« Mediums, combinaison inédite d’instruments du milieu, jumeaux du violoncelle, ayant en commun une tessiture centrale et un timbre axial, raconte l’histoire d’une musique que j’ai imaginée puis écrite sur la page de mes souvenirs d’enfance vécue par bonheur dans le monde fantasmagorique des forains. En l’interprétant, les saxophonistes Daniel Erdmann et Robin Fincker ont habité cette galerie de personnages étranges tout droit sortis des caravanes et ont su par leur phénoménal talent leur donner vie. Gérard de Haro, au studio La Buissonne, a monté le décor coloré et bancal des multiples scénettes de l’extraordinaire histoire des “Mediums”.
Vincent Courtois

“Mediums is an unprecedented combination of “middle range” instruments that share the central tessitura and axial timbre of the cello, rather like twins. It is a story that I imagined then wrote, guided by my boyhood memories of the fantastical world of fairground people. When interpreting it, saxophonists Daniel Erdmann and Robin Fincker entered the gallery of strange caravan dwellers and, with exceptional talent, breathed life into them. Gérard de Haro, at La Buissonne studio, built the colourful and unhinged set for the various scenes from the Extraordinary tale of the mediums”.
Vincent Courtois

« Vincent Courtois est bien plus qu’un violoncelliste épatant, ce musicien exigeant persiste et signe une œuvre originale, loin des contraintes de formats précalibrés. »
Jacques Denis, Libération

« Vincent Courtois is more than a wonderful cellist. With Mediums, he signs an original piece of work, far from the constraints of pre-calibrated formats. »
Jacques Denis, Libération

« This album of tunes from the cross-border, French-led trio features many elements of their native approaches to improvised music— exploratory experimentation on the boundaries of the respective instruments, solo work of a high order, and a strong sense of playfulness.
The three instruments concerned are all from the middle range of pitch, as suggested in the title, two tenor saxophones led by a cello. As one might expect from the likes of Vincent Courtois (sometime colleague of John Greaves, Sylvie Courvoisier, Dominique Pifarély, and Joachim Kühn to name a few) invention features highly among the selection, even if the album starts with two more conventional, even lyrical pieces. With a palette drawing as much upon pop idioms as any other genre, Courtois leads the investigation of the similarities of timbre between these instruments, sometimes in a playful, frivolous way (hear « Entresort »), other times insistent and discordant (hear « Une Inquietude Discordant »)!
The pieces are very independent of electronic interference, relying on the clarity of the recording to bring out the interplay of tension and release between these surprisingly like- sounding instruments. As with their leader, both the GermanDaniel Erdmann (himself leader of Das Kapital) and Franco-English Robin Fincker have a wealth of experience with free-form jazz, and relish the discontinuities and contrasts that Courtois explores with confidence. If ever there was to be a revival of experimental acoustic jazz-rock this album might be expected to blaze the trail. Exquisite recording makes this experience a treat as one is torn between the rivalling tensions of the players, collectively straining to bear the listener to distant planes of musical existence (as one might expect of a medium), but quite prepared to dump the unwary back on the living room floor, with a chuckle. »
Anthony Shaw, All about jazz