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Wadada Leo Smith (Photo: Michael Jackson)
“It almost happened by accident,” says Peter Burton (from Arts in the Margins) about the many organisations pulling their forces together for the upcoming Flux Festival, which will have its first edition from Oct. 4 to 10. In an era where money is rare for the creative arts, necessity is the mother of collaboration and no less than seven different organizations are involved in putting together concerts and conferences about experimental and improvised music during that week, including the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation as well as Innovations en concert.
But while concert-goers will find much to enjoy during Flux, the event also reveals a pressing need on the part of the organizers to shift their practices toward new horizons—to find not only a new public but also brand new practices. To do this, following in the footsteps of Arts in the Margins (which not only produces concerts but also provides much needed backup for a variety of musicians and bands from the local scene, while also offering community workshops, notably with Southwest kids), the festival wishes to reach communities that are usually left out of more conventional festivals’ plans, advancing “equity, diversity and inclusion” not as a catchphrase but as a true rallying cry.
The key Flux events in this regard are probably the GIFT concerts, curated by clarinetist/improviser Louise Campbell on Oct. 8 and 9. Co-created with and by people living with exceptionalities (exploring, for example, altered time perception in Parkinson’s disease, or family relationships touched by cognitive decline), these events aim to create new links, and perhaps break a few stereotypes, as these will be presented both specifically to people with disabilities (two shows: one in French and one in English) and to the general public. But Flux promises more than just concerts, as inclusive as they may be; the festival will also explore, in a four-day series of conferences, the complicated relationships between the practice of experimental music and the ethics of care, in collaboration with McGill University’s Laboratory of Urban Culture (i.e. the Improvising Care Conference). In addition, on Oct. 7, another event at Édifice Wilder will mark two important launches: first the Creative Music in Health resource from the Canadian New Music Network, and second the most recent issue of Circuit, on participatory musical creation.
For all these considerations, however, the festival is first and foremost an opportunity to see great concerts, and one will not want to miss the legendary AACM trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, who will likely present music from his album Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens—not with Amina Claudine Myers (who plays on the record) but with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier (Oct. 7). For the first time in Quebec, percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani will present his massive Gong Orchestra (Oct. 6). Other nights will pair visiting artists with local musicians: on Oct. 4, American cellist Lori Goldston will share the stage with harpist Christelle Saint-Julien; on Oct. 5, it will be the turn of Toronto turntablist SlowPitchedSound and synth player Bana Haffar; on Oct. 9, the veteran Japanese singer and electronic artist Phew will appear with Celestial Cabbage Foundation. For Flux’s closing night on Oct. 10 (presented in collaboration with Le Vivier), Architek Percussion will première a work by Canadian composer Andrea Young and play works by African-American composer Julius Eastman.
For the complete schedule and more about Flux Festival, follow this link.
Michael Formanek (Photo: Eliseo Cardona)
OFF: 25 years THE jazz event of the fall in Montreal is, of course, l’OFF Jazz, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Unfortunately, its complete schedule was unavailable at press time, but this reporter was allowed to reveal its guest of honour: veteran bass player Michael Formanek, who has been a stalwart of the New York downtown scene ever since the early 1990s. A little bird told us that Formanek would perform his big-band music with the Orchestre national de jazz de Montréal, while also appearing with Jean Derome’s trio and giving a solo set. OFF will also pay tribute to saxophone player Jean-François Ouellet, whose sudden death shook the jazz community in June.
For more info about L’OFF Jazz 2024, follow this link.
Also, in brief Double-bass player Nicolas Caloia is certainly busy these days. After releasing That Us last June with singer Kim Zombik (their duet is called Silvervest), he now prepares for the launch of a brand-new album by his own Ratchet Orchestra, Alive, recorded last year at the Guelph festival; the album comes out on Oct. 31, which coincides with a Ratchet concert at La Sala Rossa! But that’s not all: in the meantime, Caloia will tour Europe with a first-rate improvising trio with saxophonist Yves Charuest and guitarist Sam Shalabi (from Sept. 25 to Oct. 14). Versatile singer and flutist Ruth Saphir released Accolades of Time (her fifth album) last May, backed by a solid jazz trio (Kate Wyatt, Adrian Vedady, Mili Hong). Now that the summer festivals are over, Saphir will officially launch the new disc on Sept. 22 at Studio Error 304. From Effendi Records, a new album by boss Alain Bédard’s Auguste Quartet is coming at the end of October, Particules sonores, the seventh by this band. After its release, the quartet will also tour Europe in November, closely followed by François Bourassa’s quartet. In fact, the pianist is also releasing an album at the end of November, Duos concertants (also on Effendi), with percussionist Marie-Josée Simard.
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