Le fait que les trois œuvres canadiennes enregistrées ici pour la première fois aient été composées dans les années 90 pourrait rendre mélancolique à propos de la difficulté à produire des enregistrements du répertoire contemporain de chez nous… Mais écoutons, et réjouissons-nous. Le Quatuor Bozzini y est si remarquable qu’il donne des ailes aux compositeurs, et le clarinettiste Jean-Guy Boisvert, trop rare sur nos scènes (il enseigne à Moncton), atteint une qualité qui frise la poésie. L’homme a été à l’école de Stockhausen et ça se sent, particulièrement dans la pièce de Piotr Grella-Mozejko. Le quatuor est plus présent, pour notre bonheur, chez Jean Lesage, qui donne son titre au disque, et chez Tim Brady. Du miel pour l’oreille.

[…] Quatre lieux, quatre expériences

L’OFF Festival de Jazz [de Montréal] aura lieu dans quatre salles montréalaises qui se partageront cette année les trois sections principales de l’événement. Tout d’abord, le Pub St-Ciboire tiendra les fameux 5 à 7 du festival où on entendra des artistes comme le Anna Webber Quartet, le trio CLH et le quintette de Mario Allard. La beauté de cette série de spectacles est qu’elle est offerte gratuitement et permet une certaine proximité avec les groupes en prestation.

Le Lion d’Or accueillera cette année la majorité des concerts présentés à 20 heures et à 21 heures 30. Deux soirées spéciales seront organisées en collaboration avec le festival Suoni Per Il Popolo, qui aura lieu du 1^er au 30 juin prochain. Pour l’occasion, La Sala Rossa recevra le groupe de Philadelphie Sun Ra Arkestra le 14 juin et présentera un concert le 15 juin mettant en vedettes plusieurs artistes comme Barnyard Drama, Philippe Lauzier et Gordon Allen.

Au Dièze Onze, club qui se spécialise maintenant dans la diffusion de la musique jazz, les mélomanes pourront assister à des concerts de fin de soirées donnés par des musiciens tel que Erik Hove Soundclash, le Quartette Alexandre Bellegarde et le Dave Watts Quintet.

«Je crois que le spectacle du groupe mythique Sun Ra Arkestra fait assurément partie des plus de notre festival, affirme le président Papadimitriou. C’est un concert à ne pas manquer, mais c’est certain que nous encourageons les gens à aller découvrir des artistes qu’ils ne connaissent pas. Je crois que n^os 5 à 7 au St-Ciboire sont l’occasion idéale de faire de nouvelles découvertes.»

Scat contains four compositions of the Canadian composer and guitarist Tim Brady dating from the years 1998-2000. All pieces are performed by the Australian leading new music ensemble Topology or members of this ensemble and recorded in January 2006 in Brisbane. From the start it is clear that this was a fruitful collaboration. The cd opens with the three part suite Scat. The first and the third part of this piece are very dynamic and powerful. It is a true pleasure to hear this rhythm-driven piece performed by these excellent musicians. The chambermusic of Tim Brady has the power and directness of rock music. In effect it sounds very fresh for modern composed music. Lighting Field — Darkness/ Illuminations consists of two parts. The first part is a very dark piece of music where the instruments play against a background of electronic sampled sounds. The second part ‘Illumination’ is built upon minimalmusic-like patterns played by the piano and violins. It moves steady forward, alternated by parts where the instruments are whirling around and chasing each other. Dark Matter (Primal Pulse) was originally composed for the Relache Ensemble. It is the most introspective piece on this cd. But also in this composition there is often a strong pulse. The cd closes with Struck Twice by Lightning an exhausting battle between viola and tape. Again Brady delivers a cd with very appealing compositions by his hand, and played very convincingly and eagerly by the Topology crew. If Brady is new for you, start here.

(Juste) Claudette is Michel F Côté latest project. Its origins go back to an evening of February 2006 when Jesse Levine, Bernard Falaise, the aforementioned Alexandre St-Onge and Côté himself happen to be together in a studio and recorded some improvisations. This music would eventually become the group’s eponymous CD, released last fall on Ambiances Magnétiques.

Michel F Côté likes each of his projects to have a well-defined and distinct identity. A quick listen to the music of Mecha Fixes Clocks (with or without its ‘s’), Flat Fourgonnette or Pink Saliva – a yet-unrecorded trio with trumpeter Gordon Allen and bassist Alexandre St-Onge – should be enough to convince anyone of this claim. (Juste) Claudette is no exception to this fundamental preoccupation. Indeed, Claudette (for the intimates) is all about groove. Yes, groove as in looped patterns, but also as in tap your foot and bob your head.

(Juste) Claudette – let’s stick to the official name to dissipate any impression of promiscuity – performed its second ever concert as part of the 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville. Actually, it is worth emphasizing that it took place on Sunday at midnight at the CEGEP de Victoriaville, one of the three venues used by the festival, as anyone who has visited the small Bois-Francs town would know.

While (Juste) Claudette dedicates itself to groove and rhythm, there was plenty to maintain interest and loads for the brain to chew on (then process). First, drummer Alexander MacSween was added to the line-up, thus turning (Juste) Claudette into a sextet as Côté had already recruited trumpeter Gordon Allen for the group’s live debut, back in October 2007. The addition of a second drummer allowed for some fascinating rhythmic events to occur. In one piece, Côté and MacSween played exactly the same beat, except that MacSween’s hi-hat notes were twice as fast as Côté’s. In others, MacSween would play a basic pattern while Côté would play between the beats in a looser manner or double the beat on his snare.

Second, (Juste) Claudette made it clear that rhythm and groove is not just a drums and bass thing. Sure, in some pieces, the drums and the bass would indeed start a rhythmic pattern and stick to it while the others instruments build upon it. However, in others, the basic rhythmic impetus would come from another instrument such as Falaise’s syncopated strumming.

As mentioned above, this concert took place on Sunday evening, thus near the end of the 2008 FIMAV. On the one hand, the somewhat festive and groovy aspects of (Juste) Claudette were a welcome relief at this point. Remember, this was the 20th concert festival-goers had witnessed in a three and a half day period, including some inevitably dry and less-successful ones.

On the other hand, in past years, the volume of the midnight concerts has often been a problem in that the loudness became an obstacle to a full appreciation of the music. Unfortunately, (Juste) Claudette was no exception. To put it bluntly, the volume was deafening. It makes no doubt that such a group can benefit from some amplification, but in this case, it actually had a negative impact. First, it simply was unbearable without earplugs. Second, some instruments simply did not sound well, the most obvious example being Côté’s carefully crafted toms which suddenly sounded like an amplified beam.

This said, on a strictly musical level, (Juste) Claudette definitely turned out to be one of the most enjoyable concert of the 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville.

[…] Un peu plus tôt jeudi, ont sévi les Dangereux Zhoms de Jean Derome, enrichis de sept autres musiciens — dont trois femmes. On a eu droit à toute la palette de ce très doué compositeur, déployée sur deux fresques de musique actuelle de chambre. Je garde l’impression que Traquenards est plus achevée et plus cohérente que Plates-formes, présentée pour la première fois. Quelques ajustements, et la seconde fresque aura la force et la pertinence de la première…

En jeunes ayant des choses à dire, Evan Shaw (saxophones) et Jean Martin (batterie) peuvent se permettre d’improviser jusqu’à faire naître Piano Music: titre à la frondeur facile pour disque rempli d’épreuves persuasives.

Bien sûr, Shaw ne peut cacher longtemps ses influences (Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman) et Martin rappelle de ses airs secs un peu de John Stevens, mais le duo parvient à faire oublier les références au gré d’illuminations bienvenues: alto straight contre soprano en dérive, répétitions amusées, faux-airs contemplatifs ou, partout ailleurs, extraits indélicats de frénésie brute. L’improvisation pour toute réjouissance.