Emile Parisien - Floating Emile Parisien

A new transatlantic quartet project from Emile Parisien - jazz with electro accents, conceived and premiered in 2025 at the Théâtre de la Cité, Paris.
Emile invites emerging figures from the US scene into a live set that builds into electro-accentuated jazz, bridging both sides of the Atlantic.
The framing concept of ‘Floating’ is a shared search for unexplored music and innovative sounds, with exceptional precision and poetic power and the suspended, weightless quality that gives the album its name.
Emile Parisien is widely regarded as the most influential soprano saxophonist of his generation, with more than 20 albums and extensive international awards and press.
‘Floating’ began as a single, unrepeatable evening - a carte blanche performance closing Émile Parisien’s two-year residency at the Théâtre de la Cité internationale de Paris. Emerging from a period of intense creative activity, Parisien sought something different - space to breathe, to reflect, to simply listen. The result was a quartet built not around a concept but around musicians he deeply admires - pianist Yaron Herman, bassist Linda May Han Oh and percussionist Prabhu Edouard, each chosen for the singularity of their voice and their capacity for deep musical listening.
What was meant to be a one-off encounter proved impossible to let go. Nearly a year and two further concerts later, the quartet entered the studio for just two days, determined to capture the same spontaneity and freshness of that first night, rather than polish it away. The music that emerged is intimate chamber jazz - lyrical, unhurried and generous with silence.
Compositions leave room for the unexpected, melodies are given time to breathe, improvisation weaves the four musicians’ distinct sensibilities into a single, shifting texture. Recorded at a moment of personal transition for Parisien, ‘Floating’ carries that sense of suspension in its title and its spirit, a quiet invitation to slow down, listen closely and make room for tenderness.