Jazz Articles about Francois Houle

Francois Houle - Alexander Hawkins - Harris Eisenstadt: You Have Options

by Glenn Astarita
November 13, 2018

The late co-founder of the Vancouver Jazz Festival, Ken Pickering, recommended British pianist Alexander Hawkins to consummate this trio featuring Canadians: drummer Harris Eisenstadt (drums) and clarinetist Francois Houle. And, based on the output of this exquisite studio set, it was a sound decision to align with the pianist, who for several years has performed with Eisenstadt in the Convergence Quartet. Houle's melodious lines occasionally adopt flotation-like aspects, as the trio executes staggered asynchronous grooves with quaint shifts ...

François Houle, Håvard Wiik: Aves

by Alberto Bazzurro
February 28, 2014

Il clarinettista del Québec François Houle e il pianista norvegese Håvard Wiik sono i protagonisti di questo notevole album che, non solo per l'abbinamento strumentale, evoca temperature cameristico-contemporanee più che strettamente jazzistiche. I sentieri battuti dai due performer variano da brano a brano, pur nel segno--costante--di una preziosità, un'eleganza, una cerebralità che non vengono mai meno. Ci sono comunque episodi più vivi, mossi, e altri decisamente più astratti, cogitabondi, incorporei. Tale alternanza di tratto ...

François Houle 5+1: Montreal, Canada, July 3, 2012

by Sara Villa
July 22, 2012

François Houle 5+1Casa del PopoloMontréal, QuébecJuly 3, 2012Wild strawberries. This was the taste of clarinetist François Houle's 5+1 performance at Casa del Popolo, presenting his group's just-released Genera (Songlines, 2012). Why wild strawberries? Because the entire two sets had both the fresh and savory, yet also spicy and untamed flavor of the Québecois berries which ripen in this summer season, and the sophisticated, refined and sensitive texture of a music that recalled the emotional complexity ...

Francois Houle 5 + 1: Genera

by Glenn Astarita
June 13, 2012

Celebrated Canadian progressive jazz clarinetist Francois Houle enlists an all-star support system for a comprehensive album that radiates numerous slants amid ethereal backwashes, scrappy improvisation and softly explorative passages. “Albatros" highlights the sextet's manifold capabilities. Propagated by Houle's buoyantly lilting stride, the band generates a deceptively complex primary theme based on odd-metered unison phrasings, spanning free-bop undertones and pianist Benoit Delbecq's ephemeral classical fills. “Albatros" serves as a solid vehicle for the band to stretch during the bridge, ...

Houle / Leandre / Strid: 9 Moments

by Nic Jones
April 2, 2008

Never was a title more apt. It says it all; in music so profoundly of the moment, and in a world where time sometimes seems infinitely malleable, it's the preciousness of the moment that's often the first casualty. On 9 Moments, however, every moment seems like a cause for celebration.

Listeners can thus be eternally grateful for the fact that a performance such as “Moment Grave" was saved from the unforgiving ether. Bassist Joelle Leandre's uncredited vocal interjections have the ...

Houle / Leandr: 9 Moments

by Jerry D'Souza
February 11, 2008

Three exceptional improvisers comfortable in the art of instant interaction join forces and unleash an exceptional aural treat on 9 Moments. They define nine moments which devolve over different trajectories and moods, making each sit up and draw the listener into its soul. They can be animated and soar in exultation, or dip into a soothing well-being. The spell is created by François Houle (clarinets), Joëlle Leandré (double bass) and Raymond Strid (percussion), on this recording of live and studio ...

Francois Houle / Evan Parker / Benoit Delbecq: La Lumi

by John Eyles
July 23, 2007

Recorded at the Innovations concert series in Montreal in 2005, this trio teams Evan Parker with the established duo of Benoit Delbecq and François Houle, who have been together for a decade. The pair is known to play a wide variety of music--from classical to world to jazz and improvisation--all of it extremely well. Both technically and temperamentally, they are suited to Parker; the threesome sound well-adjusted to each others' instincts, and should as this was not just a one-off ...