As we were going into lockdown for the first time - and a whole season of cancelled concerts - Frédéric Leibovitz of Cezame Music Agency came up with an exciting proposal: "Why don't you do another thematic album like Méditerranées ten years ago, all based around the double bass, we could call it Cinematic Bass?”

First off, we were drawn to the film noir soundtracks of the 50s and 60s, in which the “walking” double bass would inevitably accompany the suspense, the chase, the anxious nocturnal doubts and fears... whether in French or American gangster films, B movies or the Nouvelle Vague. Film composition has, for decades, successfully yielded to the influence of jazz. Now we are seeing the emergence of wider influences: world music, east and west, the continent of Africa…

The double bass is a multi-facetted instrument and can be played in many ways - pizzicato, bowed, pizz d'arco, percussion and used with many different effects - which allowed the project to diversify, taking in new colours and opening up a great variety of soundscapes and moods.

Drums, vibraphone, voice, percussion and the occasional keyboard complete these orchestrations resolutely centred on the multiplicity of the double bass, from lows to extremely highs, every aspect of the instrument. Dare I say it? In all its glory.

You have in your hands the results of this exploration, under the generic title of Cinematic Double Bass, 44 pieces grouped in 2 Cds, In a Jazzy Mood, and In a Spirit of Travel, two collections of music for films yet to be made...