On March 1, 2009, the Improvising Montréal series will unite Halifax saxophonist Paul Cram with trumpeter Gordon M Allen, drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli and double bassist Clinton Ryder. The series takes place the first Sunday of every month at Casa del Popolo in Montréal.

Isaiah Ceccarelli, Joane Hétu and Lori Freedman will be at Le Cagibi on Tuesday February 10, 2009 as part of the Mardi spaghetti weekly series for creative music.

Isaiah Ceccarelli’s Lieux-dits, featuring Jean Derome, Francisco Lozano, Steve Raegele and Clinton Ryder, will be in concert at L’envers in Montréal on February 7, 2009. If you haven’t yet heard the album, have a listen!

Drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli and saxophonist Philippe Lauzier will be performing in Oslo, Norway, on January 30 and February 1, 2009. The first concert, in duo setting, will be at the [sic!] series at the Sagene kulturverksted. The second concert, at the Sound of Mu, will find them playing with Norwegian musicians Kim Myhr on guitar and Martin Taxt on tuba.

After two concerts in Montréal in December, 2008, Isaiah Ceccarelli (percussion) and Pierre-Yves Martel (viola da gamba) will be touring France with French musician Évelyne Moser (voice, medieval fiddle). A cross between the old and new worlds, medieval song and contemporary composition, this new project explores the sonorities of ancient instruments and languages, nourished by improvisation and textural exploration.

• January 10: Café du Boulevard, Melle (France)
• January 13: Salle Ockeghem, Tours (France)
• January 16: Borie-en-Limousin, Solignac (France)
• January 18: Théâtre des Quarts-d’heure, Paris (France)
• January 24: Moulin Pousset, Coëmont (France)
• January 25: Chapelle Sainte-Anne, Tours (France)

Fred Frith played in Montréal recently along with some very talented local free improv players. I was fortunate enough to catch the show…

Legendary avant-garde guitarist Fred Frith dropped by Montréal’s Cabaret Juste Pour Rire the other night for a duo show with drummer Danielle Palardy Roger, and an opening set by two incredible percussionists — Michel F Côté and Isaiah Ceccarelli.

Côté and Ceccarelli started things off with nothing but drums. Côté was behind a standard kit extended with lots of toys and two mics rigged up two a pair of Pignose amps. Ceccarelli just had a bass drum lying on a chair along with, again, lots of toys. The pieces were all very brief which was really nice, and despite the fact that drums alone might seem limited, each piece was very different from those that came before – sound loud and frenetic, others quiet, one actually managed to elicit quite a bit of laughter from the audience, which I’m hoping was a good thing. Côté used the mics as drum sticks to great effect — creating all kinds of unusual sounds of tension and release, friction, surprisingly dynamic feedback that almost made one think of the expressiveness of the Theremin, and there were moments of all out, distorted, banging-on-a-drum fun. The feedbacking drums were paired up really well with Ceccarelli’s bowed playing. A great set.

Fred Frith and Danielle Palardy Roger were up second and once they began playing, they did not stop until their set was finished — a really long and well laid-out musical journey with lots of highlights and unexpected twists and turns. Fred pulled out every trick in the prepared guitar book — from the old twanging drum stick between the strings to an array of effects and looping pedals and beyond. But with his mastery of music and his instrument it never felt like he was depending on the gimmicks, more using them to great effect to build up a complex, multilayered soundscape and every-evolving composition. He was well matched up with Danielle Palardy Roger, who also had all of the extended techniques and managed to make great music with them. They both seemed to be following their own paths the whole way not interacting too much like some free improv players do, creating a sort of back and forth conversation type of sound, but their individual paths meshed perfectly well together, so maybe they were both just following the music more than their own instrumental egos. Adding an extra oomph to the coolness of the show was when first Fred Frith let loose a barrage of percussive and wailing tribal vocals, followed a little later on by vocal sounds along similar lines from Danielle Palardy Roger. Took it to another level beyond the often staid confines of stylized free improv into something more about music in a broader and more sophisticated sense.

An awesome concert, and I think it was part of a recording project so it may see the light of day on CD in the not too distant future…