Jazz Articles about Fran

Fran: Play

by Jerry D'Souza
January 22, 2005

If technique and imagination are the spirit of improvisation, then the François Carrier Trio has a brimful. Here are three musicians whose travelogue would make the most jaded witness sit up and take notice, attention and marvel at the way they scope the terrain and then mark it with their personal landmarks. What they construct is at once captivating and mesmerizing. Time is the essence and they take their own to build layer upon layer, soul and passion the creation ...

Fran: Elenar

by Jerry D'Souza
January 9, 2004

First, François Théberge: the man who likes to bring a twist to his tale. Second, the musicians: players who can vision the craft of the leader and augment it with their approach. Third, the instruments: brass and some unusual wind instruments that give the music a distinctive air. Fourth, the title: Elenar, a play on L and R for line and rhythm, which gives one the sense of direction, abetted by the fine balance struck between structure and freedom.

Fran: Indefinite Time

by J. Robert Bragonier
November 13, 2003

Although unfamiliar to many Yankees, François Bourassa and his groups have been a staple on the Canadian jazz scene for the past 20 years. With a trio and now a quartet, Bourassa has toured from Moscow to Mexico, from Europe to East Asia. This is the group’s sixth album since 1986; its last, Live from 2001, won a JUNO (Canada) and an OPUS (Québec) for best jazz album of 2002. Bourassa has degrees from McGill University and the New England ...

Fran: Music of Konitz

by Jerry D'Souza
November 3, 2002

There are quite a few so-called tribute albums floating around, a concept that takes its urge from commercial rewards, or to take a look from another angle, a drought of compositional inspiration. This album is also a tip-of–the-hat to one of the great players on the jazz scene, but with a major difference—the source of inspiration is in the band!

Konitz has carved a deep niche over his long career. He has traversed a wide terrain, leaving landmarks ...

Fran: Compassion

by C. Michael Bailey
April 1, 2001

French Canada has a new standard bearer in Free Jazz.

François Carrier's alto saxophone weaves its way through the title track in the same way John Coltrane's tenor passed through A Love Supreme. Steve Amirault's piano accents the composition as McCoy Tyner did for Coltrane. Carrier's music on Compassion is firmly grounded in the Love Supreme mode. At times swinging, at other times solidly iconoclastic, this Canadian Juno Award Winner (Canada's Grammy® Award) weaves a complex carpet of sound and ...