The music of Charles Mingus is both visceral and intellectually stimulating. Bassist Normand Guilbeault has been investigating the rich legacy of Charles Mingus for almost 15 years now, and in the company of long-time musical running mates Jean Derome, Ivanhoe Jolicœur, Mathieu Bélanger and Claude Lavergne, Guilbeault is able to tease out the panorama of nuances in Mingus’s compositions. This recording is also the debut of pianist Normand Devault with the ensemble, as well as vocalist Karen Young. This is no routine reading of the surface particularities of Mingus, but a journey through the depths of his sound world.

SuperMusique célèbre 30 ans de création, de production et de diffusion de musiques actuelles et présente sa nouvelle saison Musiques topographiques. Premier concert: Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms + 7.

Avec plus de trente ans de carrière et 70 disques à son actif, il est l’un des musiciens et improvisateurs les plus actifs et les plus éclectiques de la scène canadienne des musiques créatives. Il s’entoure ici de ses valeureux et fidèles complices des Dangereux Zhoms et de sept autres instrumentistes, dans les traces de Plates-formes et de Traquenards, ses deux récentes compositions faites d’un subtil alliage de structures écrites et d’aires réservées à l’intelligence de ces 12 improvisateurs virtuoses. Une musique sensible, puissante et empreinte d’humour. Ce concert a été présenté lors de la dernière édition du Festival de musique actuelle de Victoriaville.

Sylvain Fortier presents the group Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms with selected excerpts from his releases Carnets de voyage, Navré and Torticolis. Part one of two.

On September 6, 2009, Duchesne & Cie will be performing at Quai des brumes in Montréal.

This recording of the first-ever performance by René Lussier, Martin Tétreault and Otomo Yoshihide demonstrates the major pitfall in recording improvised music: the lack of visual context. One of the pleasures of a live improvised performance lies in watching the musicians interact, and certainly this was the case when Lussier, Tétreault and Otomo met on stage at the 2008 Victoriaville festival. The three all have extensive histories playing together in duos, but this was the first time the three had played together at once. The performance was a bit patchy, as much of the time one of the three was searching for a way to jump into the musical dialogue of the other two, especially so when Otomo and Tétreault were on turntables and Lussier was on guitar. At its best moments, however, there is some truly satisfying three-way interaction.

The next Mardi spaghetti will feature Isaiah Ceccarelli, Lori Freedman, Isabelle Bozzini, Stéphanie Bozzini, Pierre-Yves Martel and Clemens Merkel on September 1, 2009, at Le Cagibi in Montréal.