Toulouse-born, Montreal-based vocalist Olivia Maisel’s debut album A Moment In Time is a reflection of decades of personal experience. Maisel chose the songs based on the story she wanted to tell: “A story of unity, a past we hold in common, a present we could experience together, and a future of hope and change.” Very early on in her process, Maisel created a storyboard for the album with the guidance of acclaimed, Grammy-nominated singer Kate McGarry. Those first steps set her on a path to create something truly personal. Maisel decided to tell her story using some of her favourite songs from the Great American Songbook, all while showcasing a few of her many different musical influences. The album evolved into a refuge and an outlet for her deepest feelings about her past. It stands as a tribute to relationships, love, loss, and life. For Maisel, the title of the album, A Moment in Time, is about learning to accept the present moment without needing to define it; acknowledging its existence, and letting it go. It is also a reminder that as time passes, feelings and perspectives inevitably change. Without giving too much away about her intentions behind the record, she hopes everyone will see a version of their own story here.
Bellbird’s debut album Root In Tandem is a culmination of several years of composing and music-making by tenor saxophonist Claire Devlin, alto saxophonist and bass clarinetist Allison Burik, bassist Eli Davidovici, and drummer Mili Hong. Recorded during the winter at a lakeside cottage in St Zenon, Quebec, the album represents a communion of four distinctive spirits putting all their creative weight into a shared artwork. The band is a collective, with each member contributing compositions for the album. While rooted in modern jazz, this music bears influences from myriad musical styles, from moving folk melodies, to atonal counterpoint, to rock grooves that stretch the boundaries of the jazz medium. Moments of tension and collective improvisation in songs like Maybe I Won’t Go and Ten Dog are balanced by the catchy melodies of Bluff and If You Can’t Swim, Dance. The four members of Bellbird grew up in disparate situations, spanning three different countries and emerging from wildly different musical scenes. The quartet found each other in Montreal in 2021, and it took no time at all for them to realize that they’d found kindred musical spirits in each other. Capturing the ethos of the band, the music on Root In Tandem grows out of a mutual curiosity and creativity, with feelings of space and calm pierced by exhilarating solos and free improvisation, always keeping the listener on their toes.
Pianist François Bourassa—now with eleven albums of original music under his belt—has become an ambassador for Canada’s thriving jazz community at an international level. A paragon of both consistency and evolution, he continues to seek out new challenges for himself, his colleagues, and his growing community of listeners. After releasing his first solo piano album L’Impact du silence in 2021, Bourassa is back with Swirl, a new live quartet album that was released on July 7th, 2023. Bourassa’s talent was initially recognized by the Festival international de jazz de Montréal in 1985, kickstarting his trio’s recording and performance career throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. In 1996, Bourassa’s trio joined forces with saxophonist and flutist André Leroux. Bourassa’s eponymous quartet has been a staple of Montreal’s artistic landscape for 25 years. The band features founding bassist Guy Boisvert, saxophonist André Leroux, and drummer Guillaume Pilote, the most recent addition to the group. Swirl was recorded live at Studio Piccolo in Montreal on July 2nd and 3rd, 2022, capturing the energy and spontaneity that can only come from a live performance. The album features six original compositions by Bourassa, each showcasing the quartet’s versatility and passion for jazz. From the mesmerising motifs of Pooloop to the explosive coda of 15 Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, listeners can expect a rich and engaging musical journey.
Saxophonist, composer, and Toronto native Andrew Rathbun has achieved a rare depth of lyricism and compositional intelligence in 20 years as a recording artist; Ben Ratliff of the New York Times described Rathbun as “an industrious saxophonist and imaginative composer-arranger.” Voted as a “Rising Star” in the 2018 and 2022 Downbeat Critics Polls, he has documented his stirring original music with a series acclaimed recordings, on the Challenge, Fresh Sound and Steeplechase labels, and has collaborated with musicians like Kenny Wheeler, Billy Hart, Ben Monder and Luciana Souza. His latest Steeplechase recording The Speed of Timeis a compelling addition to an already impressive body of work. Reflecting on his newest recording, Rathbun remarked that “I’ve always been fascinated by how my perception of time can change, sometimes crawling at a snail’s pace, while at other times it races ahead with abandon. “The pieces on Speed of Time are all connected with how the world has unfolded over the past few years. They are not necessarily “pandemic pieces,” per se, but influenced by the strange fluctuations of my perception of time during that period and beyond. “I have been integrating more metric ideas into my writing, while maintaining a harmonic language that is evocative yet abstract. “These musicians are some of the most important players on the New York scene, and I feel very fortunate to have known and worked with them for such a long time. They brought all this music to life, and made vital contributions to this recording. Each one is a singular voice on their instrument and they all bring such creativity and spontaneity to everything that they play.”
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