Ex Vitae -

Ex Vitae was a French avant-jazz/rock band that self-released the album Mandarine in 1978.

Members: Jean Lars (bass), Marc Millon (drums, percussion, vibraphone), Jean-Michel Philippe (acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Jacques Lars (electric guitar), René-Marc Bini (keyboards), Jean-Loup Marlaud (saxophone, clarinet, flute), Alain Labarsouque (violin)

Background

Ex Vitae emerged in Limoges in 1978, formed by seven musicians passing through the same local jazz circles.

Bassist Jean Lars anchored the low end, locking into rhythms with drummer Marc Millon, who also handled percussion and vibraphone. Guitarist Jean-Michel Philippe shifted between acoustic and electric textures, while fellow guitarist Jacques Lars focused on electric leads and chord voicings. Keyboardist René-Marc Bini covered piano and synthesizer duties, shaping harmonic movement and atmospheric layers. Multi-instrumentalist Jean-Loup Marlaud contributed soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, and flute. Violinist Alain Labarsouque supplied the ensemble’s string accents and sharp melodic lines.

The seven had no notable band history or formal academic ties; instead, they built their sound through informal collaboration and shared rehearsal space. Ex Vitae assembled strictly to record one album, financing the project themselves.

Mandarine

Ex Vitae self-released their only album, Mandarine, in 1978 on the orange-label EV 01 imprint. Across four extended instrumentals, the group blends jazz-rock fusion with avant-leaning structures, giving each composer room to outline a distinct approach. Philippe, Bini, and Marlaud shaped one track apiece, while Millon authored the fourth.

“Vive-Versa” moves through shifting chords with sax themes over arpeggiated keys, while “Saxophonie” accelerates from percussive clashes into rapid instrumental exchanges and late-stage chaos. “Gavarnie” alternates bass and sax leads over off-center guitar patterns before thinning to sparse textures and rebuilding. “Mandarine” pivots from fast piano-and-acoustic interplay to vibraphone, flute, and wordless vocal lines, cycling through scattered solos before closing on soft repeated chords.

A1. “Vive-Versa” (6:15) twists through shifting chord figures, its saxophone themes rising over arpeggiated keyboards before synthesizers build against pulsing bass and drums.

A2. “Saxophonie” (15:25) opens with a percussive collision of piano, drums, bass, and vibraphone, speeding into rapid exchanges between electric bass, Rhodes, guitar, and saxophone; violin enters around the six-minute mark, and by fourteen minutes the arrangement leans into near-chaotic interplay.

B1. “Gavarnie” (10:28) descends through sharply measured chords, placing bass and sax in alternating lead roles, while two guitars thread off-center arpeggios. Cymbals, sax, and electric guitar overlap in gradual waves before the music thins to distant guitar and metallic percussion chimes, then rebuilds through a gentle weave of bass, drums, Rhodes, and sax.

B2. “Mandarine” (9:42) launches in fast piano-and-acoustic-guitar dialogue, shifts to a vibraphone-and-flute pairing with wordless vocalese tracing four-note figures, and cycles through electric piano foundations with flute and violin solos. Around the fifth minute, the Rhodes thickens the harmony as short solos scatter, then funnel back into a tight drum-and-bass drive while flute, violin, and guitars trade brief phrases, finally settling into soft five-chord repetitions.

Sessions took place at Studio RGR in Paris on September 15–16, 1978, with both producer and engineer uncredited.

Postlude

After Ex Vitae dissolved, Jean-Loup Marlaud contributed reeds to Jean-Luc Roudière’s 1978 album Overchoses and 1982 single “Commando” before recording jazz-rock with Amir later that same year.

Discography: