Newswire | Jocelyn Ménard Caribbean Jazz Group launches Montreal tour

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Montreal, September 25 – Saxophonist, composer and arranger Jocelyn Ménard is a Canadian-born jazz musician. Trained in Montreal, New York with George Coleman and Paris with Bernard Maury. He has played regularly with the Bernard Primeau Jazz Ensemble, Vic Vogel’s Big Band and various groups ranging from jazz to Latin music, and has taken part in numerous festivals.

Since 1988, he has regularly shuttled between Quebec and Guadeloupe. He plays regularly with André Condouant, Happy Lewis, Charlie Chomereau-Lamotte, and the Big Band Mavounzy, and Gwadloup and in small groups [Men Art Jazz 4tet, An’nax, Guanada…]. With Canadian pianist Normand Deveault, he has toured Quebec many times. In addition to appearances on several Caribbean jazz records, he produced his first album “Men Art Work’s” in 2001 on the Effendi label, with the participation of pianist Alain Jean-Marie. He also took part in Rico Toto‘s electro-ka project, played with Mario Canonge and Paul Lay, and is involved in theater and music creations with actor Gilbert Laumord. He developed the Gwanada project in sextet and big band, presented at various festivals with the participation of Michel Cusson, among others. His compositions are collected in his album, “Terre Mère”, recorded between Paris, Guadeloupe and Montreal, released in December 2012.

His compositions play in various formations, including Mario Canonge‘s Paris quartet. His main projects include the “Biguine & Jazz” CEDAC tour in early 2015. The ambitious “Mix Art” project, which mixes different art forms. The following year, this concept led to the show “Pwofesi A Man Jàn“, presented in several venues in Quebec and Guadeloupe.

More recently, he has performed with Alain Bédard’s Auguste quartet and the Jazzlab Orchestra. He is a member of the group “A Caribbean Thing” led by saxophonist Xavier Richardeau. An album release is scheduled for December 2023. This group has played regularly throughout Guadeloupe and France.

Jocelyn Ménard’s current “Caribbean Jazz Group“, formed a few years ago, performs regularly. A Canadian tour will take place in October 2023, followed by an album recording on Effendi.

Jocelyn Ménard’s Caribbean Jazz Group puts Caribbean music at the heart of a fusion where rhythm and improvisation are omnipresent. The Montreal-born leader, saxophonist and composer draws on over thirty years of experience traveling between Quebec and Guadeloupe.

He follows in the footsteps of his Terre-Mère album – and even more Guanada – with compositions that blend jazz, gwoka, funk, biguine and even zouk, in the tradition of such legendary orchestras as the Caraïbes Jazz Ensemble, Tropic Fusion, Fal Frett and others.

The Jocelyn Ménard Caribbean Jazz Group has already been playing for several years between Quebec and the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and France. From padjanbel to blues, biguine to mendé, Latin, jazz and swing are never far away. The Caribbean Jazz Group’s music takes the definition of fusion literally, and will leave you anything but indifferent, in an atmosphere where the temperature rises without limit.