Think Big est un quartet inédit aux allures de manifeste libertaire. Un terrain d’expérimentation et d’implication furieusement vivant. Le contrebassiste Thibault Cellier et le saxophoniste Raphaël Quenehen se pratiquent et jouent depuis 18 ans au sein du collectif les Vibrants Défricheurs et de Papanosh.

Avec eux deux s’installent le batteur et compositeur Mike Reed, hyper-activiste sur la scène de Chicago et membre de l’AACM ainsi que Ben Lamar Gay son vieux compagnon de route, cornettiste et multi-instrumentiste émanant de la même galaxie. Pour une dé-libération musicale perpétuelle.

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En coproduction avec la Dynamo de Banlieues Bleues à Pantin (93)

Think Big has been made possible through Jazz & New Music, a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States with support from the French Ministry of Culture, Institut français, SACEM (Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique) and the CNM (Centre National de la Musique). 

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Le tromboniste Jay Jay Johnson disait en 1988 : "Le jazz n’offre aucun répit. Il ne tient pas en place et ne le fera jamais." Cette vitalité, ce renouvellement perpétuel qui se fonde sur le mélange des genres, des instruments, et sur la spontanéité vivifiante de l’improvisation se voyaient magnifiés par le quartet Think Big.
Maryvonne Colombani - Journal Zibeline, Mars 2022 (au concert Think Big du 11 mars 2022, Moulin à Jazz - Charlie Free - Vitrolles).

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Think Big is an unprecedent quartet which has the air of a libertarian manifesto. A ground of experimentation furiously alive. Double bass player T. Cellier and saxophonist R. Quenehen got to know each other for 18 years within the collective of artists “Les Vibrants Défricheurs” and the band “Papanosh”.

Along with them, Mike Reed, drummer and composer, hyper-activist on the Chicago’s scene and member of the AACM plus Ben Lamar Gay, his long-time partner, cornet player and multi-instrumentalist coming from the same galaxy. 
Think Big will be a perpetual musical de-liberation exploring two collective ways of playing.

The music is thought as a patchwork of musical pictures, a post-modern and contemporary look at jazz story – as an emancipatory artistic language. Compositions will be brought by the four musicians and improvisation will be the joyful link between those pieces.
The scene is considered as a playground, a place to let the audience being a witness and an actor of what creation is.

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Trombonist Jay Jay Johnson said in 1988 : “Jazz offers no respite. It doesn't stay still and never will." This vitality, this perpetual renewal which is based on the mixture of genres, instruments, and on the invigorating spontaneity of improvisation were magnified by the quartet Think Big.
Maryvonne Colombani - Journal Zibeline, March 2022 (Think Big show on March 11, 2022, Moulin à Jazz - Charlie Free - Vitrolles)