We Lunatics Run the Asylum Jad Salameh Trio

• 1 16 Sunrises on the I.S.S. 06:48
• 2 We All Write for Dead Lines 07:15
• 3 An Argument from Ignorance 06:30
• 4 Rebound 04:16
• 5 Drops on a Window Pane 02:40
• 6 A Needle in the Haystack 06:56
• 7 The Last Tree on Earth 04:24
• 8 A Light in the Darkroom 04:09
• 9 We Lunatics Run the Asylum 06:27
• 10 As We Vanish in the Empty Space 04:57
• Total Runtime 54:22

Info for We Lunatics Run the Asylum

It is a crystalline piano that opens this album before being joined by the rhythmic pair and then becoming heavily percussive before returning to more softness for a sinuous solo that alternates pearled notes and bushy chords.

The tone is set: Jad Salameh‘s compositions are sometimes dark and sometimes bright and his piano alternates passages where the left hand rumbles behind a repetitive right hand and those where it is the song that dominates.

The bass and the drums follow these changes of atmosphere and are in total symbiosis with the piano, forming at times with him a welded group whose sound is that of a compact block or simply accompanying him discreetly in his improvised escapades. We have here a dense music which does not fear the extremes in term of energy, and we are as carried away by its rhythmic and melodic evolutions.

Lebanese pianist living in France, Salameh, has his own voice and this first trio record expresses well the feelings and emotions that run through him, painting a contrasted and endearing sound landscape.

One cannot remain indifferent to such a sincere approach.

Jad Salameh, piano
Arthur Henn, double bass
Kevin Lucchetti, drums

Jad Salameh
Growing up in Beirut during the civil war, the piano was omnipresent in Jad Salameh’s early life. Whether listening to his father’s Lebanese folk songs at night, hiding his favorite toys in the underbelly of the instrument, or even sheltering underneath it during bombing raids, he developed a deep bond with the piano.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that the instrument has become a central part of his life. The journey itself may be a little more unexpected though: the pianist first moved to Montreal to study molecular biology where he discovered and fell in love with jazz.

Now based in Paris, he describes his commitment to tailoring those early-acquired piano skills and the experiences along the way to the realm of jazz.

The music - in whatever constellation - is both reflective and exploratory; introverted and explosive. Elements of Lebanese and classical music, infused with the traditions of jazz.

Establishing himself on the French scene, he has absorbed many of the contemporary influences, highlighting in particular the music of Thomas Enhco, Tigran Hamasyan, Aaron Parks, Didier Lockwood and Baptiste Trotignon. Since his debut album in 2014, his career has evolved into a multitude of explorations and collaborations, including with world renowned musicians such as Racha Rizk, Layal Chaker, Naïssam Jalal and Jennifer Grout.

​ But still everything comes back to the piano, with both solo and trio projects helping him explore the textures and possibilities as a musician, bandleader and composer.

Whilst seeing himself as a citizen of the world, his affinity with his adopted country is perhaps best shown with his long-standing trio featuring French virtuosos Arthur Henn (bass) and Kevin Lucchetti (drums). A collaboration stretching back several years, the trio share a connection that can only be born out of hundreds of hours of playing together.

Infusing elements of classic jazz with a thunderous energy and contemporary imagination, the group are united in sharing Jad’s focus on exploration as the key driving factor.

Over the last years the group has performed at a prestigious collection of concerts in France, including Jazz à la Villette, Festival Jazzycolors and Sunset in Paris.

With new releases on the horizon, Jad looks to continue his journey of pianistic discovery further afield.

“While our current reality is getting closer and closer to a work of post-apocalyptic fiction, I want to take back the narrative and create a musical escape for this madness that is slowly settling in us.”

Jad Salameh Trio
proposes jazz music that is transcended by pop incursions through which are built, rebuilt and deconstructed the preconceptions of jazz. ​

The trio plays with our emotions through a piano that is sometimes minimalist and ever- expanding, sometimes raging, washing everything away, all while the drums and the upright bass cement the foundations of Jad Salameh's compositions. ​

At the crossroad of The Bad Plus and E.S.T., the Jad Salameh Trio explores the gentle madness of a post-apocalyptique instant.

This album contains no booklet.