Ritual Being

While not his first album, 2023s Ritual Being feels like the perfect introduction, as well as a crowning achievement following a decade-long rise for pianist/composer Pascal Le Boeuf. Hailing from the Bay Area, Le Boeuf first garnered acclaim alongside his brother, saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf, in their exploratory contemporary jazz group. It was with that ensemble that Pascal picked up a Grammy nomination for his song "Alkaline off 2016s Imaginist, an orchestral production that featured the progressive JACK string quartet. Prior to that, he made his official solo debut with 2013s Pascals Triangle, a sophisticated trio album with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Justin Brown. Taken together, both Imaginist and Pascals Triangle feel like key building blocks in Le Boeufs sound, equal parts post-bop improvisation, classical orchestration, and nuanced trio interplay. He brings all of these elements together on Ritual Being, an album of spine-tingling chamber pieces. Along with leading his trio with Oh and Brown, Le Boeuf is joined here by a handful of adept string players, including members of both San Franciscos Friction Quartet and New Yorks Shattered Glass. Also featured are Pascals brother on alto saxophone and fellow Bay Area native Ben Wendel on tenor saxophone. Le Boeuf was raised by biologist parents who studied marine mammals and their social behavior. Growing up, he began to see parallels in the way humans moved through their lives, making subconscious choices that affect their work, relationships, the environment, and even their art. This focus on our daily rituals is the conceptual focus of Ritual Being. From the opening breathing diaphragm-like string and piano swell of "Ritual Awakening," its clear that Le Boeuf has crafted something that feels more like a soundtrack album to a phantasmagoric sci-fi film than a jazz or classical album. Whats particularly impressive is how the composed parts of the album feel just as alive and unpredictable as the more improvised moments. "Transition Behavior" starts with a ratatat speed-metal string and percussion intro that sounds like an orchestral version of a Megadeth song. Similarly, the off-kilter "Media Control," with its stabbing violin hits and lizard-like flute and sax chirps, seems to manifest the inflammatory paranoia of the 24-hour news cycle. The three-part "Rituals of Change" is more languid in feeling, featuring Le Boeufs sultry piano lines framed against a burning sunset of string harmonies like the soundtrack to a 60s romantic thriller. Part three has a spiritual jazz quality like something John Coltrane might have recorded in the late 60s with saxophonists Ben Wendel and Remy Le Boeuf moaning skyward over a golden shimmer of drums and bowed strings. Yet more artfully textural compositions follow, as on "Obliquely Wrecked," where Pascal blends strummed piano strings, woody percussion knocks, and tinnitus-sounding violin squeals. Theres also the Rachmaninov-esque piano cascade of "Ritual Being, Pt. 2" which reveals just how technically gifted a player he is, while the warm sunbath of orchestral chords in "Family of Others" brings the album to a hushed, deeply ruminative close. ~ Matt Collar