In the fall of 2016, I attended Montreal rehearsals and concerts and Toronto recording sessions ofRoscoe Mitchell and the Toronto-Montreal Art Orchestra for a feature article that was published in Musicworks 127. This complex, largely through-composed music—Mitchell’s orchestrations of previous improvisations—required the gradual, stop-start building of short segments. The alto saxophonist Yves Charuest was assignedContinue reading “Yves Charuest and The Existential Act of Improvisation”
Artist Archives
Resonant Frequencies
I first encountered Alanna Stuart on a mid-November evening in 2018. After an exhilarating trudge through the snow-muted streets of Toronto’s Stanley Park neighbourhood, I made what felt like a heroic landing at Array Space, where a few dozen or so hearty souls were gathering for a social event—punctuated with short sets of music—celebrating theContinue reading “Resonant Frequencies”
What’s Inside Musicworks 141?
The Winter 2021/22 issue explores the creative ideas of seven artists who are engaged in beautiful, daring musical acts of innovation, celebration, and resistance . . . artists that audiences and listeners like YOU will be discovering in 2022. Flute enthusiasts, please note that the Musicworks 141 CD opens with a three tracks of flute-forwardContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 141?”
Winter 2021-2022
Roscoe Mitchell and the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra
The year 2017 is being widely celebrated as the centenary of jazz, marked by the hundredth anniversary of the music’s first recordings, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jass Band One Step.” Jazz began as a spontaneous, improvised music of syncopated rhythms and bent notes so creatively assembled that it defiedContinue reading “Roscoe Mitchell and the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra”