March 2000

Marc Ducret/Bobby Previte
In the Grass

By Bill Bennett

Drummer Previte (also heard here on piano and synthesizers, though largely in ambient/rhythmic roles) and guitarist Ducret (also heard here on baritone sax and fretless guitars) have forged a close creative relationship in the heat of the new fusion. Their approach fuses more than their forebears had to play with: hip-hop and dance music, even ambient, exert their influence, and the results are spellbinding. For specific influences, Ronald Shannon Jackson may be listed, but more in a directional than a direct sense: there is quiet here to be heard, not silence but a textured and composed aural space. The composed frameworks tend to darker tonal colors, through which Ducret's cascading lines rip, now a thunderbolt, now like a keen gleaming blade. Previte's complex rhythms are the more remarkable for being so accessible.