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***** PRIX SPECIAL DU JURY DU HOT CLUB DE FRANCE 2019 *****
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BULLETIN DU HOT CLUB DE FRANCE (France)
Bien conçue, bien ficelée dans l'esprit voulu, organisée sous tous ses aspects par un musicien et leader d'exception (…) Que dire de plus ? Vous aurez compris qu'on est là dans l'indispensable. (L.V, Bulletin du Hot Club de France n°685)

ACADEMIE DU JAZZ (France)
Album nominé pour le « Prix Jazz Classique 2019 »

JAZZ JOURNAL **** (U.K)
A very enjoyable and thoroughly planned album of which Nouaux can be proud.

JAZZ IN EUROPE (Europe)
The album features some of the best classic jazz scene clarinet players from all around the world. A great album to add to your classic jazz collection. (Nigel J.)


THE SYNCOPATED TIMES (U.S.A)
For clarinetists, this record is a must have. (Joe Bebco)

INTERNATIONAL CLARINET ASSOCIATION (U.S.A)
If you like good music, you will like this album ! (Ben Redwine)

LE SALON LITTÉRAIRE (France)
Chacune de ses prestations, chacun de ses enregistrements confirme qu’il est bien le meilleur batteur de sa génération. A la maîtrise technique, il joint une créativité qui en fait le véritable catalyseur des groupes avec lesquels il se produit.(…) Rien n’est à jeter dans ce double album revigorant. (Jacques Aboucaya)

COULEURS JAZZ "HIT" (France)
Le résultat est à la hauteur des ambitions du leader. (…) Une musique vivante et authentique. (Alain Tomas)

LA GAZETTE BLEUE D'ACTION JAZZ (France)

Guillaume Nouaux n’est pas clarinettiste, c’est seulement un des meilleurs batteurs français de jazz, de jazz classique étiquetteront certains, mais il joue avec de nombreux autres musiciens du trio au big band et des clarinettistes il en accompagne souvent. (...) nous voilà partis pour près de deux heures hors du temps grâce à ces rois de la clarinette et leur fou qui a eu le culot de mener son rêve jusqu’au bout. (Philippe Desmond)

BATTERIE MAGAZINE (France)

Guillaume appose son swing redoutable avec un toucher sur la ride qui n'a rien à envier à celui de ses aînés. Un bien bel ouvrage ! (Sébastien Benoits)

JAZZ HOT « Sélection » (France)
A moins d'être clarinettophobe ou hostile aux batteurs, ce serait dommage de se passer de cette réussite artistique. (Michel Laplace)

FRANCE MUSIQUE (France)
Un album en forme de festival. (Alex Dutilh)

JUST JAZZ MAGAZINE (U.K)
This venture by Guillaume Nouaux was a complete success, and will be enjoyed by traditional and swing fans alike. (…) Nouaux is excellent throughout with a gracious nod to Gene Krupa on many of the tracks. (Neville Dickie)

JAZZ MAGAZINE **** (France)
B.B.C RADIO (U.K)
JAZZIZ MAGAZINE (U.S.A)
RADIO 8 (Germany)
EAST SIDE FM (Australia)
JAZZ / DIXIE SWING (France)
MORNING RADIO (France)
and many more good reviews ...

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LINER NOTES (from the album):

For a longtime I had this crazy dream rattling around in my head... An extremely ambitious project requiring major organization, and I must admit, I never thought I would ever have enough courage to make it all happen one day. Fortunately, helped along by my midlife crisis, I decided to stop dreaming about it and get to work on it. So why an album centered on the clarinet ? It all sparked about twenty years ago at a Parisian record store, well known by jazz amateurs, when I came upon two old vinyl records under the drummer’s name Zutty Singleton, titled Zutty and the Clarinet Kings vol. 1 and vol. 2 (Fat Cat’s Jazz Records). These albums are very difficult to get your hands on these days, since as far as I know they have never been reissued as CDs. Inspired by the concept of Zutty Singleton’s albums, I decided to contact a few of my favorite clarinet players to see if they would be willing to participate in such a recording project bringing together more than ten European clarinet players and a few others from around the world. To my surprise, I received very enthusiastic yes-es and felt a certain pride and excitation from all of them having been asked to contribute to this adventure. Even though my choice of “Clarinet Kings” is completely subjective and obviously non exhaustive, the panel of clarinet players represented in this double album seems to me to be quite a fine selection of the best there is to hear on the classical international jazz scene today. All these musicians are also and above all friends with whom I have had the occasions to work with many times on stage, on tours, on cruises or already in the recording studio. I have profound admiration and deep respect for each and everyone of them. They all possess a unique sound, a personal style, which makes them clearly identifiable. My wish was to conserve the same formation, a trio, for all the guest clarinet players in order to maintain a sort of homogeneity to the overall project. Also, it is in this formation, a clarinet-piano-drums trio, where I feel free and find the most pleasure expressing myself on my drums. For these trios, I asked four different piano players according to the various sessions: Luca Filastro (Italy), Alain Barrabès (France), Harry Kanters (Holland) and Jacques Schneck (France) to join the clarinet player and myself. They are all part the best European specialists for this particular style of strong left-hand piano playing to compensate a group without a bass player. Let all these fabulous musicians be thanked for their talent, their personal investment, their friendship and for their extreme generosity which contributed to making this dream, of bringing them all together into one double album, a reality.
Guillaume NOUAUX