Many adventurous listeners express a strange aversion to so-called extended techniques—a forgivable bias. Where Asian classical traditions integrate such techniques seamlessly into conventional musical discourse, a great deal of Western music drops in these alternate colours like trite parlour magic rather than offering them as a viable expressive resource. French-Norwegian improv quartet Dans Les ArbresContinue reading “Dans Les Arbres. Volatil.”
Genre Archives
2022 Guelph Jazz Festival.
The 2022 edition of the Guelph Jazz Festival marked a singular recovery from the rigours of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more presentation venues engaged than at any time in its twenty-eight-year history. Following the cancellation of the 2020 season, the festival’s creative team of Scott Thomson and Karen Ng found imaginative ways to keep performersContinue reading “2022 Guelph Jazz Festival.”
James Goddard Makes Brave New Spaces
“Recorded music these days is like an inversion of the old-time medicine show—you know, those people who would go from town to town and put on this big carnival performance to sell their medicine. Now that ticket sales have become the main income generator for musicians, recorded music is just an advertisement for the show.”Continue reading “James Goddard Makes Brave New Spaces”
Scott Thomson. Pal o’Alto.
Trombonist Scott Thomson has split much of his creative life between Montreal and Toronto. On this series of improvised duets with alto saxophonists, he explores key musical relationships in the two cities, playing with four distinctive musicians: Montrealers Yves Charuest and Jean Derome and Torontonians Karen Ng and John Oswald. Each duet benefits from longstandingContinue reading “Scott Thomson. Pal o’Alto.”
claire rousay. A Softer Focus.
Over the past while, prolific and multifaceted Canadian-American artist claire rousay has managed to find visibility and acclaim while maintaining a firm commitment to creative restlessness and sonic ambiguity. Recent outings have tended to showcase an evocative blurred-Polaroid approach that weaves verité audio and brittle, ASMR-like, found-object manipulation, but her varied discography also encompasses sturdyContinue reading “claire rousay. A Softer Focus.”
Ocelot. Ocelot.
A program of carefully assembled small-group jazz and improv, Ocelot, the eponymous debut from the new trio Ocelot, features playing and composing by British-born reedist Yuma Uesaka, Vancouver pianist Cat Toren, and American percussionist Colin Hinton. Throughout, the near-gossamer sheen of some tunes often rolls back to reveal durable underpinnings. Spunky or subtle, the CD’sContinue reading “Ocelot. Ocelot.”
Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, 37th edition.
Interrupted—like most music festivals—by the global pandemic, Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) prided itself on being one of the first organizations to resume live programming, albeit with strict COVID-19 protocols, and its all-Canadian lineup thankfully delivered the goods for music-starved concertgoers. Since FIMAV’s 2020 edition never took place, the festival programmed severalContinue reading “Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, 37th edition.”
Joseph Shabason. The Fellowship.
On the first track of Joseph Shabason’s third solo album, The Fellowship, the voice of a child emerges from a sepia-toned gloom, repeating in various speak-singing phrasings, “Did you get a good picture?” Legacy, intergenerational interdependence, and our collective yearning for meaning are clearly top of mind as The Fellowship simultaneously considers past, present, andContinue reading “Joseph Shabason. The Fellowship.”
Lara Solnicki. The One and The Other.
The One and the Other; a title both rigorously specific and philosophically general, deftly fits Lara Solnicki’s third album. Built with equal measures of poetic craft, classical vocal training, and a jazz-infused exploration of form and improvisation, the seven tracks are a journey from tentative meeting to sorrowful parting. What, or who, has met andContinue reading “Lara Solnicki. The One and The Other.”
Colin Fisher. Reflections of the Invisible World.
Colin Fisher is busy. For nearly two decades his musical output and collaboration have touched many corners of the Canadian experimental scene—he is known as one half of psych duo Not The Wind, Not The Flag, as a frequent collaborator with artists such as Caribou, and as a solo artist in his own right. OnContinue reading “Colin Fisher. Reflections of the Invisible World.”