ETIENNE MBAPPÉ - Cameroonian bass player
Jazzclub Fasching, Stockholm, 27 Oct '2007 - review from Lira Music Magazine (www.lira.se) Written by Andreas Lagercrantz Pdf version HERE Original text in Swedish HERE
There were less people in the audience this Saturday night than earlier this week when Marcus Miller played, also at Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm. The bass lovers who missed this concert made a real loss, since Etienne Mbappé's playing is of absolute world class, just like Miller’s. The band, Su La Také, was also brilliant all the way through – not least the drummer John Grandcamp impressed with his dynamic playing, which left nothing further to ask for. That him and Mbappé on many occasions went down in intensity when one of the other musicians went off into intense soloing gave the music a great groove, intelligent and solid. And the group playing was also in the center through the whole concert. Impressive that such a virtuoso musician as Etienne Mbappé has such little needs to show off, which is usually the case with musicians of his kind.
The obvious and for Mbappé probably slightly tiring musical reference is Richard Bona. Both play their bass in a sort of afropop, jazz- and funk mix, both have also been playing and singing in the Zawinul Syndicate,and finally it could be mentioned that both come from Cameroon. But where Bona's music is nearly always soft, Mbappé has a more distinct edge and rawness in his music. Which was also the case on this magic night.
Su La Také were very well coordinated, both when playing straight afropop with typical South African light guitar phrases and when heavier funk playing was on the menu, or why not some more jazzy excursions. There is actually no reason to lift forward anyone in particular in the band, since they all delivered. Etienne Mbappé showed, many times, that he belongs to the absolute world elite. I have for example not heard such distinctive flageolette playing from anyone else after Jaco Pastorius. As mentioned before, a magic night.
TECHNICAL RIDER HERE (updated version coming soon, for one guitar + one violin)
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Just like several other outstanding bass players, Etienne Mbappé comes from Cameroon. His technique and rhythmic sense are amazing and he has created a great musical genre of his own, transcending the frontiers between African music and other styles such as jazz, fusion/funk, rock, singer/songwriter and even classical music. Best known for his years with the Zawinul Syndicate, Etienne Mbappé has a long track record behind him, where the years with Salif Keita and with the French National Jazz Orchestra (ONJ) under the direction of Antoine Hervé are especially worth mentioning.
His music constitutes a unique fusion between traditional Cameroonian rhythms (Makossa, Bolobo, Sékélé) and more modern music. His first solo album Misiya (released on the French label O+) also reveals a singer whose voice is smooth and deep. In the Cameroonian dialect Douala he sings of love, of friendships, of his son's eyes… and also more upbeat songs that show his unique feel for dance rhythms and his great talent for arrangements and instrumentation, including a string quintet.
Etienne Mbappé has toured extensively in France and abroad with Salif Keita and Manu Dibango (both as bassist and musical director) and the Orchestre National de Jazz, Jacques Higelin, Michel Jonasz, and many others. He also formed the two fusion bands Ultramarine* and Chic Hot. 2000 - 2003 he played with Joe Zawinul, and he can be heard on several of his recordings, for example "Faces And Places". In 2001 Etienne played on Ray Charles' last album and he is also the bass player on most of the tracks of the latest CD with Toumani Diabaté, Symmetric Orchestra. Etienne Mbappé and his band Su La Také have played at many festivals the last few years, both in Scandinavia and at the international jazz festivals in Paris, Nice and Vienne.