Bulgarian jazz fans know him well. The presence and the talent of Armel Dupas cannot go unnoticed. His art mesmerised us at the Plovdiv Jazz Fest last year as part of Georgi Kornazov’s Kenny Wheeler project. In May of this year the French pianist was in Bulgaria again for a series of concerts with Petar Salchev (vocals) and Georgi Kornazov (trombone).
After the debut album “Upriver” from 2015, Armel Dupas presents today his new CD A Night Walk. He continues to reveal more of himself: ““A Night Walk“ is still related to the inner world because it talks about my story, my life, the experiences I have,” Dupas says in a Jazz FM interview.
Travels, beauties of nature, breathtaking landscapes, exciting experiences, discoveries, old and new friends, the contact of the world of the artist with the emotions of the audience – it is all in the music of Armel Dupas. Thus it becomes a soundtrack to life, to our growth, to our opening-up to people. There is dreaming, silence and emotions in his music, and they are a mirror to see ourselves in.
“A Night Walk” was recorded with Dupas’ first official trio with drummer Mathieu Penot and bass player Kenny Ruby. The album contains eight compositions with a distinctive electro-rock sound. For the first time Armel sings without “hiding” his voice behind a vocoder or sound effects. “Now I use my voice more, because I think I have been through different times of my life and different experiences that allow me to accept more where I am,” he explains. Armel adds that the music of “A Night Walk” has been created by the man who takes us on this music walk of romance, tenderness, disappointment, sadness and pain. At the end, on the title composition, in the darkness of the night we see the flicker of light.
