Yvonnick Prene and Padam Swing release Wonderful World

While everyone was looking the other way celebrating Christmas and tuning in to the yuletide releases, the Brooklyn based quartet Padam Swing released Wonderful World featuring their harmonica player Yvonnick Prene.

I did not want you to miss these refreshing interpretations done by this young band; encapsulated here is music that you probably grew up listening to from Sonny Rollins, Sting, Django Reinhart, Louis Armstrong, Jobim and more. 

Interesting enough, the quartet's leader Prene grew up in Paris as a child and would often listen to his father's music collection which included music from Muddy Waters, Rolling Stones and Sonny Boy Williamson. Thirties and 40s Paris coupled with the music of Django Reinhart are said to be the inspiration behind Wonderful World, a compilation that is a tasteful merger of jazz and gypsy music; listen out for the pop influence as well.

Prene's career officially began at 17, when he began teaching himself jazz and playing in Parisian clubs. Since then, Prene has gone onto garner attention and gain prestigious awards for his outstanding showmanship, both as harmonica performer and composer. In 2007, Prene was named as a finalist in the "Trophées du Sunside" competition in Paris alongside his band, and was invited to participate in the prestigious Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency Program in Washington D.C, 2011. 

Doors continued to open for Prene, and he was awarded multiple full-tuition scholarships at The City College of New York, (MICEFA 2007),Columbia University (Alliance Program, 2008) and at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music (Merit-Based Scholarship, 2009). It was here are the New School that Prene had the opportunity to study with the masterful Lee Konitz, Reggie Washington, John Patittuci, Peter Bernstein, Charles Persip, Kevin Hays, Ben Street and Aaron Goldberg among others. In 2012 his distinction continued to elevate Prene amongst his peers in North America, and was the first harmonica player selected to audition for the distinguished Thelonious Monk Institute in Los Angeles, performing in front of jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Heat, Kenny Burrell and James Newton. 

After gaining his Masters in Music and Research at Sorbonne University in 2011, and a Bachelor of Art from the New School, Yvonnick signed to Danish label, SteepleChase Records, through which he released his stunning debut album, "Jour de Fête" and saw Prene tour in almost every corner of the globe across Europe, North America and The Caribbean.

Wonderful World takes listeners on an ethereal journey, with original gypsy bossa tracks composed by Prene himself including the playful, "The Swimmer," to Johnny Green's exuberant "Coquette," and the glittering "Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love" composed by Charlie Mingus.

"Desafinado" is a rolling delight while Sonny Rollins' "Pent-Up House" is filled with joie de vivre. Tracks like these can definitely take your mind away from life's stress. As I listen to Django's "Troublant Bolero" and "La Valse d'Amy" I'm yearning to be in a cozy corner at French bistro in a quaint town.  Sting will approve of the band's version of  "Shape of My Heart," a track that is melodically fluent with articulate interplay of instruments. 

Wonderful World is truly a modern masterpiece music by some of the most talented contemporary musicians in the jazz world.