TMS8-3_layout_ADS.qxd 6/3/10 1:10 PM Page 1 TMS8-3_layout_ADS.qxd 6/3/10 12:56 PM Page 2 BROTT2O MUSIC FESTIVAL 1O Boris Brott, Artistic Director LINDSAY DEUTSCH GIAMPIERO SOBRINO BEETHOVEN’S PASTORALE JUNE 16 JUNE 24 MAGNIFICENT DJOKIC PLAYS ELGAR DENISE LESLIE MUSIC DJOKIC ANNE JUNE 16 BRADLEY MAHLER’S MAGNIFICENT FOURTH JULY 17 HIGH TEA: s JONATHAN COMPOSERS CROW CROW PLAYS IN LOVE s MENDELSSOHN AUGUST 8 JUNE 30 s Elvis: The JAN LISIECKI: King Lives! STEPHEN JULY 29 KABAKOS AUGUST 4 CALL FOR TICKETS OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE June 16 - August 20 905-525-7664 l 888.475.9377 l WWW.BROTTMUSIC.COM TMS8-3_p03_TOC_v8_V2_Good:sm15-1_pXX 2010-06-07 3:47 PM Page 6 » CONTENTS S U M M E R 2 0 1 0 FOUNDING EDITORS Wah Keung Chan – Sylvia Koeppe, Virginia Lam, Philip Anson Lillian I. Liganor, Stephen Lloyd, Sue Mei, Robert Scott THE MUSIC SCENE VO L. 8.3 – SUMMER 2010 ADVERTISING Mario Felton-Coletti, PUBLISHER Amina Douiri, Morgan Gregory, La Scène Musical e Zoë Toupin BOARD OF DIRECTORS (514) 948-0509, ads.scena.org Wah Keung Chan (prés.), Gilles Cloutier (v.p.), Iwan Edwards, ADDRESSES Holly Higgins-Jonas, Sandro Scola 5409 Waverly Street, Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2T 2X8 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tel. : (514) 948-2520 Wah Keung Chan Fax : (514) 274-9456 6 JAZZ FESTIVALS ASSOCIATE EDITOR [email protected] ACROSS CANADA Joseph K. So www.scena.org JAZZ EDITOR Production/artwork : [email protected] Marc Chénard 2010 JAZZ FESTIVAL LISTINGS THE MUSIC SCENE is the English Canada 8 WORLD MUSIC EDITOR sister publication of La Scena Musicale . Bruno Deschênes It is dedicated to the promotion of classical 9 WRITER’S PICKS: CD EDITOR music and jazz. 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Please mail, fax or email your E CLASSICAL CD REVIEWS COPY EDITORS & PROOFREADERS N 18 Sylvia Koeppe, Annie Prothin, Jef Wyns name, address, telephone no., fax no., and C M email address. K ART DIRECTOR R 20 2010 CLASSICAL MUSIC FESTIVAL LISTINGS A M Adam Norris Donations are always welcome. (no. 14199 : 6579 RR0001) O PRODUCTION MANAGER T SPOTLIGHT ON CLASSICAL MUSIC FESTIVALS: Ver: 2010-06-02 O 21 Crystal Chan H » OTTAWA FESTIVALS PREVIEW PRODUCTION ASSISTANT © La Scène Musicale /The Music Scene P Elise Boer » ALBERTA FESTIVALS PREVIEW All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the COVER PHOTOS Suzanne Johnson / written permission of La Scena Musicale / 23 WRITER’S PICKS: CLASSICAL FEST CONCERTS Alain Lefort (inset of Leroux) The Music Scene . OFFICE MANAGER ISSN 1916-159X (Print) ISSN 1916-1603 Hannah Rahimi (Online) SUBSCRIPTIONS Lina Bonomo Canada Post Publication Mail Sales R DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Agreement No. 40025257 E Hannah Rahimi V O REED DEMONS CALENDAR Eric Legault C GUIDE COORDINATORS E Célie Baumgartner, Sylvia Tombs H NEXT ISSUE » T RICHARD UNDERHILL WEBSITE N Normand Vandray, Michael Vincent The Music Scene Winter 2011 O 4 ANDRÉ LEROUX BOOKKEEPERS Kamal Ait Mouhoub, Theme: Higher Education Mourad Ben Achour Appearance: November 15, 2010 VOLUNTEER S Ad deadline: November 8, 2010 Célie Baumgartner, Wah Wing Chan, TMS8-3_p4-5_Cover-Underhill.qxd 6/2/10 5:41 PM Page 4 RICHARD UNDERHILL ReedANDRÉ LEROUX Marc Chénard returned from a wedding gig and was complain- Demonsing about the lousy work and pay. When he saw oth are saxophone players, dyed-in-the-wool my take, he asked if he could come out and play jazzers deeply influenced by Coltrane and with me, which he did; and that was basically household names of their respective cities. But how the Shuffle Demons started.” Richard Underhill, headman of Toronto’s zany With three saxes, a double bass and drums, Shuffle Demons and André Leroux, Montreal’s the Demons would soon make a splash on the musician for all seasons, have trodden down local scene, then hit the road in Canada and very different career paths. eventually the rest of the world. Throughout While André Leroux, at 46, is just breaking the fruitful 15-year journey that followed for ground on his own after years of sideman duty these modern jazz troubadours, their ener- (see review of his debut recording on page 11), getic performances delighted audiences Richard Underhill has a long history as a band- young and old, not only at jazz festivals but at leader, organizer of tours and recording sessions. all types of popular events, urban and rural. A native of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, the Decked in outlandish-looking costumes, these budding musician Underhill arrived in the Queen rambunctious revelers would stir up crowds City in the early 80s to study at York University. with their exuberant stage presence, and go Whereas Leroux was undergoing rigorous classi- full tilt on a repertoire of pop tunes and origi- cal training and basically learning jazz on the job, nals rendered in a free bop style. In 1998, Underhill was already a full-blooded jazzer. “At Underhill decided to take a break and dedicate that time,” he pointed out, “I was into bandlead- himself to personal projects, but the group ing, playing in a freer vein, but doing a bit of writ- never fully disbanded. In fact the Demons ing on the side.To put myself through school,I did resurfaced last year with only a slight change a lot of busking.Back then I was sharing an apart- of personnel to celebrate their 25th year of exis- PHOTO: SUSANNE JOHNSON ment with tenorman Mike Murley. One night, I tence, their shows often topped off with their came home with a sack full of coins and Mike signature tune and surefire crowd-pleaser, the B4 Summer 2010 TMS8-3_p4-5_Cover-Underhill.qxd 6/2/10 5:41 PM Page 5 erstwhile theme of Hockey Night in Canada! studio, you can do a few takes of each tune and from start to finish, with solid support provided make sure the music is where you want it to be. by his sidemen, Normand Deveault (piano), ON THE ROAD AGAIN When you do originals, you want to get it right on Frédéric Alarie (bass) and Christian Lajoie (drums). Underhill’s love of music was nurtured very early a recording. So it’s great to have that control in the “I knew the album would be coming some- on in life. As he recalls, it was his mother, an studio. Live, on the other hand, is when you can let day,” opines the saxman in conversation after a avowed opera buff, who signed him up for piano everything hang out.”With this double package in rehearsal of the Quasar Saxophone Quartet, one lessons at age seven. In his teens, he discovered hand, Underhill will hit the festival circuit in late of two classical ensembles he works with on a the saxophone in a roundabout way: through June with his quintet, albeit with a different drum- steady basis. “But there was no hurry: everything mer and trombonist in its own time. To be honest, those around me than on the album. were more eager than I was, especially my drum- mer. He was constantly pushing me, always ask- No matter the musical situation, ANDRÉ LEROUX shines when he steps up for a solo. PHOTO: MATHIEU RICARD PHOTO: MATHIEU PHOTO: MARK MCNEILLY instrumental solos played in the soundtrack of A SEASONED PRO Jesus Christ Superstar. After identifying the range Clearly one of Montreal’s of the tenor sax on the piano, he convinced his finest, André Leroux is a mother to buy him one. But he never really liked thoroughly trained musi- his first horn, and after having played it so much cian equally at ease in RICHARD UNDERHILL (centre) and his rambunctious revelers, THE SHUFFLE DEMONS outdoors and in so many different weather condi- both jazz and contempo- tions, the neck suddenly broke. One day, on a rary classical music. As a whim, Underhill traded a soprano sax he owned mainstay on the scene since WHEN YOU DO ORIGINALS, YOU WANT for an alto, a switch that enabled him to finally the early 90s, he has carved TO GET IT RIGHT ON A RECORDING. SO find his instrumental voice and musical path. In out a niche as one of the IT’S GREAT TO HAVE THAT CONTROL IN the ensuing years, he added a baritone to his city’s most dependable and arsenal, a 1920s antique that he rarely uses now, sought-after freelancers. Of THE STUDIO. LIVE, ON THE OTHER HAND, it too having suffered from the accumulated his most steady jazz gigs, he IS WHEN YOU CAN LET EVERYTHING wear and tear of climatic and travel hazards. has been part of pianist HANG OUT. » RICHARD UNDERHILL Beside his forays into free jazz, which stem François Bourassa’s quartet from his attraction to the music of Coltrane’s last for over a dozen years while being a long-stand- ing when were we going to do it and if we’d ever period, Underhill considers that the blues are an ing member of the big bands of Vic Vogel and Joe go on tour some day.” The record label had also essential ingredient of his playing.