Songbook

Graceful chords, multiple dynamics, pleasures. If Margaux, 31, were a meal, she would be the best sashimi, where the density of the taste marries the precise order of the dish. Auditory and visual sensations abound. Tactile technique, of course - acquired at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute - but also emotion that overflows with health and energy.

Margaux's jazz aesthetic consists of tightrope walking, research and exploration. And music nourished by numerous instrumentalists from various countries: bassist Fil Caporali, drummer Daniel Jonkers, guitarist Lior Tzemach, sax player Tom Bourgeois. And no less than five vocalists, Stacey Claire, Aneta Nayan, Flavio Spampinato, Tamara Jokic and Erini. The names give an indication of the elements on display - that of a porous international identity. One could almost forget the sixth performer, Margaux, who opens Songbook with Ballade, where onomatopoeia feed her keyboard. Unless it is the other way round.

The piano, Margaux's organic double - strong and elegant - is present in all the album's tracks. It's a ship that verges on pop (the sublime A Night Within), teases with a very electric guitar (Back In Schaerbeek) and, on the title track, toys with a timelessly languorous sax.

How old is this jazz record? It was probably impregnated by her North American adventure, Berklee in 2017, and Margaux's current life established since autumn 2021 in Reseda, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. The United States? Already an old story for Belgians. At least since Bobby Jaspar and then, of course, the whistler Toots. Margaux, after a long line of male students - such as Charles Loos and Steve Houben in Berklee - seems determined to not just be an American visitor.