For their first album,
Zu
stars the trumpet player
Roy Paci
, a musician who played along with people like
Manu Chao
and bands such as
Mau Mau
. The result of their work was a lot more rough that what they did later with
Eugene Chadbourne
(
The Zu Side of Eugene Chadbourne
). Whereas the shape of the compositions remains quite rooted in the same sources,
improvisation
and
free jazz
, the sound of the whole is totally different: the cool guitar parts
Chadbourne
included in their tracks are absent. Here, it is the bass alone that responds to the other instruments. With its tight string and loud noise, it develops a base, along with the drums, of loud, syncopated
jazz
where the two brass players feel at ease to blow like hurricanes. ~ Romain Guillou