The Z-Suites Line-Up

Casimir Liberski – piano
Janos Bruneel – double bass
Diogo Alexandre – drums

A Brief History
Formed in 2006, the musicians who started up this ReTrio were the same as those from my very first “acoustic” jazz trio. At the time of our first meeting in Brussels, I must have been 13 or 14 years old. The original drummer was Jérôme Colleyn, and in recent years, the Portuguese drummer Diogo Alexandre joined the trio.

In 2006, just before I left for Boston to study piano at Berklee College of Music, we gave a concert with this original trio at the Witloof Bar at the Botanique in Brussels. That night, we played for the very first time a piece from what would become the “Zelda Suite Project,” which I already had vaguely in mind. Nicolas Kummert joined us as a special guest on saxophone. The idea at the time was to reinterpret retro video game themes in a “free jazz” way. After that, I didn’t really think about it anymore.

After 17 years during which we each pursued many other projects, Janos, Jérôme, and I found ourselves back together in Brussels during the COVID period in 2020. It was like a joyful flashback and a return to our roots, a very touching and emotional moment for the three of us, as we were still very young during our last trio performance. But it felt as though we had never really parted ways, and the Zelda project, which I had set aside for so long, was finally going to come to life. Our reunion was, of course, enriched by all the experiences we had each lived in the meantime, as well as our personal histories. The project immediately became more structured and stronger. Around that time, Jérôme became a new father and had to step back from the band, allowing Diogo to fill in for the upcoming tour and recordings.

Concept
The repertoire is, at its core, a reinterpretation of certain so-called “retro” video game themes. But it’s clear that I intend to introduce new compositions from different classic game themes into this ever-evolving project. I don’t want to fix these “suites” into a rigid program, because I always need the freedom to try new things. I want to be able to deconstruct it at will to discover unexpected ideas. Spontaneity and surprise remain key elements in my work; they are at the heart of all my projects, even when they require a lot of organization and preparation beforehand.

The distinctive approach and innovative element of this project is that I believe no one has yet reinterpreted video game themes (in this case The Legend of Zelda) using the “harmolodic” approach of Ornette Coleman, a way of improvisation that freely departs from the pre-established chord changes of the tunes, using the melodic lines as a guiding force. This allows for new harmonic directions to be taken spontaneously, in the moment.

From Console to Concert
This music requires a certain level of virtuosity because the original themes from these retro video games were not designed to be played by humans. They were programmed directly onto the consoles’ electronic chips. The Gameboy or NES audio engine had basically only four channels: two pulse (square) waves for the melody and possibly a countermelody, or accompaniment; a triangle wave for the basslines; and a white noise generator used for percussive sounds and special effects.

But because of hardware limitations,  invention had to come from the melodic ideas and their rhythmic/harmonic counterpoints. I believe that some great ingenuity was achieved within these little ditties.

I chose to draw a parallel between this 4-channel audio processor and the piano trio format. In other words,  the pianist's right and left hands would serve as two square waves, the triangle wave would be the bass, and the “noise” wave would be the drums.

In a way, I’ve always found VG music interesting, both because of  its ability to remain memorable (some are true earworms) and quite enjoyable without becoming tiresome. This in itself proves that the composition is like the DNA of music, preceding any sound design and stripped of any kind of arrangement. The idea has to be good no matter the medium. It’s a bit like JS Bach by Wendy Carlos and Yuji Takahashi: even though they were using modular synthesizers triggered by sequencers and computers, the soul and heart of Bach persist, and the divine quality still shines through despite. That, in my opinion, shows how strong of a voice Bach’s music was.

Musical & Artistic Influences
My main musical influences are the great “Jazz” legends such as Ornette Coleman, Masabumi Kikuchi, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane.

For this project, I’ve also drawn a lot from John Zorn and the whole “Downtown scene” he was inherently part of. The blend of free improvisation, jazz, Klezmer, hardcore punk, noise rock, 20th-century and contemporary classical music, neo-serialism, ambient, and experimental electronic music is something I wanted to incorporate into this record. It’s a bit like zapping or channel-surfing between radio or TV stations. That reflects the wide range of musical genres found in video game soundtracks, and I wanted to capture that same kind of 360-degree eclecticism.

The polyphonic complexity of baroque music, particularly the works of JS Bach, has been with me ever since I started studying the piano and continues to shape my musical thinking. Bach's music will most likely be with me for as long as I live.

I’m fascinated by what’s sometimes called “pop philosophy,” and by the aesthetics of new wave Asian cinema. Directors such as Yasujiro Ozu, Shohei Imamura, Mikio Naruse, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Edward Yang, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Naomi Kawase, and Hirokazu Koreeda continue to serve as a deep source of inspiration.

I also have a strong affection for old technologies developed during Japan’s economic “bubble/miracle” — a period that left a lasting mark on global music and art. There’s something uniquely charming about the still optimistic and uncharted early days of this mass “pop” culture, especially in video games, film, anime, fashion, design, and of course the music, much of it shaped by the synthesizers and production techniques of that era. Finally, a number of thinkers and visual artists have had a profound influence on me: Andy Warhol, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, David Hockney...

Approach to the Piano
I strive for a certain fluidity, speed, precision, and dexterity in my playing — or at least, I hope to. One of my greatest heroes at the piano has always been Glenn Gould. His interpretation of The Goldberg Variations, almost like a divine machine, yet unmistakably human, left a deep mark on me. The extreme clarity of touch, the wide dynamic range, the rhythmic precision, and the tightly controlled tempo he achieved have long served as a model for me throughout my piano studies, and they resonate in this project in particular.

At the same time, I try to remain open to the entire range of musical vocabulary that has shaped me over the years. The goal is to generate new phrases continually, to keep the language alive, without ever sounding conceited or self-indulgent. For me, music should always carry fresh ideas and spark joyful surprises. That sense of ongoing discovery is a kind of compass in everything I do.

Musical Identity
The music that emerges from my creative process is, I believe, often intense. It’s a concentration of many elements at once. I’d like it to be both simple and complex, unfiltered and mysterious. I think it always stays honest to who I am — learned without being academic, and accessible without being pandering.

As for my musical training, I first developed a self-taught knowledge base (blues, rock, boogie, funk) during childhood. Then, thanks to various teachers and a few great masters I had the chance to meet, I became more educated. That being said, I'm more than ever passionate about the scientific side of music.