The man is virtually unknown outside the Caribbean. For many, Chyco Jehelmann remains a legend or a rumor – when often, we don’t even know his name! The pianist from Martinique has only performed on a handful of occasions outside his native island (and very few in Martinique itself). The first time was in 1982, during a concert at the Angoulême festival, which the director nevertheless had the genial intuition to record. The result is this solo album, virtually his only one, and absolutely indescribable in the truest sense of the word. The music is abundant (the word is weak), explosive, completely contemporary, drawing on a wealth of cultural references and masterfully interpreted with unrivalled technique and sensitivity. Climates and rhythms alternate without respite, as if exposing a thousand ideas at once. The informed journalist Robert Latxague has nothing but praise for Jehelmann, whom he describes without hesitation as the most exceptional West Indian pianist. And one thing’s for sure, we’re probably not far from the truth!
Piano Solo – Chyco Jehelmann, 1982
