I am in
the midst of a two week vacation from work. I wanted to spend some quality Dad
time with my 4 month old daughter and at the same time I thought (naively) that
it would also be a perfect time to catch up on some reviews that have been
sitting in queue on my mp3 player for the last couple of weeks.
The
reality of my situation was quite different. It consists of most nights up at
2.30am tending to a little girl with a either a bad stomach, is hungry, or just
looking for attention.
2:30 in
the morning, I have found out, is the perfect time to have the Olympic TV
coverage on mute in the background as we are both trying to catch a few winks
of sleep.
Periodically,
with one eye open, I would spot a Canadian athlete about to compete in a sport
that many of us won't watch again until this time four years from now. Point
being, I am always amazed when one of ours can compete on a world stage. This
is also true when it comes to our music. I guess it is a part of our collective
inferiority complex.
Luckily
for me I still had Francois Houle 5+1's album Genera to listen to and it forced me to turn off the shot putt
finals and get my brain to focus on something other than television.
'Essay #7' put the first big smile on my face. It starts right out of
the gate with a great groove supplied but the near telepathic rhythm section of
Harris Eisenstadt on drums and Michael Bates on bass. Benoit Delbecq, (piano
and the +1 in the 5+1) masterfully plays over this groove until he gives way to
a back and forth discussion between Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet and flugelhorn) and
Samuel Blaser (trombone).
Clocking
in at a little over 12 minutes, 'Guanara',
the longest track on the album, demonstrates Francois Houle's (clarinet)
ability to choose his musicians wisely. This is a great ensemble piece where
everyone hits their mark every time. A slow burner where everyone gets equal
time to contribute to the song's evolution, time well taken advantage of as
none of it is wasted. This is a tempo where structure and free jazz meet and
fall in love. Houle also chooses
his notes wisely as well. He plays without grabbing all the attention and that
is a real strength. It forces the listener to go to him and not get hit in the
face with a backhand of sound.
Delbecq
gets to play around by himself at the top of 'Piano Loop (for BD)'. It is moments like these where he really
gets to shine and can easily keep the pace once the rest of the band eases
their way into the track. Solos mix with rhythmic elements and back out again
in a tapestry of give and take. It ends with very deep rumblings from Blaser.
Now that
my vacation and the Olympics are over, I can get back to listening to and
writing about more great music like this.
Can be
purchased from www.songlines.com
1 comment:
This group played our jazz festival and covered this music. It was great, of course. To me the revelation was Samuel Blaser on trombone, and he's someone I need to track down more work from. The rest of the band was stellar, as expected.
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