The François Bourassa Quartet is marking a major milestone in 2026 with a coast-to-coast Canadian tour celebrating the ensemble’s 30th anniversary. Led by acclaimed pianist, composer, and JUNO Award winner François Bourassa, the tour will bring one of Canada’s most respected jazz groups to some of the nation’s premier festivals and concert stages while introducing new music created specifically for the occasion.
Beginning June 19 at the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival and concluding August 9 at the North Hatley Jazz Festival in Quebec, the anniversary tour highlights three decades of artistic collaboration between Bourassa and his longtime bandmates: André Leroux on saxophones and flute, Guy Boisvert on upright bass, and Guillaume Pilote on drums. Together, they have built a reputation for creating adventurous, emotionally engaging music that seamlessly blends jazz, contemporary classical influences, and improvisation.
Bourassa has long been recognized as one of Canada’s leading jazz artists. A native of Montreal, he first gained national attention after winning the Montreal International Jazz Festival’s New Talent Prize in 1985. Over the following decades, he established an international profile through performances across Europe, Asia, and North America, sharing stages with jazz legends including Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, and Dave Brubeck. In 2007, he received the prestigious Oscar Peterson Award from the Montreal International Jazz Festival, recognizing his significant contributions to Canadian jazz. His quartet’s 2001 live recording, captured at Toronto’s Top O’ The Senator, earned a JUNO Award and further solidified the group’s standing among the country’s elite jazz ensembles.
The quartet’s most recent release, Swirl (2023), showcased the chemistry and spontaneity that have defined the ensemble throughout its history. Recorded live at Studio Piccolo in Montreal, the album received widespread international praise for its musical interplay and creative depth. Critics highlighted the group’s rare ability to function as a true collective, with performances that balance technical virtuosity and genuine emotional connection.
That sense of unity has become a hallmark of the François Bourassa Quartet. While Bourassa’s compositions are celebrated for their complexity, rich harmonies, and evolving structures, the ensemble’s greatest strength lies in its ability to bring those ideas to life in a way that feels fresh and immediate on stage. Audiences can expect a program that reflects the group’s extensive catalog while also introducing new material created in conjunction with the anniversary tour.
A major highlight of the summer schedule will be the quartet’s appearances at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Bourassa will perform with the Christine Jensen Sextet on July 1 as part of the FIJM’s “Modes of Coltrane” celebration honoring the centenary of John Coltrane’s birth. Additional Montreal performances include a quartet appearance at Dièse Onze on July 3 and a special trio performance at Messe Jazz at the Gésu on July 5.
Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the 30th anniversary tour is both a celebration of the quartet’s remarkable history and a testament to its continuing artistic evolution. Three decades after its founding, the François Bourassa Quartet remains one of the most compelling voices in Canadian jazz, demonstrating that longevity and innovation can thrive side by side.
The 2026 tour includes performances in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Quebec, with additional dates in France scheduled for November. For jazz fans across Canada, this anniversary tour offers a rare opportunity to experience a group whose music continues to evolve while remaining grounded in the trust, creativity, and collaboration that have sustained it for 30 years.
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