Michael Winograd (clarinet, saxophones), Gordon M Allen (trumpet); Esther Bourdages (turntable), Pierre-Yves Martel (doublebass) will be at 4276 Saint-Denis on March 9, 2007. You can listen to those musicians on: Engagement & Confrontation and Let’s Go to Easter Island!.

We are looking forward to seeing the continuation of Treize lunes series, a complete show created by Daniel Soulières, Louise Bédard, Jean Derome, Antoine Berthiaume, and Lucie Bazzo. This time, 7 artists wil get together to howl at the moon: first, on Wednesday February 21, then on February 22, and on February 23,2007, very last chance to take part in this extraordinary event. The show brings together 7 artists of Danse-Cité and the Ensemble SuperMusique (you should go on SuperMusique website to check out where the performances will take place: url below). In addition, you may want to listen to the new album’s group Nouvelle musique d’hiver…

The Suoni Per Il Popolo festival is held in Montréal throughout the month of June and features concerts every evening at La Sala Rossa as well as at Casa del Popolo. This year you will hear, amongst others, the trio FReC (Lori Freedman, Danielle Palardy Roger and Nicolas Caloia) on June 11, 2006, the trio Klaxon Gueule and the Pierre-Yves Martel / Marianne Trudel duo on June 21 and also the Trio Derome Guilbeault Tanguay on June 22.

Pierre-Yves Martel (Rodéoscopique, Rake-Star) releases his new album on the Ambiances Magnétiques label. Engagement & Confrontation is a collection of eighteen solo improvisations for prepared double bass. The tracks were recorded on an array of microphones arranged by {nbio:martel_pi} and soundman Ross Murray to create surprising spatializations during mixing: no other overdub or processing were used.

The CD will be launched at the Mercury Lounge (Ottawa) on May 20, 2006 and also at Casa Del Popolo (Montréal) on May 29. Furthermore, the Montréal public will also be able to hear {nbio:martel_pi} during the Interventions concert series at the Arts Café, every Thursday of May 2006, alongside musicians such as Isaiah Ceccarelli, Antoine Berthiaume, Philippe Lauzier and Jean Derome.

Finding your voice as a musician is no easy task, nor is finding your place in the music community at large. With remarkable ease and confidence, however, Ottawa native double bassist and composer Pierre-Yves Martel has found a niche for himself in the thriving Montréal scene. Most surprising is that this 27 year-old player has done so with a solo album, Engagement & Confrontation, to be released very soon on the local Ambiances Magnétiques label. But if one judges by his concert schedule, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Just last month, he headed south for performances in both Boston and New York and will perform two concerts in Toronto with guitarist Antoine Berthiaume on the 21 and 23 of this month. Here in town, he will spar with drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli on May 3 at Casa del Popolo as part of the Improvising Montréal Series. What’s more, Martel is active in both the contemporary and baroque music scene (he also plays viola de gamba) and has composed for classical and jazz ensembles alike. Barely out of music school, Martel is now a full-fledged working musician. Despite the risks of a solo album, the choice seemed natural to him. Inspired by the work of John Cage, fellow bassist Michael Formanek and René Lussier, Martel considered the potential for the “prepared” acoustic bass. “The research for the album,” he explained, “took place in my apartment where I just investigated the instrument’s sound possibilities. I built a kind of recorded library of musical miniatures and challenged myself to discover different sounds. It was like viewing the instrument from different perspectives.” Heartened by the results of his explorations, Martel applied successfully for a Canada Council grant last year. Recorded over a three-day span last October, the session was captured by no less than ten microphones. “The actual material is improvised,” Martel notes, “but stems from 35 very well-defined preparations.” Martel sees this process as similar to playing the melodies and changes of jazz standards. “Each track has one preparation. These include things like an open D tuning, rubbing the bass, using sympathetic vibrations, moveable bridges, and various clips on the strings.” “The prepared bass is a whole new instrument,” Martel sums up. “I’d like to work with other sound artists and try to bring prepared bass into group settings.” To this end, you will surely find Martel busy at work around town in one group or another, digging into the adventure of creative music.