https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nJqPYKrtS9pdmH9gXsdDaVJtvY_CsrWfo

daoud trumpet, flugelhorn, synthesizers, ondes Martenot
Silvan Strauss drums, percussions
Louis Navarro double bass
Leo Colman synthesizers, piano, Fender Rhodes
Jules Minck synthesizers, electric bass, electric guitar
Quentin Braine additional percussions
Kuz additional keyboards, sound design, additional production

Special guests:
corto.alto trombone, Mehdi Nassouli guembri, Charlie Burg tenor saxophone, Teis Semey electric guitar, Kuba Więcek alto saxophone, Julien Fillion tenor saxophone, Ludivine Issambourg flutes, Rosie Frater-Taylor vocals / electric guitar

With “ok”, his new album and ACT debut, French trumpeter ‘daoud’ offers a quiet manifesto - a record shaped by contrast and contradiction, by collapse and the stubborn act of beginning again. Built around the idea of accepting what cannot be changed. He explains: “The whole record is built around the concept of reluctant acceptance of things that you can’t control. All right, fuck it, fine, I guess.” The album explores failure, loss, repetition, and the soft absurdity of pretending everything’s fine. Across 14 tracks, daoud weaves tragedy and humor, chaos and tenderness, melody and noise into a rich and emotionally charged soundscape.

At its core, “ok” is a jazz record treated like anything but a jazz record. The foundation of the music was created live in the studio, together with keyboardist Leo Colman, double bassist Louis Navarro, drummer Silvan Strauss, electric bassist/guitarist/keyboardist Jules Minck and keyboardist Kuz. The editing of these recordings was more akin to a pop production, yet the sounds, pads and textures added afterwards are subtle and refined. The elaborate production is topped by a striking line-up of international musical guests who lend the music even more facets and emotions: corto.alto (trombone / GB), Rosie Frater-Taylor (guitar & vocals / UK), Mehdi Nassouli (guembri / MOR), Ludivine Issambourg (flute / FR), Teis Semey (guitar / NL), Kuba Więcek (alto saxophone / PL) and Julien Fillion (tenor saxophone / CA). The result sounds organic and immediate, as if you feel the production more than hear it. The album blends jazz, hip-hop, rock, disco, Afrobeat and drum’n’bass - not as genres to explore, but as emotional textures in a broader narrative.

What emerges is a tone both satirical and melancholic, where humor masks deeper sadness, and childish playfulness veils inner tension. “ok” is an album of contradictions: lightness bu.......
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