FRANCOIS BOURASSA QUARTET - Number 9
Effendi records: FND150
Francois Bourassa: piano; Andre Leroux: tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute; Guy Boisvert: double bass; Greg Ritchie: drums
Recorded 19th to 21st July 2017 by Pascal Shefteshy at Studio PM, Montreal
This is the ninth recording for this pianist / composer from Montreal, and it is a gem of a set. The music shifts tonally and emotionally between Twentieth Century ‘Classical’ (with a lot of French and German influence, to my ears) and free-jazz. As if to support this assertion, the opening track is called ‘Carla and Karlheinz’. In his liner notes, Howard Mandel points out that these could be Bley and Stockhausen (a point reinforced by Bourassa’s own comments in the notes). This might suggest music which merges the musical magpie with the stern modernist. But his piano playing sounds like neither; big walls of sounds and disjointed, angular chords support some of the tunes, and complex, shimmering textures playfully underpin others. The compositions seamlessly combine avant-garde panache with tender lyricism. Across the tunes, Leroux shifts from flute to sax effortlessly (sometimes, as on the opening track, switching instrument on the same tune).
Bourassa’s compositions have a feeling of tone poems, or, perhaps musical short stories might be a better analogy given the shifting moods that hint at a developing narrative the listener can only partly guess at. In some cases, the tunes title provides a hint of sorts – so, track 2, is called ‘Five and Less’ (nodding towards Miles’ ‘4 and more’ in title but not musically), and track 3 is called ‘Frozen’ (because a little girl playing with Bourassa’s son said it sounded like the Disney film – it doesn’t). In other cases, the stories are more oblique. So, track 6 is called ’18, Rue d’Hotel de Ville’ – a very specific location but not much of hint as to what might have happened there. But that is exactly as it should be – the musicians create the mood for the listener to enter into and explore alternative realities, and in the musical complexity of these finely honed compositions and the bustling and energetic interplay of some very fine musicians.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Effendi records: FND150
Francois Bourassa: piano; Andre Leroux: tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute; Guy Boisvert: double bass; Greg Ritchie: drums
Recorded 19th to 21st July 2017 by Pascal Shefteshy at Studio PM, Montreal
This is the ninth recording for this pianist / composer from Montreal, and it is a gem of a set. The music shifts tonally and emotionally between Twentieth Century ‘Classical’ (with a lot of French and German influence, to my ears) and free-jazz. As if to support this assertion, the opening track is called ‘Carla and Karlheinz’. In his liner notes, Howard Mandel points out that these could be Bley and Stockhausen (a point reinforced by Bourassa’s own comments in the notes). This might suggest music which merges the musical magpie with the stern modernist. But his piano playing sounds like neither; big walls of sounds and disjointed, angular chords support some of the tunes, and complex, shimmering textures playfully underpin others. The compositions seamlessly combine avant-garde panache with tender lyricism. Across the tunes, Leroux shifts from flute to sax effortlessly (sometimes, as on the opening track, switching instrument on the same tune).
Bourassa’s compositions have a feeling of tone poems, or, perhaps musical short stories might be a better analogy given the shifting moods that hint at a developing narrative the listener can only partly guess at. In some cases, the tunes title provides a hint of sorts – so, track 2, is called ‘Five and Less’ (nodding towards Miles’ ‘4 and more’ in title but not musically), and track 3 is called ‘Frozen’ (because a little girl playing with Bourassa’s son said it sounded like the Disney film – it doesn’t). In other cases, the stories are more oblique. So, track 6 is called ’18, Rue d’Hotel de Ville’ – a very specific location but not much of hint as to what might have happened there. But that is exactly as it should be – the musicians create the mood for the listener to enter into and explore alternative realities, and in the musical complexity of these finely honed compositions and the bustling and energetic interplay of some very fine musicians.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
