© Céline Cruz
Tam de Villiers – Guitar/Composition
David Prez – Tenor Saxophone
Frédéric Chiffoleau – Double Bass
Karl Jannuska – Drums
For the the best part of a decade, the quartet of British-born guitarist (living in France since 2003), Tam de Villiers, has been striving for musical authenticity, compositional originality and honest group interplay. Avoiding pastiche of the past and present, and deftly side-stepping the fleeting musical trends of the moment, the aim here is to explore a personal take on the human experience, defying genres and period.
Resolutely idiosyncratic, the music of Tam de Villiers surprises, and astonishes the listener with a melting pot of influences seamlessly combined into an original voice. What starts out as a jazz piece, leads us into a contrapuntal baroque fantasie, then veers off into abrasive progressive rock, skimming past rockabilly twangs before plunging into a trance inducing minimalist motif. Yet despite the apparent eclecticism, there is a carefully crafted archetypal balance underpinning the form here that brings a sense of classical coherence to the notes, both written and improvised.
Continuing to develop musical relationships by working closely with this regular team of musicians, amongst the best of the French scene new generation (Karl Jannuska – drums, David Prez – tenor sax, Frederic Chiffoleau– double bass), de Villiers recorded the latest album,”Panacea”, in June this year. This new opus expands upon the quartet’s body of work following the critically acclaimed albums, “Alba Lux” 2008 and “Motion Unfolding” 2011. Described as “Amazing, acrobatic, mind-poetry” by the Jazz Thing magazine, song-writing was explored on this last album which featured the award winning singer David Linx. Now with “Panacea”, de Villiers pushes the poetic song writing aspect of his music even further, and this time invited Hungarian singer, Gabor Winand, whose virtuosic baritone voice and remarkable approach to scat improvisation bring an exceptional lyricism to four tracks of the album.
“Panacea” was released on the dynamic London based label Whirlwind Recordings in March 2015, and received critical acclaim (CHOC award Jazz Magazine, ELU Citizen Jazz) and was followed by an extensive tour of the UK, France, Belgium and Germany throughout the beginning of 2015.
More recently, in November 2016, TDV4 toured jazz festivals and clubs in India for 3 weeks with support from the Institut Francais, French Embassy, SPEDIDAM, ADAMI and SACEM.
ALBUMS:
Panacea 2015
Tam de Villiers 4tet
Motion Unfolding 2011
Tam de Villiers 4tet
Alba Lux 2008
Tam de Villiers 4tet