Unfortunately that rarely happened. Most of the Ornette-ish compositions consisted of heads stated by Doyle and Beddard, with the pieces then opening up for extended soloing, followed by a restatement of the theme to signal the conclusion. And while the players clearly had talent, what was missing—and what has made other Coleman-informed groups including saxophonist John Zorn's Masada and bassist William Parker's O'Neal's Porch quartet work so successfully—was the kind of intuitive interplay where all the players listen to each other and respond, reacting spontaneously. The best groups in this arena are those where it's almost as if everyone is soloing and nobody's soloing; the interaction is so strong that virtually anyone can take the material in new and unexpected directions.

The solos from Lapon Balèze, rather than telling any kind of story, felt more like they simply began, continued, and then ended, showing no real signs of construction to give them form. They revolved for the most part around open-ended vamps the group relied to a great extent on Bedard and percussionists Raynald Drouin and Christian Paré to maintain interest. But unfortunately, without any kind of significant group interaction, they were unable to sustain any real sense of engagement. Many of the players in this project have been successful elsewhere, implying that perhaps the project's concept is what's at fault, rather than any deficiency on the musicians' parts.

The opening night of the festival's five-day Improv Invitational series at the National Arts Centre's Fourth Stage—a new series for OIJF, and the first to conflict directly with performances at other venues—was an ambitious project that managed to skirt the line between success and failure. Bassist Normand Guilbeault's Visions of Kerouac took text from beat writer Jack Kerouac and shaped it into a ninety-minute performance. His quartet, also featuring saxophonist Alexandre Cote, drummer Claude Lavergne, and pianist Alexandre Grogg (also heard on day three with Ensemble en Pièces), placed Kerouac's words, delivered by vocalist Nicolas Landre, into a musical context.

Combining original compositions with standards like "Night in Tunisia and "Maiden Voyage, there were some clever inventions. Most intriguing were the brief passages where Guilbeault played along with recordings of Kerouac, remarkably mirroring his every phrase and specific articulation perfectly, truly making his bass "speak. Brash on baritone and more lyrical on alto, Cote was an intuitive and sympathetic player, responding imaginatively to and augmenting both Landre's spoken-word narration and singing. Lavergne's kit work was more orchestral in nature, adding texture where necessary, although he was clearly able to swing and groove when required.

Grogg is a curious pianist. He appears to have a broad musical knowledge—a prerequisite for his work with both this project and Ensemble en Pièces—but he's rarely convincing. While Cote's lines in support of the narration were supportive, Grogg's felt like non sequiturs.

As a narrator—both in English and in French—Landre was a bold performer, successfully evoking a wide swath of emotions from the comedic to the melodramatic. Unfortunately, he wasn't a particularly strong singer, plagued by pitch problems throughout the set.

For a series called Improv Invitational, which implies a larger element of spontaneity and experimentation, Visions of Kerouac was decidedly structured. Sure, there were brief moments of group interaction and there was an almost constant flow of individual instrumentalists responding to Landre's narration, but it felt like a rigidly-defined performance piece, rather than a set of interactive exploration. At times it veered dangerously close to shtick and sentimentality, although Guilbeault's clear reverence for Kerouac prevented it from crossing the line.

Tomorrow: Dave Young's Mainly Mingus; Quatuor Jean-Pierre Zanella Quartet; Evan Parker; Trio! (Béla Fleck, Jean-Luc Ponty and Stanley Clarke); and Trio (Derome-Guilbeault-Tanguay).

Visit Bill Mays, Bud Shank, and the Ottawa International Jazz Festival on the web.

Photo Credit
John Fowler

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