Three-time East Coast Music Award winner and Newfoundland's premier jazz guitarist, Duane Andrews brings the sounds of his homeland, Django Reinhardt inspired material and an exceptional Charles Mingus cover to his third and addictively-solid album Raindrops, being officially released November 4 during a Toronto showcase at Hugh's Room.
Calling St. John's home, the 35-year-old has an impressive list of accomplishments (including winning the 2007 USA Songwriting Competition in the Jazz category and the Jazz album award at the 2007 USA Independent Music Awards, judged by Bill Frisell and McCoy Tyner) since releasing his self-titled debut in 2004. He is on the verge of cracking the national Juno nut, with the submission deadline for Canada's best-known musical awards approaching, November 12.
Confessing to have “burst into flames" when initially hearing musette music while traveling through France, it was after finishing jazz training at St. Francis Xavier University based on the electric guitar, and floating around Europe for bit, that he delved into the traditional acoustic music he grew up with and started playing the fiddle.
“When I heard Django's music played it was like bringing those two worlds together. I found something that was a part of me--some sort of home discovery when I started to get into his music," Andrews said, during a recent interview at the Ship, a downtown landmark pub in Newfoundland's capital city.
Covering a song by jazz pioneer bass player/composer Charles Mingus is a tough task but Andrews manages to improve “Fables of Faubus," with his own interpretation. Nestled neatly among an arrangement of his own meticulous material, Andrews unveils a colorful version of the track, using touches of vibraphone (played by Bill Brennan) accents.
Listening to Raindrops, the traditional Newfoundland element of his musical personality is still most obvious, but a classical splash gives a new flavor to his previous efforts. Trumpeter Patrick Boyle and rhythm guitarist Steve Hussey have been with Andrews from his first album and bassist Dave Rowe returns again, after appearing on second album, Crocus. This record expands his past sounds, not only with instrumentation, but with adventure. Writing for strings and using some of the ideas he developed as a student of composition in Marseille, a third, classical element is now taking up more of his time and therefore space, on Raindrops, with the incorporation of the Atlantic String Quartet.
Members of the Atlantic String Quartet are also resident musicians of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and this connection led to a recent performance featuring Andrews on stage with the symphony. Thinking about an album or two down the road already, Andrews, who also composes music for film, is sewing the seeds for future records and sees symphonic sounds playing a major part.
“There are three sides to me as a musician right now: there's the traditional music from here, there's Django's jazz and there's contemporary composition," said Andrews, once a member of 13 bands at the same time.
In order to make final touches (like mastering in Toronto with Joao Caravalho) a reality, Andrews was able to double his mixing and mastering budgets from the previous recording. Governments on every level have supported his work and this CD is well-covered in their agency logos, most notably four from within the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
“I hit the jackpot there," he says, referring to government support, recognizing that some artists want to stay in the province, but need to tour outside the island to make a living.
Discussing the possibility of moving to a bigger place in order to expand his potential audience, the native of Carbonear, NL reflects on how good life as an independent artist can be here - Andrews has played the Montreal and Vancouver Jazz Festivals, the Newport Folk Festival and toured Australia last year. A sincere sense of home can be felt in his references to his family, which has been in Newfoundland for a couple of hundred years on both sides. He says he felt like an explorer while living in places like Montreal and France, not like a resident.
“Perhaps that's part of the character of someone who lives here," he says, adding that a more important reason to stay at home is his three-year old son, Isaac.
“Even though I'm based here, I hardly play shows here at all...and as long as you're serving the music to the best you can imagine, why move?"
Raindrops has just been nominated for five Music NL Awards from the Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. The nods include Album of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Male Artist, Jazz and Blues Artist and SOCAN Songwriter of the Year for his original composition, “DD's Blues." This year's award show will take place November 9 in Gander, NL.
Like the legend of his native land - once little known but now a rising, surefire success story - Andrews is emerging from the rock at his own precise pace.
“My steps are maybe smaller and slower (as an artist based in Newfoundland) but they're solid and they're still moving forward," he said.
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