Continuando a “gittare” lo sguardo Oltreoceano — grazie agli stimoli che continuano ad arrivarci copiosi dalla canadese Ambiances Magnétiques ci si imbatte, innanzitutto in qualche golosa uscita di…

Jazz deviato

Il Normand Guilbeault Ensemble pubblica un notevole Hommage à Mingus dove — grazie al sestetto allestito dal contrabbassista canadese — vengono riletti sei classici del grande musicista statunitense: molto intensa l’iniziale Passions of a Woman Loved così come il blues malato di Song with Orange.

Su di una frequenza più elettrica si colloca il Pierre Labbé 4tet che con Manivelle sforna un lavoro molto denso ed intimista magnificamente introdotto dalla convincente — ma (pur)troppo breve — Pour le moment. In effetti Labbé si rivela fiatista e compositore molto interessante e “felpato” in grado di far emergere il lato più lirico di due musicisti davvero unici: il chitarrista Bernard Falaise (che abbiamo apprezzato sia nelle scorribande avant di Klaxon Gueule che nei suoi grandissimi lavori solisti) e il percussionista Isaiah Ceccarelli: in Corpus i due forniscono un apporto davvero convincente così come nella rarefatta La Kuchika dove emerge imperioso anche il contrabbasso di Clinton Ryder.

Per rimanere ancora in situazioni più strutturate va menzionato Nozen, (Live! au Upstairs) quartetto che ruota attorno al già noto fiatista Damián Nisenson grazie alla cui penna possiamo godere di un jazz a spiccata propensione etnica. Sorprende la duttilità dell’onnipresente Falaise così come l’efficace panneggio bassistico di Jean Félix Mailloux mentre Pierre Tanguay si conferma batterista in grado unire inventiva musicale a solida strutturazione ritmica.

Ancora più bello — nella sua esotica fragranza — Migration di Cordâme. Si tratta di un sestetto gravitante attorno al già citato Mailloux (che, tra l’altro, firma tutte le tredici tracce) dove — così come il nome del progetto allude — le corde emergono in tutta la loro fragranza mediterranea: il violino di Marie Neige Lavigne, il violoncello di Julie-Odile, le chitarre di Rémi Giguère unitamente all’onnipresente Tanguay e alle percussioni di Ziya Tabassian. Molto bella l’omonima Migration — nella sua purissima arabicità — cosi come il nervoso peregrinare di Trajet.

It’s common, although not common enough, for the great bassist and bandleader Charles Mingus to be granted revered composer status in the jazz canon. The efforts of his widow Sue Mingus have kept the man’s name alive and music vital in the 30 years since his death but it’s rare to hear projects that seem to pinpoint with such precision particular moments in Mingus’ career as do recent tribute CDs by the Berlin quartet Dok Wallach and Montréal’s Normand Guilbeault Ensemble.

Bassist (and worthy crooner) Normand Guilbeault led his small-in-number-large-in-scope big band through a set of the big man’s songs on 2005’s Mingus Erectus and ratchets them up to a sextet for Hommage à Mingus with the addition of pianist Normand Deveault, further fleshing it with guest vocalist Karen Young on two tracks. Guilbeault might be the strongest jazz classicist in the eclectic Ambiances Magnetiques collective and is a smart arranger who gets a remarkably big sound out of his group. Which means that, while the lineup might be closer to such classic Mingus albums as Ah Um or Blues & Roots, it’s less a soloist’s session than an arranger’s album, more like the fisherman’s wife’s shoes than her orange dress, if you get my drift. Their take on the little noticed Passions of a Woman Loved, from the 1957 album The Clown, even bears some resemblance to Mingus’ final big band works. Undercutting that point, however, is the mighty baritone sax of Jean Derome; his defining of Prayer for Passive Resistance alone makes good on the sticker price.

Six disques DAME sont en nomination au Prix Opus 2009. Dans la catégorie «Disque de l’année — Musiques moderne, contemporaine», on retrouve Arbor Vitæ du Quatuor Bozzini et [cqb_0908] de Quasar. Dans la catégorie «Disque de l’année — Jazz, musiques du monde», on retrouve Live at Upstairs 2008 du Normand Guilbeault Ensemble; dans la catégorie «Disque de l’année — musiques actuelle, électroacoustique», on retrouve Y’a du bruit dans ma cabane de Ensemble SuperMusique et Pas de deux de Fred Frith et Danielle Palardy Roger. Aussi, Confiture de Gagaku de Jean Derome a été retenu dans la catégorie «Concert de l’année - Musiques actuelle et électroacoustique». Le 13^e Gala des Prix Opus aura lieu le 31 janvier 2010 à la Salle Claude-Champagne, Université de Montréal.

This group of Montréal musicians, led by double-bassist Normand Guilbeault, has spent quite some time at Charles Mingus’ music. This is the second recording devoted to the late master’s work, the previous being a studio outing, whereas this Hommage a Mingus features the sextet in a live setting, which heightens the intensity of the performances of this round of tunes. There seems to be a love affair between Montréal and Mingus. Musicologist and band leader Andrew Homzy, author of Mingus: More than a Fake Book, was also the individual who dug through Mingus’ archives to resurrect Epitaph, and local Uptown records’ Bob Sunenblick released a bunch of previously unavailable Mingus Tracks (among them Song with Orange done here by the ensemble). Guilbeault’s team, which features some top-notch players from the local scene, among them Jean Derome (who appears on alto and bari saxes, flute and voice) and trumpeter and Montréal Off Festival founder Ivanhoe Jolicœur, one of the city’s most fiery players — are perfect choices for the Mingus charts. The main treat of this album is that these are musicians who have a real feeling for the Mingus style and who pull it off fabulously with hot bluesy playing and off-the-beaten-track virtuosity. This is an unusual opportunity to hear Jean Derome on baritone saxophone, which, although not his usual horn, he plays with a lot of heart. Mathieu Bélanger on clarinets, one of Montréal’s best, contributes to the rich texture to the music, and the sextet is rounded out with the solid playing of Norman Deveault on piano and Claude Lavergne on drums. This CD also offers listeners the chance to hear one of Montréal’s best jazz vocalists, Karen Young, on the chiaroscuro ballad Weird Nightmare and the impressionistic tone poem Eclipse which also has some nice chorale writing. The leader himself shines in passages where the bass takes the lead, as in the introduction to Prayer for Passive Resistance, and when driving the spirited cacophony of Sue’s changes. The transcriptions are faithful to the originals, but not pedantic, since these are all working musicians with individual styles which they bring to bear on their reading of the scores — scores that offer a good variety of material, representative of Mingus’ abilities to elicit inside and outside playing. The recording reminds us of Mingus’ importance as a composer and that, despite the loose aspect of his work-shopping approach which built on sketches for the players who took the music off with Mingus’ presence, the spirit of Mingus lives despite his absence!

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.