Well, we come to it once more, that time of the season where we’re reminded, yet again,
that Montreal will only ever be a tropical paradise for about ten weeks out of every year.

You know the drill, you hope really, really hard that summer goes on forever this time
around, you’re soon very, very disappointed, you whine a ridiculous lot, you stick around
for another go. Rinse (the winter salt off your rusty fenders around mid-June) and repeat.

On the bright side though!, local sax player/Morph-tet bandleader Franco Proietti is
inviting all you fine folks to come out and spend a long, lazy chunk of tomorrow on the
McAuslan terrace – all for the sake of bidding tolerable 2011 weather adieu in good
company.

If the first (2010) edition of the Funk ‘n’ Jazz Festival was any indication, you can expect
to wash down some BBQ’d items with a variety of tasty local beers and ciders, and to
hang out with a fun crowd in a great setting tomorrow. The Brewery’s terrace sits right
on the edge of the Lachine canal and rightfully drew well over 200 music-lovers last
August by featuring a cast of great musicians on a stage set up for the occasion.

This year’s friendly neighborhood lineup is scheduled to keep you in the groove from
2:00 to 10:00PM and features Certified Organic, the Kalmunity Vibe Collective,
Proietti’s own Morph-tet as well as Dave Turner’s Earth Tones.

Check out the Facebook event for full details. In the meantime, I’ll be doing my little
victory dance around the current forecast – they’re calling for great weather.

See you there!

Oh, this poor, neglected blog. Truth is, I’ve been busy raising this guy’s baby.

But what kind of wifey would I be if I didn’t take the time to blog about the Michel Berthiaume Quintet’s upcoming gig at L’Espace 64?

I’m looking forward to hearing a few new songs that were composed right here in the very room I write this blog post! I have only ever heard Michel’s compose them on keyboard, and can’t even wait to see what Jeff Johnston does with those melodies.

The group also features Bill Mahar on trumpet, Ken Bibace on guitar, Dave Watts on bass. I love these guys not only because they are some of the city’s finest musicians, but they are also some of Montreal’s most genuinely nice people.

I’m especially looking forward to the group performing the song Michel wrote about our daughter, Amélee.

See you out there!

In honour of Steve Amirault’s new CD and his upcoming gig at this year’s Jazz Fest, here’s a great interview by Chet Doxas. You can also find it on Chet’s new blog.

By Jenn Hardy
Published in Muzik Etc.
May/June 2011

“If you can play a good shuffle, you’ll find work,” says Rich Irwin, one of Montreal’s top drummers. He has worked with Bruno Pelletier, Dawn Tyler Watson, Rémi Bolduc and Céline Dion, and now spends a good chunk of his time on the road with Montreal jazz-pop singer Nikki Yanofsky.

So just what does a good shuffle sound like? “Boom-alaca Ching-alaca…”

Though Irwin had been playing drums for almost a decade, it wasn’t until 1995 at a club date with the Vic Vogel Big Band that he finally got schooled in how to play a good shuffle.

“It was a scary time,” he says. “I was about 19-years-old, and though my reading was good, rhythmically, I didn’t have as much of a grasp. My idea of a shuffle was the groove on [Golden Earring’s] Radar Love and a ZZ Top tune.”

Irwin remembers that eight bars into the first tune at the club date Montreal institution Vogel yelled, “What the hell, you call that a shuffle?” “He said, ‘I want a Boom-alaca Ching-alaca.’” Recounts Rich. “He yelled at me on the bandstand and it stuck for ever. I went to my teacher Chris McCann and told him he had to show me how to play a good shuffle.’”

McCann, who Irwin says was his “drum doctor” for the three years he spent in McGill University’s Jazz Performance program, pointed him to Art Blakey for a good sense of a shuffle. “Chris would listen to me play then prescribe what I needed. “‘Do 30 minutes of a slow ride pattern every morning, then see me in a week,’ he’d say.”

With such a positive attitude and eagerness to learn, it’s no wonder Irwin is one of the city’s busiest drummers. And 15 years later, he’s still the drummer in Vogel’s big band.

Love at first sight

A talented singer at a very young age, Irwin was entered into vocal competitions as early as kindergarten. With a singer for a mother and a music teacher for a father, he was undoubtedly surrounded by all kinds of musical inspiration and encouragement.

At 11, Irwin first fell in love with his instrument and his singing was more or less pushed aside.

“A friend of mine wanted to show me his new drum kit,” he remembers. “I figured it was one of those toys from Sears with the paper heads, but he opened the door, and there it was, in gold sparkle. It was just beautiful. I was in love.”

Irwin said playing drums felt very natural to him—it took about two minutes for him to catch on. His supportive parents put him in lessons right away at the Glengarry School of Piping and Drumming.

It was there that he got a strong start on the fundamentals of technique. It’s no coincidence that after studying at Glengarry in his youth that Irwin now possesses an outstanding technical command of the drum set.

“I really loved the rudiments,” he says. “At the time I wasn’t playing a lot if drum set. By tenth or eleventh grade I finally got back on the kit.”

Early influences

Irwin’s father’s friends and band mates in the dance band Night Train were responsible for his early exposure to jazz drums. They introduced him to the likes of Buddy Rich and Max Roach.

“These players made sense to me,” he says. “I could identify what they were doing, so I studied the way they got around the drums by transcribing their solos and comping patterns.”

Later on, he noticed that pretty much everything he played started with the snare and ended up on the rest of the kit (which, he says, still happens at times today), so he made a conscious effort to start ideas on other parts of the drums, thinking more from the bottom up as opposed to the top down.

This prompted him to start checking out the music of Philly Joe Jones, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, and Jeff Watts. He says Brian Blade has been a huge influence recently.

Irwin’s glad he chose to study at McGill instead of Nova Scotia’s St. Francis Xavier University (where he had a scholarship). “The city has been really good to me ever since.”

One of the people he is most grateful to have met while studying at McGill is teacher Ron Di Lauro.

“He really took me under his wing,” says Irwin of the trumpet player who has accompanied huge acts like Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie and Michael Bolton.

Di Lauro had no reservations about sending Irwin in as a sub in Vogel’s big band in 1995.

“We teach so many students year after year and can spot from the beginning if someone has what it takes to be a successful working musician,” says Di Lauro.

“People like Rich are the fun students to teach. You know they have it and whatever you teach, they pick it up right away.”

Di Lauro remembers being able to sing drum fills at Irwin to set up a band figure, and how easily he spit it back out on the kit.

“You can count on Rich to sit at the drums and do the job in any style,” says Di Lauro. “He has done quite well for himself inside and outside of the jazz milieu. I’m very proud of him.”

On the road again

Irwin finds himself on the road a lot these days as Nikki Yanofsky’s drummer. The band has toured around the world including Israel, London and Japan.

But for Irwin, touring is not new. His first tours happened in his teen years with the Glengarry Pipe band.

He also toured North America with Celtic band Hadrian’s Wall, which hails from his childhood town of Glengarry, Ontario. This kept Irwin on the road three or four days a week for about seven years.

It was this band that helped shape the way he plays his instrument.

“Playing with the band made me aware of playing time and grooving, making the music feel as good as possible, and that’s still how I do things. I like when people get up and shake their butts.”

There are, of course, challenges to working as a touring musician.

Sometimes on tour with Yanofsky’s band for three weeks at a time, Irwin leaves behind his wife Jennifer and two-year-old son Charlie. “If I’m away from my family, I’d better be swinging the sticks,” he says. “Otherwise I’d be completely miserable.”

Irwin says another difficult aspect to being on the road is keeping the chops in shape.

“Even if you’re playing the craziest, most free, ‘going for it all the time’ music on the road with a band night after night, it’s hard to keep your chops in shape for other gigs.”

His solution? He brings a practice pad with him and listens to as much music as possible, “To keep thing fresh on the road.”

A little advice…

Irwin says the best thing someone can do for his playing is to listen to music all the time. His favourite time to check music out was while walking the dog.

“My Jack Russell Terrier, Hank, needed to be walked two hours a day, or he’d bounce off the walls. I must have checked out hundreds of albums while walking that dog, and never felt better about my playing.

Irwin says it’s extremely important to be able to be a good reader as a sideman, but it’s just as important to be able to memorize music after hearing it once or twice.

“Drummers also have to be good at reading what’s not on the page – since we’re not playing chords or blowing over changes, it’s our job to shape the music, and the easiest way to do that is to get your nose out of the chart and have stuff memorized, almost stepping back from the music to get the big picture. “It also means no music stand – one less thing to carry.”

Equipment

After a House of Blues gig in Houston last summer, Irwin was approached by Pro-Mark Drumsticks founder Herb Brochstein. He said he liked Irwin’s cymbal sound and set him up to find a pair of sticks he was into.

Irwin went for Pro-Mark’s Maple SD2 Wood Tip Drumsticks (SD2W). He explains that while they’re a concert snare drum stick, as opposed to a jazz stick, they are perfect for his big hands.

“Through my career I’ve been in search of a big, light stick,” he says. “It all stems back to my days in the pipe band.” He says the SD2Ws give a nice focus and clear cymbal sound,” he says.

And just what does he hit with those sticks?

Some of his favourite players— Jack DeJohnette, Jeff “Tain” Watts and Steve Smith play Sonor, and now so does he.

“Every time I sit on set of Sonors, it doesn’t matter how new or worked in it is, it’s always perfect,” he says. “They are so warm and the sound is so beautiful it’s like each drum has a built in EQ.”

If memory serves him correctly, that very first gold sparkle kit he played was also a Sonor.

­­

After two and a half months of being house-bound, I finally managed to get out to a jazz gig (okay, I wasn’t house-bound, but having a newborn baby who won’t take a bottle made getting out for a night on the town a little more difficult than it used to be!)

But we gave it a shot, and thanks to the super sweet and accommodating staff and owner Joel, bringing my two month old out to her very first jazz gig was a piece of cake. Or a piece of Pork Pie!

Congratulations, Carlos Jiménez on the release of Undercurrents, and on a very fun and successful weekend launch!

Yesterday, someone sent the following Twitter message to me: “jennhardy hey! is porkpiejazz still going?” Good question. The answer, yes. I just haven’t been out to a jazz gig in months.

But if ever there was a weekend to go out, it would be this weekend.

Montreal guitarist Carlos Jiménez is launching his brand new CD, tonight and tomorrow night at Upstairs.

Carlos’ quartet features some of my favourite Montreal musicians: Josh Rager on piano, Michel Berthiaume on drums and Dave Watts on bass.

I’ve had this CD for a few weeks now and listen to it regularly. It’s the CD that’s in my kitchen’s player almost permanently these days. I have listened to it while eating breakfast, while cooking dinner, and while just sitting there really listening to it!

My favourite track has got to be the Brazilian piece Dichavado. No offense to Dave, Michel and Josh who don’t play on this track. It’s Carlos x2 . This is where he highlights his skills as a classical player.

Two Carloses is even better than one!

Here’s a great review of the album by Peter Hum.

If you miss the Upstairs launches, the quartet is also playing at Arousse April 19.

Jazz, Period. – Lille Venn
Composed by Kevin Dean
Text and film By Randy Cole

Kevin Dean – Trumpet
Al McLean – Saxophone
Mike Rud – Guitar
Morgan Moore – Bass

Recorded February 5, 2011 at The House of Elliot, Montreal.

In this installment of Jazz, Period., some of Montreal’s best musicians can be found in “The House of Elliot”, a converted church in Montreal. Tastefully equipped with a generous selection of collectible gear, the studio’s secret weapon is its ambiance, which provokes a sort of musical reverence in all who set foot.

Complete with a ceiling mounted hymn bell, the decommissioned church has a wonderful acoustic fingerprint. The reverberant sanctuary is taut and alert, offering subtly textured canvas for the players to paint on. Just the right amount of tooth to catch the brush…

This piece by trumpeter Kevin Dean is a refreshing latin treatment of what is normally a ballad. ‘Lille Venn’, or ‘Little Friend’ is a Norwegian term of endearment for pets and small children. The tune is wholly endearing, with a beautiful, earnest mood and delivery. Of special note, is the Stan Getz-esque tone of McLean’s 1924 Martin tenor sax, and the unique timbre of the 19th Century John Heald cornet in Dean’s hands. Both players breathe new life into these period horns.

Directed and filmed by Randy Cole
Sound recording – Daniel (DJ) Joseph
Audio mixed and mastered by Randy Cole

Directed by Randy Cole

Al McLean – Saxophone & Commentary
Jan Jarczyk – Piano
Michel Berthiaume – Drums
Dave Watts – Bass

Recorded on October 16th, 2010 at Diese Onze Jazz Club, Montreal.

The camera follows Jazz saxophonist Al McLean through the streets of Montreal, and on to the stage at local Jazz spot, Diese Onze.

McLean’s post-Coltrane composition, “Don’t Let the Blues Come Shining In” is quickly penned on camera, and handed to the players for an explosive performance. The minimal chart serves as a backbone of both the exquisite 20 plus minutes of music (9 minutes of which are captured in this film), as well as McLean’s reflections on freedom, structure and synergy.

What is improvisation? In McLean’s view, improvisation is a natural, unfettered blossoming of connected ideas, where something small may grow into something large and complex, with no preconceptions or egoist airs. An act of sensitive logic.

McLean reflects on the yin and yang of contrast, the layers of interest and tension built by traditional musical devices, and the release of tension through acts of sheer musical joy.

The music is breathtaking, reminiscent of late recordings by John Coltrane, but performed on an ornate C Melody saxophone, which lends a reedy, almost clarinet timbre to the performance. Indeed, the C horn sets McLean apart in the most obvious way. Perhaps the best saxophonist of his Generation, McLean is to be watched… and of course listened to.

-Text and film by Randy Cole

By Ananda X. Suddath

You might’ve thought they were all desperately huddling together because it had gone down to -27°C with the windchill that day.

Rarely before had I seen so many instruments and other assorted pieces of musical equipment crammed onto a single stage so meticulously, but there they all were, patiently waiting for guitarist Gary Schwartz and his jazz cohorts to hit the spotlight at Sala Rossa a few days ago.

This adventurous 11-musician crew presented a similar ambitious musical tribute to Ornette Coleman last January at Théâtre La Chapelle, and was now back for a second edition of the 2-night concert series last Monday and Tuesday, after having undergone a couple small changes in its eclectic lineup.

The cast now featured Jonathan Cayer on keyboards and Isaiah Ceccarelli on the right-hand half of a double drumset arrangement (rounding out the stereo pair alongside Claude Lavergne.)

The first set was very energetic and mainly featured Coleman originals arranged by members of the group, including the bandleader.  Highlights included a very dynamic, beautifully nuanced reprise of “Lonely Woman” courtesy of arranger/soprano and tenor sax player Alex Côté – and a great rendition of “Check Up” (whose horn sections led by trumpeter Ron Di Lauro I particularly dug,) a creation of second keyboardist David Ryshpan.

Those two pieces kicked off the concert and were followed by an original by Schwartz, “What D’You Say?”, also arranged by Côté.  This one felt more abrasive than the first two, with Josh Zubot’s violin lines at times fusing with Schwartz’ overdriven guitar, but it was afterwards tempered with the band’s “concern with colors and textures” in its rendition of Coleman’s nebulous “Broken Shadows.” Schwartz described this piece to the audience as presenting “shadows of a melody split up between different parts of the band.”  True to the vision of the original composer, most of the arrangements made room for lengthy soloing sections, often setting up several players to improvise with and against each other.

The first set wrapped up with “School Work” and “Broadway Blues”, for which the bandleader invited his son Emmanuel up to contribute his own kooky original “franglophone” rap/spoken-word performance to the ensemble.  I thought his lyric featured a lot of fun ideas.  It was essentially a native Montrealer’s narration of the performance, and was worked into the piece in such a way as to set up some of the players’ solos.

My only gripe about this concert on the whole is that I get a bit irritated when this kind of thing is read off a page, which it was on both nights, for the simple reason that it had been a last-minute addition to the program.  Call me a purist, but I definitely prefer it when there isn’t a piece of paper standing between myself and a vocalist, especially when it’s plain to see that a performer’s usual conviction and charisma only manage to shine through the cracks of his or her minimal preparedness.  The bottom line : I would’ve liked the younger Schwartz, obviously a gifted performer, to engage me more than he did.

The second set had a different flavor to it, at first featuring a more traditional, “big-band-influenced” arrangement of the Coleman classic “Law Years.”  “Tomorrow Is The Question,” arranged by Chris Smith, was also on the more (relatively) straight-ahead end of the show’s musical spectrum.  According to Schwartz, this piece was a cover of “the closest thing to a bebop head Ornette ever wrote.”  It preceded the Thelonious Monk chestnut “Rhythm-A-Ning” as re-written by Côté.  Yes, they did play two tunes based on rhythm changes back-to-back, but one had to be well-versed to know it, and would definitely have needed to split hairs after hearing the second one to point out any kind of redundancy, given how differently the two compositions were rendered by the band.  “Rhythm-A-Ning” took full advantage of the double drums scenario, as Lavergne and Ceccarelli, neither of whom got in the other’s way at any point during the show, both set the whole thing up with an infectious second-line groove.

As the set started winding down, part of the band played a very short, very beautiful original of Schwartz’ creation, “Check Out”, featuring the bandleader himself, plus local veteran multi-reedist Frank Lozano on bass clarinet, and one of my favorite woodwind players in town, Erik Hove, on alto sax.   I’m not quite sure I “got” the Coleman connection with this one, being that it was stylistically very different from anything else the band played.  However, I would guess that it was probably a manifestation of Schwartz’ artistic vision, which I know for a fact is informed by Coleman’s : “In the end, it’s all about making good music.”  The show ended with a groovy Ryshpan original, “Hive Mind”, and the lovely, peaceful “Between The Lines”, another piece by the guitarist and bandleader.

It was indeed good music, in the end.  It was a dedicated performance by dedicated players who invited us into a gallery of intricate, moving musical artworks… without wasting time explaining how they ended up on display, or how sophisticated and valuable we should know they are.

In other words, what made this show a success, beyond nifty arrangements and an audibly gifted and well-rehearsed band, was this : as listeners, we were challenged to open our ears to unconventional sounds, yet there was no elitist attitude about the invitation that made us feel that the music would be over our heads, as is far too often the case when “serious” music is presented to the general public.

I’m sure the fact that both bands featured the same upright bass player came into play here, but the LettingO concerts really reminded me of another trippy spectacle that I got to catch in Montreal last March.  Double-bassist Nicolas Caloia was then on stage at Le Cheval Blanc with his eccentric, 30-odd-member avant-jazz-spewing Ratchet Orchestra, making a similar kind of fleshed-out musical statement – and along with his whole band, jumping on the occasion to throw a wicked party that everyone could come to.  It was quite something.

A lot of thought went into all the material presented by Schwartz’ ensemble, yet not once did I personally feel I had to “make an effort” to enjoy it.  People were genuinely welcomed by the musicians playing at Sala a few days ago.  Specifically, we were invited into the music by performers who stated and demonstrated that “the big thing about Ornette’s music is that it’s very democratic.”

It’s oddly ironic that the vision and the music pioneered half a century ago by Coleman – a man who, in his day, set off a whole slew of conceptual riots with his radical approach to composition and performance – was ultimately used as the groundwork allowing present-day musicians to create a warm, uplifting, inclusive, communal experience.  Schwartz & Co.’s concerts would ultimately leave an appreciative audience feeling it had been part of something special this past week.

Maybe that was Coleman’s intention all along.  Maybe it’s starting to sink in after all these years – regardless of the fact that his ideas never completely stopped being controversial.

Myself, I’ve never instinctively agreed with the idea that music inevitably needs to be dumbed down in order for it to be palatable for the general public ; all it needs is to be conveyed to listeners with maximum honesty by musicians who will give their audience the respect it’s due.   That said, it’s always a delight to have that belief validated by people walking the walk.

Those instances are way too few and far between.