani bring to the initial trio more than a simple guarantee and confirm the naturalness of what could be only an exercise in style additional.
Franck Bergerot
1 CD What's New Doctor 3 341348 601373

Libération 26 august 2006

Vibrations march 2007

In 2000, trumpeter Serge Adam, saxophonist Philippe Botta and accordionist David Venitucci founded Hradčany, a powerfully improvising trio inspired with rare freedom by the music of the East and the Near East, which these musicians know on tip of the fingers. The trio joins the open percussionist Bijan Chemirani, son of the master of zarbs and dafiraniens Djamchid and brother of the audacious Keyvan. Hradcany and Bijan form an astonishing quartet where everyone is a soloist and accompanist at the same time to invent festive tunes.
Bouziane Daoudi

Three sound researchers invite one of the great heirs of Iranian tradition. A great disc. Created four years ago, Hradčany is made up of trumpeter Serge Adam, founder of the Label Quoi de Neuf Docteur connected to new technologies, saxophonist Philippe Botta, whose work and career are at the crossroads of European improvised music and more in the south, and David Venitucci, gifted with the accordion which he plays in all types of contexts. To this trio are now added the percussions of Bijan Chemirani, bearer of a secular legacy but always quick to carry out experiments and encounters. It is all these heritages that they mix and project in a set of melodies that travel along the side of dances and music from Eastern Europe and Turkey. To concoct an imaginary folklore as inventive as it is festive, with a few hints of melancholy and lots of humorous notes between the virtuoso sentences.
Jacques Denis

ZICAZIC september 2006

For this new release, the Hradčany trio have mixed their sounds and the founders Serge Adam (trumpet), Philippe Botta (saxophone and flute) and David Venitucci (accordion) have joined forces today with the amazing percussionist Bijan Chemirani to give this jazz from the East in general and from Turkey in particular a new, even more attractive cachet. Accomplices and complementary, the four musicians mix secular traditions and spontaneous improvisations to give birth to a living music which appeals as much to initiation rites as to festive ceremonies and present us with an album with a very vast musical scope and immediate charm. When the East approaches the Balkans with great strides, it is not fear that predominates but rather art! Bringing instruments into dialogue, bordering on cacophony while taking care never to dive into it, is an exercise in which Serge Adam and others excel and, once again, it is on this very specific basis that they engage with
"Balkan Jazz”.

The notes extend to infinity or on the contrary are discreetly shelled to better mark the temporary idea of the concept, this feeling of immediacy and at the same time of infinity... Hradčany does not pursue a rigid guiding line but s strives on the contrary to tack sensually around a trumpet stroke, a saxophone stave or even an accordion cross-hatching... Geometrically variable, the music borrows as much from colors and scents as from sonorities and it is the ocher of the earth or the fragrance of the spices that essentially float from a work rich in sensations and strong in emotions. Enhanced with a few zarbs, dafs and other tambourines graciously left by a young percussion master of Iranian origin living in France, the album goes off the beaten track of jazz to take some absolutely fabulous side roads! It is to be discovered urgently...

Fred Delforge

Since 2003 the HRADCANY jazz trio formed by Serge ADAM (trumpet) Philippe BOTTA (saxophones and flutes) and David VENITUCCI (accordion) has been creating a work mixing jazz and popular Turkish and Eastern European music which has already given rise to an album in 2002. Joined by the percussionist Bijan CHEMIRANI (zarb. daf. tambourine) the three musicians presented their new creation in December 2005 at the Maison de la Musique in Nanterre before recording in January 2006 this album simply titled Balkanic Jazz . It is Bijan CHEMIRANI who opens this CD with a playful and bewitching Trifonov Market's Place which pays homage to the Bulgarian saxophonist Trifon TRIFONOV.
David VENITUCCI's accordion weaves repetitive and obsessive patterns enhanced by colorful percussions on which the trumpet and the saxophones dialogue.

The flutes immediately bewitch the senses with sudden accelerations and an undeniable Middle Eastern side but also know how to be suave and charming in Chjusella, a long vaporous piece by Philippe BOTTA. Migration manages to combine both joy and nostalgia while Zap-ala-paz (wink at Frank ZAPPA?) invites to a party where the instruments seem to want to compete without ever reaching the cacophony which continues with Kangan. The compositions of Serge ADAM and Philippe BOTTA transport the listener still further East to Turkey for an adaptation of the traditional Alay Bey with rare elegance. HRADCANY offers us both an unforgettable journey and a more than successful, strange and different jazz-world mix.