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Francois Carrier: The Joy of Being
by Budd Kopman
Continuing their world travels, the team of reedman Francois Carrier and percussionist Michel Lambert again meet acoustic bassist Rafal Mazur, almost a year to the day from the recording of Unknowable at the Alchemia Jazz Klub in Krakow, Poland to create The Joy Of Being.Much of what can be said about “spontaneous" jazz in general or of how these players interact specifically can be found in the earlier review.What is particularly interesting in this meeting is ...
Continue ReadingFrancois Carrier: OUTgoing
by Budd Kopman
In the realm of Western music, the role of the performer has been rather circumscribed. In Classical music, the composer is king and the range of “allowed" expression rather limited. For most of its history, jazz performers relied on tunes as the basis for their improvisations, and thus, the composer (or tunesmith) was still needed, with the best creating tunes having a memorable melodic arc or harmony, giving the player solid and recognizable support. Modern jazz ...
Continue ReadingFrançois Carrier: Unknowable
by Budd Kopman
The mystery of spontaneously created music is most certainly “unknowable," but saxophonist François Carrier has shown himself to be completely at home facing, and embracing, the unknown. Unknowable finds Carrier and his long-time percussionist Michel Lambert meeting acoustic bass guitarist Rafal Mazur at the Alchemia Jazz Klub on June 1, 2014 at the recommendation of Marek Winiarski, the owner of Not Two Records. The live, completely unrehearsed set went so well, and felt so intense and present that ...
Continue ReadingFrancois Carrier/Michel Lambert: iO
by Mark Corroto
Listening to the nine improvised duets on saxophonist François Carrier and Michel Lambert's latest release iO, one gets the sense the creative process comes not from friction, but from friendship. The music isn't forged from a skirmish, like, say a Peter Brotzmann/Han Bennink record might be. It has more in common with Charles Lloyd's duo with Billy Higgins or maybe Lee Konitz duets with Elvin Jones.That's because their friendship began in 1998 and has been forged over multiple ...
Continue ReadingFrançois Carrier/ Michel Lambert/ John Edwards/ Steve Beresford: Overground To The Vortex
by Mark Corroto
The adventures of François Carrier continue with Overground To The Vortex. The well-traveled Canadian saxophonist has recorded in Nepal--KATHMANDU (FMR, 2008), St. Petersburg, Russia with All Out (FMR, 2011) and In Motion (Leo, 2011), of course Canada Entrance 3 (Ayler, 2011), and this release in Great Britain, where he made his Shores and Ditches (FMR Records,2012).His improvisational voice lends itself to collaborating with others, as he is an astute listener and a master of teamwork. He has recorded ...
Continue ReadingShoreditch, London, December 2011: One great gig, two fine albums
by John Eyles
In December 2011, French-Canadian alto saxophonist François Carrier was approaching the end of a six-month sabbatical visit to London, sponsored by Conseil des arts et des lettres Québec. On December 6, Carrier played a gig at The Vortex to launch his album Inner Spire (Leo, 2011) recorded the previous year in Russia with his long-time drummer Michel Lambert and Russian pianist Alexey Lapin; Lambert had flown into London for that launch gig. The next day, December 7, Carrier and Lambert ...
Continue ReadingFrancois Carrier Trio Live in Russia
by John Eyles
Back in September, the review of Inner Spire (Leo, 2011) by the Québec duo of alto saxophonist Francois Carrier and drummer Michel Lambert with Russian pianist Alexey Lapin, closed with the words “This is an impressive debut from a fine trio. Let us hope a sequel follows soon." Shortly after that review appeared, news leaked out of not one but two sequels to Inner Spire, and now they are both released. While Inner Spire was recorded in Moscow ...
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