Mythical River by Moutin Factory Quintet

It was on the return from a singular journey that the Moutin Factory Quintet recorded "Mythical River".
When, barely three days after setting foot on Parisian ground, the group enters the studio, it still vibrates with the encounters and sensations of this two-week journey along the Mississippi River. While the Moutin brothers' projects have been touring the United States for the past eighteen years, it was the first of their many American tours which, apart from a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York, focused almost entirely on this very special region.

Chicago, Saint Louis, Memphis, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, so many places visited mythical for jazzmen since they form the geographical melting pot from which today's universal music comes - blues, jazz, soul, rock... - who so strongly inspired the Moutin brothers and lit an inextinguishable fire in them.

All this music has sprung from the joys, sufferings, hopes and wanderings intimately linked to the invention of a "new world" and it is no coincidence that the Mississippi River - a key from a historical, social and economic point of view - has produced the "primal scream".

This energy, the vital forces that are expressed, the stories and emotions that are told, form the backdrop to "Mythical River". In complicity with their so talented partners - Christophe Monniot, Manu Codjia and Paul Lay - François and Louis Moutin, during the eleven tracks of this magnificent opus, speak to us with intensity of human connection, fraternity, sharing, respect for others.

Today, at the dawn of the new digital world ahead, with its promises of freedom and the dangers of alienation, the "new" questions are fundamentally of the same nature as those that made us sing the blues.

Therefore, there is meaning for these artists to express that we, humans, can move forward with respect for who we are and our environment.

François Moutin and Louis Moutin, "the Moutin brothers" are twins, self-taught jazz musicians, and respectively double bass player and drummer.
In the mid-1980s, after completing their scientific studies, they both chose to become musicians.
Until the end of the 1990s, their careers were mainly as accompanists. During this period, together or separately, they collaborated with many artists such as Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Antoine Hervé, Jean- Michel Pilc, Michel Legrand, Jean-Marie Machado.
It was also the period of the first encounters with Jean Michel Leygonie and the first concerts with "Funambule" by Jean Michel Pilc, "Father Songs" by Jean Marie Machado, the Quartet by Christian Escoudé...


A radical change took place in 2000 when they joined forces as co-leaders to propose projects interpreting their compositions. At that time, François lived in New York (it is still the case today), where he worked assiduously with many American artists such as Franck Wess, Jimmy Heath, Benny Powell, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Lew Soloff, Steve Kuhn, Billy Hart, Jeff Tain Watts, Ari Hoenig... This geographical distance between the twins will prove to be an asset: it is therefore on both sides of the Atlantic that their projects will run and publish relentlessly.

The first of their projects is the Moutin Reunion Quartet, which, from 2000 to 2013, published 5 albums and gave more than 450 concerts in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, but also in the United States where the group toured 22 times.
In 2013, they created a new group, the Moutin Factory Quintet. Nowadays, this is the main project of the Moutin brothers. Since its creation, the quintet has released two albums and given more than 120 concerts, mainly in France, Germany and the USA where the group has toured six times.
"Mythical River", will be the 3rd album of the Moutin Factory Quintet.

Known for their qualities as instrumentalists and composers, for their generosity on stage, as well as for the complicity and creativity of the rhythmic they form, the Moutin brothers arouse the enthusiasm of their audiences as much as that of the press.

Laborie Jazz Record is the raison d'être of father and son Jean Michel & Elie Leygonie who are running with passion this multi award winning label, 7x Victoires du Jazz, among others. Created in 2006 in Nouvelle Aquitaine (South West France) Laborie Jazz has rapidly taken its rightful place and its topnotch reputation among others finest jazz independent record labels in the world.

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