ReTRio
The Zelda Suite Project: The idea at the start of this project consists of taking historical (retro!) video game themes and giving them a jazz or even “free jazz" spin, following Ornette Coleman's "harmolodic" approach. Fascinated by the cleverness of these catchy electronic tunes that manage to stay in your head without getting old, Casimir is taking his ReTRio on an atypical journey of acoustic, constantly evolving, live jazz. His thoroughly contemporary interpretations of video game themes intertwine with his unique improvisational skills, flowing into a highly singular and versatile style of jazz.
Above: View the promo video for Zelda Suite Project
Casimir Liberski
Casimir Liberski was born in Brussels in 1988. Committed to music at a very young age, he formed his first trio at the age of 13, starting a career as a pianist while still attending school. In 2004, he was awarded an Octave de la Musique while composing the original soundtrack for the feature film Bunker Paradise that same year. At 18, after obtaining a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music, he'll go on to follow the teachings of Ornette Coleman, resulting in an almost filial bond.
In 2010, while living in New York City, Casimir worked with various musicians (Charnett Moffett, Tyshawn Sorey, Nasheet Waits,...), releasing several records under his own name. In 2014, he signed the soundtrack for Tokyo Fiancée, and in 2016, he came in third at the solo piano competition of the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 2019 he released Cosmic Liberty following recording sessions in NYC with Matt Garstka and Louis de Mieulle. Casimir Liberski currently resides in Brussels where he regularly performs with his ReTRio as well as in solo and with his spouse Shoko Igarashi with whom they released an album with Tigersushi.
Janos Bruneel
Janos Bruneel (1983, Antwerp, Belgium) was born into a musical family and at age 6 he started to play the piano. When he was 15 he discovered the electric bass, which stimulated him to start playing jazz music and eventually the double bass at he age of 16. From then on, he studied at The Art Academy of Antwerp.
In 2001 he graduated cum laude and then followed an intense two-week-workshop in Cap Breton (France) with bass player Hein Van de Geyn. After this inspiring experience, Janos decided to continue his studies with Van de Geyn in the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he is now finishing his Master degree. Overthere, he also takes lessons from bass players Frans Van der Hoeven and Uli Glaszman. Meanwile Janos is finishing his Master degree in Brussels as well with Christophe Wallemme. Besides this, he had the opportunity to attend workshops with bass players Avishai Cohen, Furio di Castri, Philippe Aerts and Anders Jormin.
He won several awards with the Casimir Liberski Trio and was playing on numerous jazz festivals like Flageystival, Eu'Ritmix Festival and the Brussels Jazz Marathon.
Diogo Alexandre
Diogo Alexandre is already one of the best national drummers” as João Esteves Da Silva wrote in jazz.pt, 2019. Born in September 1998, he is especially known for his distinct, bold drumming style, having been awarded with various national prizes (Portugal) and gather the critics attention: Diogo Alexandre, has asserted himself to be a true force of nature, standing out wherever he is present (…) the drummer does not limit himself to keep time, he always delivers new ideas, underlines, pushes the group forward.” By Nuno Catarino in jazz.pt about HCP’s concert 2022/09/12
Recently released his debut record PIPE TREE by Diogo Alexandre Bock Ensemble which was considered one of the best Portuguese Jazz records of 2021 by Jazz.pt - "Pipe Tree is a rare record in the Portuguese jazz scene for being both different and ambitious, seeking - and succeeding - to trace its own path" - Gonçalo Falcão (2022, jazz.pt)
About ReTRio
Casimir Liberski ReTRio is Casimir Liberski (piano), Janos Bruneel (double bass) and Diogo Alexandre (drums) united to present their very personal blend of atypical, avant-pop jazz with uniquely retro undertones.
In 2006, a very young Casimir was about to set sail to the US to attend Berklee College of Music on a full presidential scholarship. Shortly before leaving, the original acoustic trio played a last concert at the Witloof Bar in Botanique, Brussels.
This would be the stage for their first playful, freejazz interpretation of the theme from The Legend of Zelda, the beloved Nintendo saga that started in the late eighties.
It wasn’t before their revelatory reunion some 14 years later in the throes of a pandemic that the Zelda Suite Project would become a reality. The project’s impulse is to readapt the themes of the historic video game that cradled our childhood almost like it did with the broadway showtunes of the 1950's in the Jazz standard idiom. Yet its reach is far from set in stone. More important are the group’s need for experimentation and de(re)construction, drawing on each member’s years of practice and mentorship to create an ever stronger and articulate sound. The project specifically draws on Ornette Coleman’s “harmolodic” approach, aiming to free music from harmony and preconceived form while using the melodic line as guiding force. Casimir's fluidity, speed and dexterity on the piano provide aconstant opening to many sources of musical vocabulary, endlessly generating improvisatory phrases without ceding to repetition.
In fact, covering this unique repertoire requires a certain level of virtuosity, for none of the original themes were ever intended to be played by human hands. The compositions were usually directly programmed on electronic chips, and it is precisely because these now-obsolete technologies were so limited that the melodic lines required new levels of invention. The genius of the resulting catchy tunes rest on purely musical ideas, not unlike the baroque mastery of JS Bach himself, favoring melodic voices and their counterpoints over dynamics and nuances of intensity. Perhaps not surprisingly, the trio’s format seems perfectly adapted to the video games’ original four-way audio processors, with the melody’s two square waves being both the pianist’s hands, the triangle wave standing in for the bass player and the "noise"wave resembling the drums. If the resulting music may have a mechanic quality, following the pianist’s variousnerdy influences (besides the aforementioned play on baroque counterpoint, the neo-serial eclectics of NewYork’s John Zorn come to mind, as do legendary Japanese composers like Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka or even Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono) never does it lose its soulful expression, perhaps commanded in part by the project’s spontaneous and youthful origin story.
Don’t be fooled by the scope of the trio’s ambition nor by their pop sensibilities: Casimir Liberski’s ReTRio is committed to a jubilant sense of wonder and surprise, giving a learned and sometimes exuberant twist to the innocent tunes of another era.