The lotus flower is beauty born from the marsh, an allegory of a confused and troubled world. Bruno Angelini's new repertoire pays homage to the ‘lotuses’ of our history – Wayne Shorter, Jane Addams, Berta Cacerès or Nelson Mandela – each of whom, in his or her own way, has worked for the common good, to preserve our planet and heal human relations. Following up on ‘Transatlantic Roots’, which honoured the counter-culture and social struggles in the United States, the core of Bruno Anglini's compositions is comprised of committed melodies that the pianist and saxophonists Sakina Abdou and Angelika Niescier perform with raw lyricism and a great deal of freedom, sometimes destructuring them with a sound and aesthetic reminiscent of blues-infused free jazz.

Guitarist and composer Paul Jarret continues to plough his highly personal, original and uncompromising artistic pathway with the creation of Tilia, a new quartet with a European dimension. He joins forces with German saxophonist Philipp Gropper, a key figure on the Berlin jazz scene over the last fifteen years, Amsterdam-based Korean drummer Sun-Mi Hong, a rising star among European drummers, and Étienne Renard, a young French double bass player who is a regular on Paul Jarret's projects. Their repertoire blends lyricism, abstraction and cinematic atmospheres, leaving plenty of room for spontaneity and interaction between the musicians. They draw their inspiration from the lime tree (Tilia in botany), a majestic, sacred and universal tree, a symbol of justice and freedom, praised for its many virtues and often thousands of years old.