Cyrille Aimée And Mathis Picard At The Emelin Theatre

Cyrille Aimée
The Emelin Theatre
Mamaroneck, NY
April 18, 2024

Renowned vocalist Cyrille Aimée and pianist extraordinaire Mathis Picard performed a magnetic set at the intimate Emelin Theatre. The duo's musical sensitivity, song selection and chemistry engaged the audience from the opening notes.

Pianist Mathis may be lesser known but plays with just as much individuality. In fact, his fluent technique in a blend of styles could have commanded the stage alone for the entire performance. He often punctuated songs with Latin-influenced bass grooves as well as stride piano. Meanwhile, his right hand offered up waves of arpeggios, African polyrhythms, gospel slurs, sparse ballad melodies and blistering solo lines. At one point, he worked the piano's strings and wooden frame directly.

The real magic occurred when the two performers locked into the meaning of each piece and then focused on responding to each other's inflections. In one memorable segment they both spontaneously switched from 4/4 swing time to a 3/4 classical waltz feeling within a fraction of a second.

A multi-linguist, Aimée chose to concentrate on Spanish and French language songs, especially rare cuts, for the first half of the performance. Only after this did she dedicate her attention to songs in English and from her release: À Fleur de Peau.

In "Casita de Piedras" ("Little House of Stone"), a woman asks a lover if he will ever join her in a quiet, natural part of the world. Aimée reached for her baritone ukulele to accompany her intro; in an interview with All About Jazz Aimée explained that she uses this instrument frequently to compose new songs.

"La Foule" ("The Crowd") is a classic Edith Piaf song from 1957. It tells of a man and woman meeting then being separated amidst a throng of people. Aimée emulated Piaf's vocal warble while dancing, as if caught in a whirlwind. "Odjus Fitchádu" ("With Eyes Closed") further showcased Aimée's multi-lingual talents. It was sung in a Portuguese-based Creole language native to Cape Verde, an archipelago off western Africa. As the song crescendoed, Mathis injected a pounding, r&b-tinged rhythm, a là Little Richard. A soulful jazz interpretation of Bob Marley's "Is this Love?" had the audience singing along, while there was a change of pace with "All Love," a poetic ballad with music composed by Babik Reinhardt—Django Reinhardt's son—with lyrics by Aimée.

The whimsical "Here" highlighted the singer's ability to find humor in life and write meaningful lyrics about her experiences. In this case, she had accidently destroyed her smartphone and took the liberating opportunity to go without a mobile device for nine months. The lyrics guide her and us to "open your eyes and wake up from this haze" of electronics overload. On "Back to You," "Beautiful Way," and "Inside and Out," all from À Fleur de Peau, the duo offered fresh, unplugged arrangements.

The encore, "Almost Like Being in Love," reminded the audience that Aimée built her reputation on upbeat interpretations of the American songbook. As in many other tunes this night, her scat singing swooped and turned, riffed then paused, sounding at times like a trumpet. Mathis picked up the improvised passages where Aimée left off.

Aimée is well-known for performing gypsy-influenced music and Michael Jackson covers in a duo with guitar and looping effects, calling out traditional standards on the spot with a quartet, and leading her own octet. Her vocals and piano arrangements at the Emelin Theatre demonstrated that she can turn nearly any musical format into an unforgettable evening.

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