By David Cristol
All photos by Martin Morissette
The 40th edition of FIMAV
(“Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville”) took place from May 16 to 19, under the guidance of new artistic director
Scott Thomson, a trombone player and previously programmer
of the Guelph festival, after four decades under founder
Michel Levasseur, the latter still involved on this edition on technical duties, with some
of his relatives also on deck giving a hand. Launching a festival in the
small town of Victoriaville and keeping it alive is nothing short of
heroic. The endeavor was initially inspired by festivals such as Moers in
Germany. FIMAV quickly became a reference in terms of improvised and
avant-garde music. The associated label Les disques Victo, also a family
business, is nearing 140 releases to this day (the latest are a Void Patrol
live recording by Elliott Sharp and Fatrasies by the François Houle/Kate
Gentile/Alexander Hawkins trio). This year marked a handover of the
steering wheel, with both a sense of continuation and the kick-off of new
threads. Frequent performers at the festival such as Roscoe Mitchell and
Nate Wooley shared the schedule with bands getting a first chance to
present their work in Quebec or even North America. Early afternoon solo
concerts were located at the Church Saint-Christophe d’Arthabaska, and the
remainder of the days saw the new music enthusiasts commuting from
the Carré 150 downtown (salle F. Lemaire and Cabaret Guy-Aubert) to the
Centre des Congrès for the 5 p.m. and midnight concerts. For the first
time, the Free Jazz Collective was in the audience.
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Quatuor Bozzini
|
A long day’s travel from the old Continent and through Quebec led to
missing the first show (and regretting it later, after hearing enthusiastic
echoes about it), an oratorio in four acts by Pascal Germain-Berardi,
“Basileus”. The homegrown mammoth work featured 50 musicians including an
ominous-sounding “growlers choir”. The follow-up act couldn’t have been
more different. Quatuor Bozzini (two violins, plus viola
and cello) played Jürg Frey’s
“String Quartet n°4”
, exposing listeners to very low decibel-level music, a constant brush with
silence, involving deep listening from all. Props to the audience for
holding their breath for the set’s duration and immersing in this fragile
yet intense piece, which goes firmly against the fabric of the dominant
noisy and hurried way of life that plagues our daily lives. A delight to
hear on stage, a courageous leap of faith from the new artistic director,
rewarded by a mindful audience, with no applause between movements, which
would have broken the spell. The sound of the instruments has a raw quality
to it, closer to the dusky gut strings of baroque than the shiny metallic
hues of new music. It takes extraordinary performers to keep their cool and
stay in unison, with such delicate attack on the strings that notes appear
out of the ether. The opposite of the no less talented Jack Quartet playing
Zorn's music. The cohesion and tonal precision are out of this world, with
long notes played at the same exact underlying tempo and identical volume.
It’s contemplative, almost static, or so it seems, for it in fact ever
evolves, however slightly.
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Sakina Abdou
|
The following morning starts at the church of Arthabaska where
Sakina Abdou
makes her first live appearance in Canada. On record, her solo saxophone
work is featured on the 2022 Relative Pitch release Goodbye Ground. She
is a key element of Eve Risser’s Red Desert Orchestra, which got a lot of
exposure in recent years, a favorite act of European festivals. She begins
from behind the audience, hidden from sight. The sound is bold,
life-affirming. Another saxophone is placed at the center of the “stage”,
like an iconic artefact. Abdou favors long notes, interspersed with light
growls and occasional vibrato. The artist paces about the upper floor,
close to the large organs. The full-bodied sound eventually comes closer to
the audience. Abdou walks slowly from the back of the aisles and proceeds
to the spot where a priest usually talks to believers. She switches to
tenor, resorts to circular breathing, produces harmonics over repeated or
changing patterns, explores the lower register for a while and makes use of
the resonant space. Plaster angels surround her, and a sculpted Jesus in
preaching position seemingly gives her his blessing or maybe lectures her.
Whether it is God’s or the devil’s music, there is a devout and ritualistic
aspect to the proceedings – and we’re part of it. Abdou delves into the low
notes, without a break or words being spoken. For the finale she deploys a
technique involving vocalization and aspiration, with noises reminiscent of
bird chirps, sending us on the day’s journey on a light and uplifting note.
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Amma Ateria
|
For her piece « Concussssion », San
Francisco composer Amma Ateria resorts to electronics only,
offering a sound translation of the consequences of a head trauma and its
recovery process. We’re privy to a trip under sedation back to
consciousness, equally nightmarish and soothing, hopeful and
claustrophobic, involving wall-shaking sub-bass, muffled voices, uneasy
sound perspectives evoking growing and recessing waves of pain, and
progressive neuronal reconnection, enhanced by rather suffocating abstract
black and white video images. The serious-minded artist seems to have
studied the subject in-depth, unless it stems from a personal experience.
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| Splendide Abysse |
The mostly local and ¼ Italian (the undemonstrative drummer
Carlo Costa, living in New York and the soul behind the lowercase Neither/Nor label)
quartet Splendide Abysse is led by composer and clarinet
player Philippe Lauzier. A yet-unheard language is
deployed, supported by a tight unit of performers (in addition to those
mentioned, Belinda Campbell on prepared piano and
synthesizer and Frédérique Roy on accordion and vocals).
The name of the project and some lyrics in the latter part of the set
suggests an underwater universe crawling with sea creatures, but the source
of inspiration was not necessary to enjoy the music on its own. Presented
as a suite, its successive movements are not distinctly separated from each
other, rather flowing from one part to the next. These songs with or
without words have a ghostly quality to them, and no flashiness whatsoever.
The tones are both precise (in execution) and uncertain (for the ear), with
a piano either detuned on purpose or in just intonation. The nuance and
complexity makes this project one to listen to at home or on headphones,
but it hasn’t been recorded yet. Given the work and care put into it, and
the sheer originality, it would certainly be worth it.
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Natural Information Society
|
This incarnation of
Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society
is subtitled
« Community Ensemble with Ari Brown ». One of
the key elements here is Chicago tenor man
Ari Brown, who
brings stellar playing to the table, albeit too low in the mix (every
N.I.S. show I witnessed had similar problems, the harmonium either
inaudible or drowning the other players, which is regrettable given the
talent on hand). The band’s aesthetics remain unchanged, its feverish
grooves organized around the leader’s focused guembri playing, a trancey
music with, in this case, a wealth of trumpets and saxes providing
stimulating solos throughout, although the formula is not exactly innovative
at this point, and the magic only works intermittently.
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Sophie Agnel and John Butcher
|
On the eve of her 60
th birthday, pianist
Sophie Agnel
is in great creative form, from the six-piano band Pianoise, the tremendous
trio with
John Edwards and
Steve Noble, and a fun duet with
Joke Lanz on
turntables. The association with
John Butcher on tenor and
soprano sax is a dream one. Top shelf improvisation, by two major
practitioners of the genre, if it can be called that. Through the diversity
of sounds and textures these two get from their instruments, the approach
is orchestral. Agnel could be credited as a percussionist, given the energy
she puts into playing on the wooden body and the inside of the grand,
preparing it on the spot, moving about frantically, while her partner stands
still for the duration of the mind-blowing set, spurting several good ideas
a minute and bringing them to fruition. This is strictly improv, cut out
from any jazz influence.
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| Orcutt Guitar Quartet |
The only electric guitar quartet I heard live prior to this was Dither,
performing John Zorn’s game pieces. On record, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet.
But it’s not a format one encounters every day. The
Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet
was put together after Orcutt had played, recorded and released the
repertoire by himself. Taking it on tour, he brought a stellar team of
fellow string hitters (
Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza, Shane Parish),
who share a common sensitivity with the composer. That is, leaning towards
blues and other American roots music, with a biting mindset, not without
nuance though. The short pieces are based on purposefully simple riffs. The
group is all smiles, each member bringing their characteristic musical
persona and sound to the picture. The album from which the tunes are lifted
lasts 30 minutes, so what follows is improvised and makes room for a
delightful “string” of solos, duos and trios. Then the quartet returns with
a new riff, hotter than sands of the desert at noon, with gnarly playing
from all.
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Roscoe Mitchell
|
Sitting next to
Roscoe Mitchell in a shuttle, I [dare] ask
him about the current reissues on the French BYG-Actuel label, which he’s
aware of and associated with. When I mention particular album titles,
instead of commenting on them he remembers and hums the tunes, stressing
that the music is
“not free.” Seven small colorful paintings by
the hand of the composer are arranged on the stage of the Cabaret. The
A.A.C.M. founding member appears in a dapper purple suit and pink hat, the
large bass saxophone already in place. Mitchell sits on the stool and puts
his lips to the embouchure. From his small groups to his large ensemble(s)
recordings, and multi-tasking in the Art ensemble of Chicago, we have
learned to expect the unexpected. Tonight, it feels like studies, orderly and
unhurried, one note at a time. No trace of extended techniques, except for
the spectacular circular breathing. The slowly unfolding notes and melodic
patterns are unrelated to Great Black Music. This is more akin to a
systematic research. Serious and no-nonsense. He moves to the less
cumbersome sopranino, on which he favors hissing and dissonant emissions.
Sakina Abdou gets as close as she can to check the master at work. On the
records stand later on, we spot and grab a book collection of Mitchell’s
visual art, published by Chicago’s gallery/label Corbett vs. Dempsey.
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Roaring Tree
|
Roaring Tree is
Joëlle Léandre on
bass,
Mat Maneri on viola
and Craig Taborn on piano. They released the
hEARoes album on Rogue Art and will be next heard on
Lifetime Rebel, a 4-CD + DVD
set recorded at Vision festival for Léandre’s lifetime achievement
celebration in 2023. All have history together, with Maneri duetting with Léandre on “A woman’s work” as well as being both members of the Stone
Quartet and Judson trio. Taborn appeared on Maneri and Joe McPhee’s
Sustain album in 2002 and both joined Ches Smith on the wonderful album
The Bell on ECM in 2016. These master musicians, improvisers united by
friendship don’t need to plan anything ahead of going up onstage. It’s hard
to tell why it works so well, but it does. Maybe it’s because their tempers
are markedly different and complementary: melancholy and calm for Maneri,
restless and militant for Léandre, lighting up with joy in the case of
Taborn, these moods translated in their playing. What joins them is complete
availability to the moment, and a sense of lyricism in the abstract. The
collective interactions are remarkable – one could think miraculous if it
was not the result of decades of hard work – and each one’s approach to
their instrument is subjugating to observe as well as to hear. Taborn’s
hands are constantly hovering over the keyboard, like in starting-blocks,
ready to engage in bursts of expression, whether fleeting or declarative.
Maneri’s manner is more inward, eyes closed and looking into his soul to
find the appropriate microtonal notes and textures to contribute, while
Léandre seems in a state of tension, torn between an impulse to let rip and
the necessary moderation for the trio to keep its balance. She transcends
that tension in her solo spot, a few memorable minutes of both the set and
the festival.
Tour-de-force aside, it’s the waves of ideas
coalescing or circling around each other in real-time that makes the value
of this incomparable trio.
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|
The Dwarfs of East Agouza |
At midnight, the concerts have a fun, danceable and sometimes delirious
dimension to them. I was thrilled to hear these musicians onstage, with
only Egyptian keyboardist and electronics wizard
Maurice Louca
unknown to me. All three are based in Cairo and live in the same building.
Longtime Montréal resident Sam Shalabi is an impressive
guitar player while bass and saxophone player, comedian and vocalist
Alan Bishop, of Sun City Girls fame, is also the brain
behind the global music label Sublime Frequencies.
The Dwarfs
(yes, right spelling, while the program changed it to Dwarves)
of East Agouza‘s brew of North African psychedelia relies on the best dub bass playing
since Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble, astoundingly bent guitar tones, over a
base of electronics-generated beats and oriental synth motifs. The axe
molesters face each other, showing their profiles to the audience. Ava
Mendoza sits in the front rows and films snippets of the show with a big
smile on her face. Bishop wails like a baby with a sax mouthpiece before
convincingly playing the instrument. He dances, engages in camp
vocalizations and whimsical speeches. Then the sax becomes a flute in his
hands. Funky, unpredictable, surrealist and a highlight of the festival.
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Columbia Icefield
|
After the devastatingly emotional Seven Storey Mountain ensemble concert at
Lisbon’s Gulbenkian two years ago,
Nate Wooley comes back
with another stunning live offering, this time with
Columbia Icefield. All four members were part of the aforementioned Seven Storey Mountain
performance. The compositions are new, different from the released album,
which also had slightly different personnel. It’s the last concert of the
tour. Wooley presents the project and the band (
Ava Mendoza
on electric guitar,
Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar and
Ryan Sawyer on drums) in his introductory speech,
explaining that we are about to hear a tribute to one of his mentors, the
man who made him quit a meaningless job in Oregon in order to focus on
playing the trumpet, the late Ron Miles, who passed in 2022. It resulted in
young Nate leaving his previous life behind, and to this day we benefit
from this career decision and 30-year old friendship. The compositions are
arranged into a single big piece, without breaks. Most of the set consists
of a rock and rhythm-heavy style, after a solo trumpet overture and before
a solo conclusion also from Wooley, tapping his feet and chanting an
incantatory march or hymn. Between incipit and explicit, the music proves both elegiac and dissonant – a rare combination – on a
slow piece from a trio then the quartet. The drumming is profuse, with
assembled sticks. Sawyer moves to maracas only for a lengthy solo. Mendoza
joins with metallic lava flows. This is music brimming with love and anger.
Ron Miles-style melodies are recognizable, but in a wild environment, in
contrast to the gentle recordings of the late trumpeter. Scores are
followed closely, and there are generous spaces for expression from all.
The compositions harbor multiple shapes, with changing rhythms and playing
modes: straight ahead, improv, noise, melody, abstraction, the listener
never quite knowing what the next minute’s going to sound like. The quartet
goes full-out for a while, the usually peaceful Alcorn unleashing her inner
Jimi Hendrix. Not forgetting Wooley’s virtuosity, whether on the quieter
pieces or with the band at full steam.
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| Kavain Wayne Space / XT Trio |
Next is an odd one. Kavain Wayne Space / XT Trio consists
of Kavain Wayne Space (CD DJ), Seymour Wright (alto
sax, real and potential) and Paul Abbott (drums, real and imagined). Disjointed beats, barely
recognizable and recontextualized 70s soul & funk samples and
(a)rhythmical sax playing, as per usual from Wright ([Ahmed]). His style is
all hiccups and jerks, fragments, single brief notes separated by silences;
the sound equivalent of flickering lights, and not unlike John Oswald’s
Plunderphonics in the disorienting results (Oswald gets mentioned because he
is in attendance, as a friend and neighbor). Wright is also a terrific
writer in the “We Jazz” magazine. Hard to tell which sounds come from the
drummer or the deejay. The whole thing is noisy and dense, with messed up
hip-hop rhythms and the alto sounding like an accordion when Wright puts a
pedal to use. At the back of the venue, a volunteer dances her ass off.
Very unusual and interesting, but the set never seems to end, and indeed
could go on forever, as the continuum had no definable beginning either. A
confrontational attitude, playing until there’s no one left to play for? A
test of the listener’s endurance? While everybody has to leave in order to
make it to the next show, the XT trio is still playing…
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| Sélébéyone |
I had heard
Sélébéyone in Berlin, when the band was a
septet (with Drew Gress on bass, Carlos Homs on keyboards and Jacob Richard
on drums). Seven years later, it is now a quintet with
Steve Lehman
(alto sax, sequencing),
Maciek Lasserre (soprano sax,
sequencing), and spoken word artists
Hprizm (aka High
Priest) and
Gaston Bandimic remaining, while
Damion Reid
more than fills up the drum chair. The rappers’ lyrics are in English for
the US citizen, who simply has one of the best voices in hip-hop, and in French and
Senegalese dialect (wolof) for Lyon-based Bandimic. The vocal samples are
in French and English. The longevity of the project is notable. The human
and aesthetic relationships between members have enabled it to keep on
touring, even if some jazz heads would like to hear more of Lehman in
acoustic trio format for example (well, he already did that, check Clean
Feed’s double LP of Lehman with Mark Dresser and Pheeroan akLaff). The
sound is too loud to make out the lyrics – when the Berlin set allowed for
a better perception of every element in this busy, richly layered musical
and linguistic offering, a work of intricate structures, with brief and
dazzling solos that avoid standing out too much from the whole. It is
possible to grasp that some of the words at least are politically conscious.
The absence of a bass is compensated by low grumbles courtesy of Lehman’s
electronic gear, which also propels pre-programmed beats. Jazz, electro and
hip-hop are one here, without one “school” taking precedence over another.
As such, it’s an ambitious and ideal unit.
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| Kim Myhr Sympathetic Magic |
A lightweight ending to a heavyweight edition, the octet
Kim Myhr Sympathetic Magic promotes a laidback, atmospheric and groovy imaginary folk-pop rich with guitars and percussion, and a finicky vintage keyboard (courtesy of Eve Risser who subs for a missing regular band member) that initially refuses to work. Risser has a lot of fun in this context, distinct from her own projects. It’s alluring, velvety even at full power, and maybe the most popular set with the audience. To my ears, however, the concert suffers from the inescapable programmatic nature of the music, which unfolds as planned, with nary a surprise or unsettling of expectations in sight. The second part proves more stimulating, although never projecting a sense of urgency or something of significance to say. “It’s a mood”, they say, and maybe I just wasn’t attuned to it.
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| Michel Levasseur and Scott Thomson. |
In a relaxed and friendly atmosphere allowing for artists, audiences and
writers to meet and chat, the 40
th edition of FIMAV was highly
enjoyable. We’re told that people have come in smaller numbers than the
previous year, which can be explained by several factors: John Zorn was a
big attraction on Michel Levasseur’s last hurrah, and the new artistic
impulse by Scott Thomson, with more
new classical acts on display
may take some getting used to from the usual crowd. For this listener, it
was a consistent and mostly satisfying listening experience, with a fine
balance between peak acts and discoveries, all worth hearing. A solid
statement of intent and prelude to brilliant future editions.
Thanks to Jordie, Norman, Daniel, Doc...
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