For the past two decades, the musical company Le SonArt has been exploring all avenues that might nurture the originality of the artistic vision of its founder, composer and multi-instrumentalist David Chevallier. The jazz quartet created for The Time Machine is no exception, bringing together contemporary jazz and 17th-century instruments by inviting four soloists familiar with theorbo, sackbut and bass viol, which are rarely heard in our concert halls. Based on H.G. Wells' novel The Time Machine, which questions our relationship with time, The Time Machine follows the construction of the book, with each chapter inspiring composition and improvisation. Resolutely anachronistic, this original conversation exclusively on instruments from the Baroque period offers a journey through time as strange as it is unexpected.

Through their active participation in the American avant-garde throughout the 1990s and 2000s (guitarist Marc Ducret with Tim Berne's various projects; trumpeter Ralph Alessi with Steve Coleman; and drummer Jim Black with his group AlasNoAxis), these three outstanding musicians emerged as major players in contemporary post-jazz, each with their own unique hybrid universe, spawning in different ways at the frontiers of indie rock, modern jazz, contemporary domain and improvised music. By crossing their paths and experiences, they invent a trans-stylistic music that is both lyrical and cerebral, borrowing its energies, formal devices and abrasive sound textures from today's most experimental musics.