Laurent Garnier - The Man With The Red Face

KidJ, Jul 31, 2008

Happy Birthday, Red Faced Man! This month it was exactly ten years ago that Laurent Garnier first played his eternal classic "The Man With The Red Face". If I understood him correctly the story behind this track is as follows: when Laurent was first booked for the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 9th 1998 he reckoned that since he was performing at a Jazz Festival he should play something jazzy and hence wrote a track for it - with Philippe Nadaud doing the live saxophone. As the two worked on it and eventually got to the saxophone solo part Laurent started teasing Philippe - "Weak! This is shit!!" - more and more to the point where the saxophonist got so worked up that his face turned all red from playing the sax so ecstatically. Apparently that is how this record got its name.

The track as such is clearly one of the biggest Dance classics out there - and that for a good reason. Not only does it combine elements of Jazz with such of Techno origin like no other, with its dynamics it also creates a very unique, emphatic atmosphere that could give almost any party that one special moment where everything just seems great. That bassline, those ride cymbals... simply wonderful. In fact I have seen "The Man With The Red Face" being performed live twice (both times at the Montreux Jazz Festival actually) and each time was a pretty memorable experience. Laurent (and the live musicians who usually accompany his live acts) likes to push the long build ups and endless breakdowns over countless minutes and to an extreme level that makes crowds go absolutely mental. I have never seen anything like it - and unfortunately Techno just doesnt do that anymore these days. What on earth happened in those ten years??

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