International music at public library

The Bloomfield Public Library presented another of its monthly music performances on Saturday afternoon, May 18.

This latest, without doubt the most sophisticated and playful fare yet, had jazz harmonica player, Yvonnick Prene, teamed with pianist, Samuel Lerner, for an hour of selections which drew heavily from the wellspring of Antonio Carlos Jobim, the Brazilian composer and performer.

About 20 people were in attendance at the Little Theatre, located at the Children’s Library.

Prene’s introduction was brief and although he joked that he was without his interpreter, he was almost totally understood through his formidable Gallic accent.

Born in Paris and raised in its southern outskirts, in Massy, he now lives in Secaucus having come to this country in 2007. He said 20 years ago he met Lerner who was also from France. Later, when the pianist was asked how he came to have the American name “Samuel,” he said in perfect English that he was American, leaving this reporter puzzled and amused.

Nonetheless, “Wave” was their first number. Prene, playing a 16-hole chromatic, used an amplifier which might have been unnecessary in the venue. But he was playing beside a grand piano with its open lid.

The second selection was “The Girl from Ipanema.” Between Lerner’s extensive staccato phrasing, both familiar melodies emerged from Prene’s playing.

A good share of the recital focused on extended solos by Lerner. No part of a melody was evident when he played. Nevertheless, this was jazz when notes enveloping the melody often do the transporting. So although the listener was on a parallel, albeit unfamiliar path, with Lerner’s fingering, it would safely converge with Prene’s melodic breath, drawing the listener into a personal recollection, perhaps of Sinatra over the radio on a lost summer’s night. As noted, it was sophisticated and adult fare.

Prene’s comments to the audience were warm and humorous. A prolific musician, he hawked two CDs. His latest, due out June 6, with pianist Geoffey Keezer, is entitled, “Jobim’s World.”

“If you can spell my name right, you can get it for half-price,” he said, holding two discs.

Prene is also an ambassador for Horner, the harmonica manufacturer, and its “face” for a new 12-hole chromatic harmonica, “Xpression.” There is an Internet video of him offering a special deal on the $228.99 instrument.

As a child, according to his biography, he began playing the harmonica by using a diatonic blues harmonica. This plays only in one major scale. A chromatic harmonica is capable of playing every scale because it plays all sharps and flats.

At 15, he joined a group of young jazz players, interacting with established musicians.

“I had some lessons with Jean-Jacques Milteau, a famous French blues artist,” he told this reporter. “He is still alive.”

Milteau was born April 17, 1950.

Two years later, while in high school, Prene started on the chromatic harmonica. At 19, he entered the Sorbonne, to study history, but switched to musicology and joined his professor’s quartet which performed at a Parisian jazz club. To date, he has released six albums. His latest is “Listen!”.

“Jobin wrote over 400 songs. It took me a while to select the songs on my CD,” evidently referring to his upcoming album which he was previewing at the Little Theatre.

In a PR statement, Prene said that he performs in over 100 concerts a year. In the NYC-metro area, he has appeared at the Blue Note, Zinc Bar and Iridium, to name a few clubs. He also offers online jazz improvisational harmonica instructions.

“I have some charts here,” he said Saturday, while fussing with some papers on a music stand before stepping back and taking his instrument to his lips, “but it’s better to play without looking.”