The Squid's Ear Magazine


Disguises, The (Thomson / Caloia / Charuest / Hood / Tanguay): Songs 7 Dances from The Muted Note (Ambiances Magnetiques)

Eleven songs by Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson, settings of poems by P.K. Page (1916-2010), one of Canada's distinguished literary figures, in a band with Pierre Tanguay on drums, Yves Charuest on sax, Nicolas Caloia on double bass, and Susanna Hood on vocals.
 

Price: $13.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Nicolas Caloia-doublebass

Yves Charuest-alto saxophone

Susanna Hood-voice

Pierre Tanguay-drums

Scott Thomson-trombone, composer


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 771028122721

Label: Ambiances Magnetiques
Catalog ID: AM_227
Squidco Product Code: 21678

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Canada
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold w/Booklet
Recorded at Hotel2Tango, in Montreal, Canada, in January 2915, by Theirry Amar.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Songs 7 Dances from The Muted Note is a 2015 studio recording of a suite of eleven songs by Scott Thomson, settings of poems by P.K. Page (1916-2010), one of Canada's distinguished literary figures. They are performed by The Disguises, Scott's quintet with Susanna Hood (voice), Yves Charuest (alto saxophone), Nicolas Caloia (double bass), and Pierre Tanguay (drums). The suite is the basis of The Muted Note, a 2014 stage work featuring Susanna's choreography with fellow dancers, Ellen Furey, Alanna Kraaijeveld, and Bernard Martin; live music by The Disguises; and lighting design by Paul Chambers. The dances, like the songs, are made to be animated by solo and group improvisation, and to activate the poems, which speak (sing) of Page's loving attention to the nuances and delights of the world around her. In addition to the stage work, The Disguises have had numerous quintet performances of this material - typically in a club context - which feature Susanna's dance improvisations in addition to her vocal contribution."-Ambiences Magnetiques

Scott Thomson's notes on the songs:

"As Ten, As Twenty" is a secular hymn about love's infinity. It is dedicated to Christine Duncan.

"The Understatement" is a breezy quasi-samba that I wrote with the elegantly understated Toronto musician, Doug Tielli, in mind.

"Star-Gazer" is a nocturne that is now indelibly linked to Ellen Furey, who danced to this song so soulfully. It is dedicated to the sculptor and painter Jeff Schlanger who, as a boy growing up in East Manhattan, would grind his own telescope lenses so that he could watch the night sky. Bernard Martin danced The Disguises and his solo aptly embodies the poem in its combination of restless searching and wonder. The song is dedicated to Gordon Allen.

"The Masks are Made by Hand and Show" is a brilliantly concise poem offering an eternal wisdom in simple, almost folksy language. The song is dedicated to Richard Marsella, with whom I have shared many delightful masquerades.

"Preparation" is a breathtaking poem that 'pares' the self down to its essence, likely a product of Page's deep engagement with Sufism. The song is dedicated to Ken Aldcroft. With The Metal and the Flower, I sought to evoke the stillness of a garden where both love and longing grow, silently and in abundance. It is dedicated to Rob Clutton.

"Picking Daffodils" is dedicated to choreographer Holly Small, who tends to her garden with a dancer's grace and to her dances with the nurturing passion of a horticulturalist. The dance/drum duo of Alanna Kraaijeveld and Pierre Tanguay on this one has been a showstopper every time.

"The Mole" starts down low, thanks to Nic Caloia's peerless expertise in the domain of the profound. The song is dedicated to drummer Jack Vorvis, whose brilliant work is underground in more ways than one.

"This Heavy Craft" is a gem of a poem and was the first song in the suite that I wrote. It gave me the sense of what may be possible as this project unfolded (including, and not necessarily despite, the occasional crash to the ground). It is dedicated to Joane Hétu, who has been so generous with and steadfast in her support.

"Blue" is surely the only blues to contain the word "delphinium." It is dedicated to Julia Hambleton, who inadvertently reintroduced me to P.K. Page's poetry in 2010, and whose grandfather Ronald - unbeknownst to me when I wrote the song - edited the first volume to include Page's verse, in 1944.


Artist Biographies

"Nicolas Caloia. Born Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1968. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Performer (double bass).

Since 1990 Nicolas Caloia has worked at creating a contemporary music generated by using accurately composed textures to channel collective improvisation. The goal is a music that erases the lines between improvised and composed, pop and avant-garde, good and bad. He hopes this music will satisfy the body, the mind and, above all, the heart. He has worked as a performer, composer, and organizer in Montréal and has toured in North America, Europe, and Asia. He has performed and recorded in a vast array of contexts with the most important members of Montréal's creative music community as well as with internationally renowned musicians like the ICP orchestra, Marshall Allen, John Butcher, Joe McPhee, Steve Lacy, William Parker, Hassan Hakmoun, Tristan Honsinger and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. His concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. Currently, the majority of his work as a composer and improviser finds a voice in: The Ratchet Orchestra - a 30-piece big band; Tilting - the Nicolas Caloia Quartet, Ring - a sextet, Spell - a 10-piece marching band, Trephining - a quintet, Mercury - a duet Lori Freedman as well in solo performances."

-ActuelleCD (http://www.actuellecd.com/en/bio/caloia_ni/)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Canadian saxophonist Yves Charuest began his professional musical activities in the 1980s, playing with several Canadian musicians such as Michel Ratté, Jean Beaudet, Lisle Ellis, Jean Derome and Pierre Cartier in various bands including I Like Jazz, Evidence, Duo Charuest -Rate, Trio Michel Ratté, Wreck's Progress.

Charuest was a member of the Peter Kowald Trio (with German bassist Peter Kowald and South African drummer Louis Moholo) with whom he performed in Canada, the United States and Europe. He has performed with internationally active musicians including William Parker, John Betsch and Mathias Schubert, and has also collaborated with Canadian electroacoustic composers Jean-François Denis, jef chippewa and Jean Piché.

Charuest works with various ensembles, including Charuest-Caloia, Still (with Nicolas Caloia and Peter Valsamis), Stir (with Caloia, Valsamis and Agustí Fernández), a quartet with Caloia, Lori Freedman and Josh Zubot, Murray Street Band and The Ratchet Orchestra. He regularly collaborates with Ellwood Epps, John Heward, Philippe Lauzier, Scott Thomson, choreographer Susanna Hood and dancer Alanna Kraaijeveld.

Charuest won the François-Marcaurelle Award at the 2015 Montreal Offspring of Jazz."

-Yves Charuest Website (translated by Google) (http://yvescharuest.net/?page_id=13)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tiohtià:ke/Montreal-based performer, maker and educator in both dance and music, Susanna Hood has devoted her career to synthesizing voice and movement within her dynamic practice, creating intimate, sensual and raw performances both in dance-theatre contexts as well as in the context of improvised music. Founder and former artistic director of interdisciplinary performance company hum dansoundart (2000-2013) her work has been marked by significant collaborations with musical artists Nilan Perera (improvisational duo dialogues; and choreographic musical works still, She's gone away, Shudder), John Oswald (Spinvolver), and Scott Thomson (as band member of The Rent (repertoire by Steve Lacy) and The Disguises; and as co-creator/performer of The Muted Note - songs and dances setting the poetry of P.K. Page).

Throughout her career as a creator, and particularly in the last decade, she has sought a total integration of the dance and music aspects of her practice, influenced by her internal, holistic experience of moving, sounding, and listening. Something she refers to as embodied music: the experience of movement as music and of sound/music as movement, where the two forms, in dialogue, remain simultaneously distinct and interchangeable, to create a listener/viewer experience that blurs the lines between what is heard and what is seen. In support of this interest, she pursued post-graduate research in the Research Studios at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, Belgium (2015/2016) with the program's emphasis on synergistic relations between dance and music. Her most recent creations (Music Is, 2016, and Impossibly Happy, 2019) have been driven by her own musical compositions arranging voices, instruments and movement.

Recent projects include: the duo musical collaboration Tortues Vapeur, with Montreal turntablist, Martin Tétreault, mixing turntables, electronics, synthesizers, vocals and objects. (releasing their first disk on on DAME's Mikroclimat label in 2019); a duo with Belgian bassist, Peter Jacquemyn; and performances with the French trio Rrève Sélavy (Frédéric BBriet, double bass; Nicolas Pointard, drums; and Christophe Rocher, clarinettes). Unpacked, the first project with her trio with Toronto/Tkaronto musicians Tania Gill (piano) and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone), is a new arrangement and interpretation of the Packet suite by late American poet, Judith Malina and late American jazz composer, Steve Lacy. unPacked will be released as a recording in early 2024 on Quebec's DAME label..

Since 2004, Susanna has been teaching improvisation, composition, and voice and movement synthesis in various institutions and through independent workshops across Canada, internationally and online, including: The School of the Toronto Dance Theatre (ON, CAN), T.O. Love-In (ON, CAN), l'École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal (QC, CAN), Studio 303 (QC, CAN), TransFormation (QC, CAN), L'École de Danse de Québec (QC, CAN), l'Artère (QC, CAN), Crimson Coast Dance Society (BC, CAN), Mascall Dance (BC, CAN) and E.D.E.N. Studios (Berlin, Germany).

Since 2013 Susanna has become a teacher trainer of Open Source Forms, a practice fluidly expanded from and combining the principles of the Skinner Releasing Technique with the varied and developing practices of its teachers. In July 2023 she will complete the inaugural two-year teacher training program in Emotionally Integrated Voice with her teacher of 20 years, Fides Krucker.

Awards include the 1998 K.M. Hunter Emerging Artists Award in Dance, 2006 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance, and the 2008 Canada Council Victor Martin Lynch-Staunton Award for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Dance.

Susanna is the co-director with Sarah Bild of La Poêle Studio in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, an art space dedicated to research, creation, education and informal presentation of dance, music and other related arts practices. An important and much-loved hub in the Montreal arts-scene, the studio celebrates it's 10th anniversary in 2023!"

-Susanna Hood Website (http://susannahood.ca/biography/)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Quebec City, Québec, 1956: Composer, Performer (drum set, percussion, voice)

A percussionist, composer and inveterate inventor, Pierre Tanguay is one of the most sought-after Montréal musicians on the Quebec scene. Since the beginning of the 80s, he has participated in an impressive number of ensembles, including Jean Derome and the dangereux zhoms, Évidence, Castor et compagnie, the Jean-François Groulx Trio, the ODD (a danse orchestra), Villemure Ô Carré, the Pierre Cartier Ensemble and Projet Riel. Among his collaborators are Jean Derome, Normand Guilbeault, Pierre Langevin, René Lussier, Karen Young, Fred Frith, Michel Donato, Daniel Mille, André Duchesne and Antoine Berthiaume. He is very active in the fileds of medieval and traditional music, jazz and musique actuelle. He is the co-founder of Strada, Midi Tapant, Derome/Tanguay.

He has composed works for dance (Lucie Grégoire, Andrew Harwood, Irène Stamou and Francine Gagné), as well as works for the theatre and film (Allan Booth, Imago and Roberto Ariganello). He regularly tours throughout Canada and Europe."

-SMCQ (http://www.smcq.qc.ca/smcq/en/artistes/t/tanguay_pi/)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Scott Thomson is an improvising trombonist and composer. He works extensively with singer and dance artist, Susanna Hood, and writes songs for her based on published authors' texts to be played in many contexts, from duo to octet and sometimes including Susanna' s choreography. Monicker (with Arthur Bull and Roger Turner), for example, exemplifies Scott's commitment to open improvisation. He co-founded the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto (AIMToronto) in 2004 and served as a director until 2009, and co- directed the AIMToronto Orchestra, formed for a project with Anthony Braxton in 2007. In 2016, he convened the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra to play Roscoe Mitchell's music. He founded Somewhere There, a Toronto creative music venue that hosted 850 concerts during his tenure, 2007-10. Scott has composed a series of site- specific works, "cartographic compositions" for mobile musicians and audiences in unconventional performance contexts including, notably, the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Scott programs the Guelph Jazz Festival."

-Bug Incision (http://www.bugincision.com/events-2014.html)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. As Ten, As Twenty 4:23

2. The Understatement 5:56

3. Star-Gazer 5:59

4. The Disguises / The Masks 6:05

5. Preparation 5:58

6. The Metal and the Flower 5:44

7. Picking Daffodils 3:21

8. The Mole 10:07

9. This Heavy Craft 6:22

10. Blue 4:22

11. As Ten, As Twenty (Solo) 1:36

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Musique Actuelle
Song Based Music
Ambiances Magnetiques
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Canadian Composition & Improvisation

Search for other titles on the label:
Ambiances Magnetiques.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Hood, Susanna Trio
unPacked
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
In the footsteps of the band for which she's the vocalist — Scott Thomason's The Rent paying homage to the music of Steve Lacy — Montreal vocalist and movement performer Susan Hood steps out on her own to merge the words of German poet Judith Malina, who influenced Lacy and Irene Aebi's "Cycle of Jazz Art Songs", with Steve Lacy's exuberant music, for a captivating and sincere pairing.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Le fil d'Ariane
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Featuring works premiered at the ESM concert "Zigzague and Colore" in November 2022 in Montreal at Escape Orange - Edifice Wilder - Espace Danse, this exceptional concert of Montreal's premiere improvising Ensemble SuperMusique presents the works of three female composers--Elizabeth Millar, Laura Kavanaugh, and Danielle Palardy Roger--through a variety of graphic scores.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Le fil d'Ariane
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Featuring works premiered at the ESM concert "Zigzague and Colore" in November 2022 in Montreal at Escape Orange - Edifice Wilder - Espace Danse, this exceptional concert of Montreal's premiere improvising Ensemble SuperMusique presents the works of three female composers--Elizabeth Millar, Laura Kavanaugh, and Danielle Palardy Roger--through a variety of graphic scores.
Chorale Joker / Ensemble SuperMusique
Demantibuleáes
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Hetu, Joane / Ensemble SuperMusique
Monnomest
(Ambiances Jazz)
A fascinating work dedicated to improvising cellist Remy Belanger de Beauport written by Montreal composer Joane Hétu and performed by the large Ensemble SuperMusique with Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Scott Thomson, dian Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay, &c. commissioned and perofrmed for the Ensemble's 40th anniversary and expanded for this studio edition.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Musiques Emeraude
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Derome, Jean
La Chaleur De La Pensee
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Concepts of community, dialog, sharing and transmission, or "recontre", are the linking ideas between these four works commissioned of Montreal composer and wind player Jean Derome, developed for four Quebec ensembles, these pieces combine contemporary and improvisational forms, the scores shaped by constraints from the combinatorial mathematics of Marin Mersenne.
Mercury (Caloia / Freedman)
Skin
(Clean Feed)
From the fertile Montreal improv scene, the long-collaborating Mercury duo of double bassist Nicolas Caloia and clarinetist Lori Freedman on b-flat and bass clarinets are heard in eight rugged dialogs captured live as they seemingly flay the body through visceral dialog with titles including "Eyeball-Eyelid"; "Teeth-Tongue-Throat-Lip"; or "Ass-Brain".
Tanguay, Pierre / Tom Walsh
Midi tapant
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
The duo of Pierre Tanguay on drums and percussion and Tom Walsh on trombone in a release of minimalist construction that blends composition and improvisation.
Trio Derome Guilbeault Tanguay
Si tu partais
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
The long-standing Montreal trio of saxophonist Jean Derome, here on alto & baritone sax, flute and voice, bassist Norman Guilbeault and drummer Pierre Tanguay, frequent collaborators through a vast set of creative improv/Actuelle projects, continue their research into the history of jazz with compositions including those from Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington, Eric Dolphy, &c.
Freedman, Lori / Scott Thomson
Amber
(Clean Feed)
Collaborators in Montreal projects including Ensemble Supermusique and Ratchet Orchestra, bass clarinetist Lori Freedman (Queen Mab Trio) and trombonist Scott Thomson (Monicker) have also worked as a duo for more than 15 years, starting with the Barnyard Record album Plumb, their long history allowing flexibility in unusual dialog and utterance that captivates naturally.
Hetu, Joane
Tags
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Four compositions written between 2000-2019 from Joane Hétu: a duo between bassist Nicolas Caloia & bass clarinetist/vocalist Lori Freedman; a work with Hétu & Jean Derome plus the Quaturo Bozzini string and Quasar saxophone quartets; a composition for 20 electric guitars; and one movement from "Préoccupant, c'est Préoccupant performed by Ensemble Supermusique.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Commutation
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Ensemble Supermusique, Montreal's premiere open-minded improvising ensemble, here led by saxophonist & vocalist Joane Hetu and conducted by percussionist Danielle Palardy Roger, present a live concert of graphic scores dating back to 1920, with works from Fred Frith (Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire), Luigi Russolo, Maxime Daigneault, Emilie Girard-Charest & Anestis Logothetis.
Ceccarelli, Isaiah
Toute Clarte m'est Obscure
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
A profound contemporary work integrating improvisation into composed forms from Montreal composer and percussionist Isaiah Ceccarelli and performed by an ensemble of 16 Musique Actuelle improvisers and performers, beautifully balanced between diverse instrumental passages and texts inspired by different poetical and musical forms of the past; sublime.
Monicker (Scott Thomson / Arthur Bull / Roger Turner)
Libr'aerie
(Bug Incision Records)
The second release from the trio of legendary London improvising drummer Roger Turner, Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson and guitarist Arthur Bull, aka Moniker, after their 2018 Ambiances Magnetiques album "Spine", in three improvisations about "Books", quick witted active improvisation with a carefree and bright approach to exceptionally detailed interaction.
Roger, Danielle Palardy
Le Caillou 1998-2013
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Written in 1998, Danielle Palardy Roger's game piece composition was performed at the first Ensemble SuperMusique concert, here in 7 versions recorded at various locations in bands including Joelle Leandre, Joane Hetu, Guido Del Fabbro, Jean Derome, &c. &c.
Hetu, Joane
La Femme Territoire ou 21 Fragments D'humus
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
An amazing journey in sound and voice from saxophonist/vocalist Joane Hetu with five singers/narrators/musicians/noise-makers and layered field recordings, a remarkable and sophisticated work about sex, loss, death, art, & politics.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Jeux De Pistes
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Ensemble SuperMusique devotes itself to Montreal's "Musique Actuelle" and free improv community in assemblages of some of their finest players, here in a live concert in 2016 at Amphitheater du Gesu in Montreal with a stunning set of performers presenting the work of 4 composer.
Disguises, The (Thomson / Caloia / Charuest / Hood / Tanguay)
Songs 7 Dances from The Muted Note
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Eleven songs by Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson, settings of poems by P.K. Page (1916-2010), one of Canada's distinguished literary figures, in a band with Pierre Tanguay on drums, Yves Charuest on sax, Nicolas Caloia on double bass, and Susanna Hood on vocals.
Ratchet Orchestra
Coco Swirl
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Active since the early 90's, the superb Montreal super-group Ratchet Orchestra under the direction of Nicolas Caloia with 19 performers presents 10 works including the title track, with soloists including Jean Rene, Lori Freedman, Jean Derome, Ellwood Epps, Sam Shalabi, Craig Petersen, Yves Charuest, Joshua Zubot, Scott Thomson, Isaiah Ceccarelli, &c.
Derome, Jean
Somebody Special
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Drawing on the work of Steve Lacy's quintet, Montreal saxophonist Jean Derome pays homage to the late saxophonist through a selection of 9 Lacy pieces with lyrics from Brion Gysin, Lao Tseu, Herman Melville, &c, in a quintet with Derome on alto sax, bass flute & voice, Karen Young providing vocals, Alexandre Grogg on piano, Normand Guilbeault on bass, & Pierre Tanguay on drums.
Ensemble SuperMusique / Symon Henry
voir dans le vent qui hurle les etoiles rire et rire
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Montreal's true supergroup since 1998 with many of the city's essential Musique Actuelle performers and composers, directed by Danielle Palardy Roger and including Jean Derome, Joane Hetu, Scott Thomson, Lori Freedman, Alexander St. Onge, &c. &c., as they take on a piece by Quebec composer Symon Henry, performed in an exceptional concert in the Chapel in Bon-Pasteur.
Roger, Danielle Palardy
Le Caillou 1998-2013
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Written in 1998, Danielle Palardy Roger's game piece composition was performed at the first Ensemble SuperMusique concert, here in 7 versions recorded at various locations in bands including Joelle Leandre, Joane Hetu, Guido Del Fabbro, Jean Derome, &c. &c.
Caloia, Nicolas
Les Bonnes Histoires
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Bridging contemporary and improvised music, Montreal double bassist Nicolas Caloia wrote these pieces for textured and impossible rhythms; blending pieces by Nancarrow and Grand Master Flash; and manipulating poems by Genevieve Letarte; with supporting improv from Jean Derome & Lori Freedman.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Les porteuses d'O
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Montreal's superb ensemble of improvisers explore the integration of composed music with improvisation, here in 3 graphic scores from from Danielle Palardy Roger, Joane Hetu, and Lisa Cay Miller, allowing individual performers extensive freedom within fixed compositional frameworks leading to extraordinary and unexpected results, captured lived at Amphitheatre du Gesu in 2017.
Derome, Jean
Resistances
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
With many participants from Ensemble Musique and the Montreal Musique Actuelle scene, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jean Derome directs an ensemble into the exploration of electricity and "Resistances", blending electronics, turntable, 60 Hz hums and other electronics into an orchestra of improvisers executing his dynamic 16 movement composition.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC