Home » Music » Song of the Day

21

Muted Song by Philippe Cote

From the album

"Muted Song" by

Buy Album

Album Title: Confluence
Label: Odd Sound Records
Released: 2023

Listen


Sign in to view listen count

About the Album

Just as two streams join to become a single river, multi-reedist Philippe Côté and pianist François Bourassa have united to record the duo album Confluence. With Côté’s titular five-movement suite as a focal point, this recording represents a unique musical universe with improvisation at the forefront. Inspired by jazz and contemporary classical music, the Montreal-based duo present a selection of compositions that are at once mysterious, emotive and accessible. Confluence is not a textbook example of a piano-saxophone duo album: a number of pieces feature Côté on piano as well, and the use of prepared piano lends the music textural variety and rhythmic solidity. Côté’s pieces, in addition to the Confluence suite, are the Gabriel Kahane-inspired 1190 Chemin de la Montagne and the sister pieces Muted Song and Hushed Song, all conceived for extensive improvisation with content and form.  Bourassa’s Tour 1 and Tour 2 bookend the album with Côté on soprano and tenor respectively, braiding together an engaging story. Three additional Bourassa pieces are featured in the program’s latter half: Chire reveals the influence of composer Steve Reich, while Truc begins and ends with percussive prepared piano. On Duty sounds stealthy, with staccato octaves ringing out until Côté interrupts on soprano with a haunting unison passage of stark intensity. The five movement Confluence suite contains all of the projects possible instrumental combinations: two pianos, prepared piano, soprano and tenor sax. It’s all about water, and the places defined by its presence: place like The Forks in downtown Winnipeg; the spot in central Khartoum Where Blue Meets White and the two great branches of the Nile divide; the Ganges River in India, sacred in the Hindu tradition; Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario; and finally, the largest island in Montreal’s Archipel d’Hochelaga. Tenor sax and piano bring the Confluence suite to a dramatic conclusion. Confluence was released worldwide on Friday, November 24th, 2023 on ODD SOUND.

Tracks

Tour 1; 1190 Chemin de las Montagne; Muted Song; Confluence Suite (The Forks; When Blue Meets White; Ganges--Purification; Rideau Falls; Archipel d'Hochelaga) Chire; Truc; On Duty; Hushed Song; Tour 2.

Personnel

Philippe Cote
composer / conductor

Reviews

Date featured

December 27, 2023

This song appears by permission of the contributing artist and/or record company. It is for personal use only; no other rights are granted or implied.


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Tags

Song of the Day

Blue Train
Matthew Alec
Benny's Tune
Nick Adema
Questar
Rez Abbasi
Bad Teeth
Neal Bowen

Popular

Armando Mi Conga
Irving Flores
Reinvented
Szymon Mika
Not Even Close
John Yao
Escher's Staircase
Junichiro Mataga
Leonardinho
Gabriel Rosati
Traveler
Daniel Casares

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.