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Album Review

Ariane Racicot: Envolée

Read "Envolée" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianos pop up in odd places--airports, shopping malls, and Quebec's Mount Royal Park, where pianist Ariane Racicot strode up to a lonely upright, sat down and presented an unsuspecting crowd to a killer version of Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody." This performance then popped up on YouTube, where it has garnered 18 million views. Racicot was a teenager at the time of that wow-the-crowd street performance. She is, as she releases her debut album Envolee in 2022, just twenty-five, but ...

3
Album Review

Benjamin Deschamps: Augmented Reality

Read "Augmented Reality" reviewed by Anya Wassenberg


A dynamic approach, delivered with crisp modern panache, characterizes saxophonist, clarinetist & composer Benjamin Deschamps' Augmented Reality. For Deschamps, a greater reliance on an electric sound marks a considered departure from earlier work. A sense of forward momentum pervades all the tracks on the album, notably anchored by Al Bourgeois on the drumkit. Deschamps' and his sax lead off the first track, “Unfinished Business," a song with an aggressive drive that showcases the ensemble's strengths-- virtuosic technical precision, ...

3
Album Review

Joel Miller: Unstoppable

Read "Unstoppable" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Montreal-based saxophonist / composer Joel Miller brings an impressive resume to bear on Unstoppable, a large-ensemble recording aptly described in an accompanying press release as “a 21st-Century chamber symphony." In a career spanning more than two decades, Miller has earned a number of high honors including a Grand Prix Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival for his debut album Find a Way (Ithmus, 1996), an East Coast Music Award for Dream Cassette (FamGroup, 2016) with vocalist Sienna Dahlen, and a ...

5
Album Review

Joel Miller: Unstoppable

Read "Unstoppable" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Joel Miller makes an excellent case for continuing education. Twenty years after winning the career-boosting Gran Prix of the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1997, and releasing his debut album, Find A Way (Isthmus/Page Music) in the same year, the Montreal-based saxophonist returned to his alma mater, McGill University, to complete his studies for a Master's in Jazz Composition. The result of his return to school is Unstoppable, music from a twenty-first century chamber ensemble—an orchestra-recording without strings that earns Miller ...

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Album Review

Benjamin Deschamps: No Codes

Read "No Codes" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


After having been exposed to the enticing Trioliloquy by the A/B Trio and Christian McBride's thrilling New Jawn, here is another formation which renounces any harmonic instrument and rather relies on the abilities of two saxophones and a tight rhythm section--so No Codes has no chords. Montreal-based alto saxophonist and composer Benjamin Deschamps is joined by Frank Lozano on tenor sax, while the rhythm section is Sebastien Pellerin on bass and Louis-Vincent Hamel driving the beat. In a ...

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Album Review

Alex Lefaivre: YUL

Read "YUL" reviewed by Geno Thackara


Surely this isn't a Christmas recording released at the height of summer, you ask? Not a homage to the great Yul Brynner either? No, the title in question is less obvious and thankfully more interesting than that. Its appeal is a subtle kind, which is well suited to Alex LeFaivre's supportive sensibility as bassist. His strengths lie mainly in ideas, sketching out mood-evoking compositions, choosing effective bandmates and holding it all together at the center--not that he isn't also capable ...

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Album Review

Alex Lefaivre Quartet: YUL

Read "YUL" reviewed by Anya Wassenberg


Bassist and composer Alex Lefaivre's YUL is named after the airport code for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal, Canada, and the liner notes say the release was inspired by his home town and its cosmopolitan vibe. Like the fun-loving city, the album's sound is contemporary and imaginative. YUL is characterized by creative musical chops and a strong sense of composition that create a narrative out of each song. It's contemporary jazz with a few unexpected ...

4
Album Review

Jason Stillman: Prelude

Read "Prelude" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Alto saxophonist Jason Stillman's Montreal-based quartet makes its recorded debut on Prelude, a sunny and engaging blend of Stillman originals and jazz standards whose spacious boundaries provide ample room for ardent blowing, especially by Stillman and pianist Josh Rager. Although the group has been a working unit for more than five years, Stillman waited until the time was right before entering a studio, and his patience has paid dividends, as the group dynamic is impressive throughout. As ...


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