Far from his Victoria, B.C., home base, sound-artist–composer Jamie Drouin helps animate notable improvisational landscapes on these European-recorded sets. Two extended tracks on Borough find Drouin’s suitcase-sized modular synthesizer and radio put to good use in The Holy Quintet, which is filled out by London-based David Ryan on bass clarinet, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga on zither, bassistContinue reading “Jamie Drouin & Hannes Lingens. Alluvium; The Holy Quintet. Borough.”
Genre Archives
Andrew Raffo Dewar / Andrea Centazzo / Anne LeBaron. Encantamientos.
Residing in a soundworld created from aleatory, signal-processed, and improvised music, the seven tracks of Encantamiento are performed by musicians who move easily from one genre to another without fissure. Percussionist Andrea Centazzo is known for his jazz and soundtrack work, harpist Anne LeBaron for her compositions and interpretations, while saxophonist Andrew Raffo Dewar isContinue reading “Andrew Raffo Dewar / Andrea Centazzo / Anne LeBaron. Encantamientos.”
Saxophonist Karen Ng Sets The Scene
THINK OF ANY STYLE OF MODERN saxophone playing, and chances are Toronto’s Karen Ng has done it, and done it beautifully. Her tone can be eerily high and pure, rich and fluid, deep and mellow, alluringly tender or startlingly abrasive. Her fingers fly in a dazzling, exuberant run, then slow down to effect a gentleContinue reading “Saxophonist Karen Ng Sets The Scene”
2017 Guelph Jazz Festival
Striding confidently towards its 2018 silver anniversary, the Guelph Jazz Festival was invigorated this year with choice concerts from U.S. and European artists—but nonetheless, two of the most notable performances were from Canadian bands. Montreal trio Jane and the Magic Banana found that sweet spot where punk attitude, tremolo oscillations, and free experimentation lock together.Continue reading “2017 Guelph Jazz Festival”
Something Else! Festival of Creative Music
The rough, faded industrial city of Hamilton, Ontario, might seem an unlikely setting for a top-notch festival of creative music, but thanks to the efforts of Cem [pronounced Jem] Zafir, the artistic director of Something Else!, the city proved a perfect little world for the musicians and music lovers on hand for the fourth edition.Continue reading “Something Else! Festival of Creative Music”
Philippe Lauzier. A Pond in my Living Room.
Exploring the sophisticated capacities of overdubbing, Montreal-based bass clarinettist Philippe Lauzier has created a multilayered program, which emphasizes not only the reedy tones but also the consolidated air currents emanating from his instrument. Like an action painter who works in oils, Lauzier thickens his timbres in such a way as to bring out new perceptionsContinue reading “Philippe Lauzier. A Pond in my Living Room.”
Artificiel’s “Three Pieces With Titles”
“I had never seen such new things before. I didn’t even know what a new object could be,” the poet and art critic André Salmon wrote, after visiting the studio of Pablo Picasso in the spring of 1914. Of particular interest to Salmon was Guitar, a wall-mounted 3-D collage of a semi-exploded guitar built withContinue reading “Artificiel’s “Three Pieces With Titles””
Suoni per il Popolo Festival: 17th Edition.
With over 100 events across diverse musical categories, the Suoni per il Popolo Festival encompasses several thriving thematic series. While it is theoretically possible for fans of free improvisation, contemporary classical, noise, or alt-rock to attend a concert almost every evening and remain within their preferred genre, the quality Canadian and international performers entice mostContinue reading “Suoni per il Popolo Festival: 17th Edition.”
Jim Denley & Éric Normand. Plant.
Working the sweet spot where noise communication decisively rubs up against textural experimentation are the verdant improvisations that make up Plant, the new LP from Rimouski-based electric bassist Éric Normand and Australian alto saxophonist and bass flautist Jim Denley. Don’t be fooled by the title, though. Nothing here is the aural equivalent of a pastoralContinue reading “Jim Denley & Éric Normand. Plant.”
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”