The Squid's Ear Magazine


Derome, Jean: Confitures de Gagaku (Les Disques Victo)

Live recordings and Derome's first release under his own name, inspired by Japanese magic squares and haikus, and performed in a group including Actuelle collective members Pierre Tanguay and Pierre Cartier.
 

Price: $15.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 5.00 units


EU & UK Customers:
Discogs.com can handle your VAT payments
So please order through Discogs

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Carol Bergeron-drums

Pierre Cartier-bass

Jean Derome-alto saxophone, flute, bass flute, voice

Catherine Dostaler-alto saxophone, synthesizer, flute

Guillaume Dostaler-piano, JX 3P

Allan Laforest-flute, piccolo

Robert Lepage-clarinet, bass clarinet

Jean-Denis Levasseur-alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet

Pierre Olivier-sound technician

Virginia Spicer-flute

Pierre Tanguay-drums, percussion



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




UPC: 777405000521

Label: Les Disques Victo
Catalog ID: VICCD005
Squidco Product Code: 1078

Format: CD
Condition: Sale (New)
Released: 1993
Country: Canada
Packaging: Jewel Tray
Recorded at Studio Victor, Montreal, January 28 & 29 and March 17, 1988.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Confitures de Gagaku ("Gagaku Jam" or "Gagaku Preserves") was Jean Derome's first album under his own name. The idea for this project, inspired by Japanese gagaku, magic squares, and haikus, dates back to 1983. Over the next five years, Derome composed the 11 pieces that would come together on this album. Some, such as "Saturne" and "Oiseaux," were first recorded for his duo albums with René Lussier. Derome recorded Confitures de Gagaku in Winter 1988 with an 11-piece ensemble made of flutes, clarinets, saxophones, keyboards (piano and synthesizers), double bass, percussion, and vocals. Some names are regulars of the Ambiances Magnetiques stables: Pierre Cartier, Guillaume Dostaler, Robert M. Lepage, Jean-Denis Levasseur, Pierre Tanguay. Others are less usual contributors and one must point out the presence of jazz singer Karen Young who plays a central role in the project, delicately giving life to the haikus. Confitures de Gagaku is not Japanese music and does not sound the least exotic for that matter. This is musique actuelle of the purest Montreal brand, only it is less frenetic than usual: slower pace, bigger place for silence, more meditative. But "Nouveaux Oiseaux" is a typical angular-bouncy Derome melody. Somewhere between jazz, contemporary classical, and Fred Frith's softer projects, Confitures de Gagaku, albeit occasional lengths ("Lonely Eye Can't See," for example), was a very strong debut, inhabited by a calm atmosphere one will rarely find again in Derome's works. The album was recorded direct to two digital tracks with one stereo microphone. Surprisingly, sound quality is very good."-Francois Couture, All Music


Get additional information at All Music

Artist Biographies

"Pierre Cartier's music is the convergence of the multiple approaches he has pursued since the very start of his career. A classically trained double bass player, a specialist in baroque music on original instruments, Pierre Cartier wishes to play music as one speaks one's mother tongue - that is, with freedom, fluidity, and intelligence - passing from symphonic music to baroque and contemporary music, and from the jazz of Thelonious Monk to the fertile grounds of improvisation. He founded his own ensemble in 1987 and, centred on his own instrumental compositions, develops a very personal integration of musical idioms.

However, it is in vocal music, when voice and text mobilize both the spirit and the heart, that this integration is at its most organic. The discovery of his deep affinity for ancient sacred song, particularly Gregorian Chant and primitive polyphony, accompanied the composition of his first vocal work Chansons de Douve, a solemn and majestic ceremonial created around the poems of Yves Bonnefoy.

"Dis, Blaise..." chanson du Transsibérien sets to music a long poem published by Blaise Cendrars in 1913: Prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jeanne de France. This musical journey, at once painful and enlightening, was for Pierre Cartier a turning point since it was the first time he sang solo while playing the double bass.

Chansons de la belle espérance is his most recent show: seven jazz songs on texts by Québec poets. These songs, in the manner of jazz standards, shed both a lyrical and critical light on the timeless theme of love.

Pierre Cartier is a member of the new music group Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms, of the group Évidence (music of Thelonious Monk), of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Schola St-Grégoire, and the Strauss-Lanner ensemble."

-Ambiances Magnetiques (http://www.actuellecd.com/en/bio/cartier_pi/)
5/5/2025

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

"Jean Derome. Born Montréal, Québec, 1955. esidence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (saxophones (alto, baritone, soprano), flutes (flute, bass flute, piccolo, alto flute, recorders), keyboards, small wind instruments (ocarinas, jew's harp, game calls, toys...), percussion, invented instruments, voice)

One of the most active and eclectic musicians on the Canadian creative music scene, Jean Derome has managed to earn the recognition of a larger public, a rare feat in that field. Thanks to his large-scale musique actuelle projects, his compositions, his work as an improviser, his jazz groups and his music for the screen and the stage, Derome ranks as a major creative force, in Québec and abroad. He is experienced and innovative on both saxophone and flute, and his unique writing style cannot be mistaken for anyone else's. Sensitive and powerful, his music often features a funny strike that makes its complex nature more inviting.

Ever since Nébu (one of Québec's first avant-garde jazz groups) in the early '70s, Derome has been consistently renewing and diversifying his approach of composition. He impressed audience and critics first with the flute, then with the saxophone, as a lead character in the musique actuelle underground. He took part to the various artists' collectives looking for new ways to express themselves freely, without esthetic or social constraints, including the Ensemble de musique improvisée de Montréal. Later, in the early '80s, he co-founded Ambiances Magnétiques, a collective and record label that raised his profile at home and introduced his name to the outside world. Among his numerous projects, let us mention the duos Les Granules, Nous perçons les oreilles and Plinc! Plonc!, the dynamic group Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms, and the large-scale projects Confitures de gagaku, Je me souviens - Hommage à Georges Perec and Canot-camping. Most of these projects are based on a unique form of synergy between composition, structured improvisation and genuine creative madness, all this articulated with unmatched playfulness. In 1992, Derome became the second artist to be presented with the Freddie Stone Award (bassist Lisle Ellis was the first).

Besides improvising on a regular basis with Ambiances Magnétiques' members and appearing in their projects, Derome has also shared the stage with several musicians of international stature, among others Fred Frith, Lars Hollmer, Louis Sclavis and Han Bennink. He performs regularly all over Canada, in the US and in Europe. He received a Prix Opus in 2001 for his exposure abroad.

Lately, jazz circles have been praising his undisputable qualities as a jazzman, thanks to the Thelonious Monk tribute project Évidence, the Normand Guilbeault Ensemble (whose Mingus Erectus CD is devoted to Charles Mingus' music), and the much-lauded Derome Guilbeault Tanguay Trio.

Although Jean Derome writes tirelessly for his own projects, he is much in demand in the fields of film, theatre and dance. A short list of this side of his work would have to include his numerous scores for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), especially for films by John Walker, Jacques Leduc, Fernand Bélanger and animated films by Pierre Hébert, Michèle Cournoyer and Jean Detheux; his incidental music for Théâtre UBU, Théâtre de Quat'Sous and Théâtre du Nouveau Monde; not forgetting his work with several top choreographers, including Louise Bédard, Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood, Daniel Soulières and Ginette Laurin. Other music ensembles have commissioned works from him, including Tuyo, Bradyworks, the Hard Rubber Orchestra from Vancouver and Fanfare Pourpour. Incidentally, Derome is the musical director of the latter.

Over thirty years of music and 70 record credits later, Jean Derome still has sleeves bursting with tricks."

-ActuelleCD (http://www.actuellecd.com/en/bio/derome_je/)
5/5/2025

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

"Guillaume Dostaler studied classical piano at the École de musique Vincent-d'Indy in Montréal. Since the beginning of the 1980s he has played in many jazz, musique actuelle, and funk groups with musicians drawn from both the local and the international scenes, such as Jean Derome, Michel Ratté, Yannick Rieu, Malcolm Goldstein, Butch Morris, Karen Young, and Greg Abatte. He took part in the performance of Nathalie Derome's Les 4 ronds sont allumés with René Lussier in 1999; in the same year he began playing with the rock/funk group Cosmik Débris. In 2000 he took part in the Les Moyens du Bord project with poet Patrice Desbiens and René Lussier as well as in Pierre Hébert's etching-on-film improvisation project. Since 2001 he has participated in René Lussier's Grand Vent project with François Chauvette, Maxime Lepage, Tom Walsh, and Lori Freedman and in the funk/techno group Rollan 77 with Benoît Charest, François Chauvette, and Maxime Lepage. He has also collaborated on music for films, plays, dance performances, and radio broadcasts and has taken part in a number of large-scale events. He can be heard on a number of compact discs."

-Ambiances Magnetiques Website (https://www.actuellecd.com/en/bio/dostaler_gu/)
5/5/2025

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/)
5/5/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. Beau 3:10

2. Nouveaux Oiseaux 3:35

3. Nuisance 6:37

4. Rouge Elephant 3:09

5. Ouareau (Haikus) 7:18

6. Work 4:07

7. Moon In Me 6:14

8. Immense Fatigue / Lonely Eye Can't See 9:29

9. Saturne (Nouvelle Version) 4:14

Related Categories of Interest:

Victo
Musique Actuelle
Jean Derome
Before April-2006
Canadian Composition & Improvisation

Search for other titles on the label:
Les Disques Victo.


Recommended & Related Releases:
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
Demantibule•es
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Merging members of Ensemble SuperMusique with a subset of the ensemble Chorale Joker, Joane Hétu presents four premieres that explore our experiences during the pandemic, SuperMusique focused on electronics and synthetic instruments and offset by a wind quintet, the music and vocal interactions often explosive, reflecting on our mental states during an overwhelming cultural malady.
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, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay, &c., commissioned and performed for the Ensemble's 40th anniversary and expanded for this studio edition.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Musiques Emeraude
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
An overview of Montreal's Ensemble Supermusique celebrating their 40th anniversary, drawing on works from founders Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, and Danielle Palardy Roger and their projects including Wondeur Brass, Les Poules, Justine, &c., realized by 40 instrumentalists in 8 groups of 3 to 8 players; masterful sophistication with a sense of humor and wonder — exceptionnelle!
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.
Thomson, Scott (w/ Yves Charuest / Karen Ng / Jean Derome / John Oswald)
Pal o'Alto
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
In a nod to alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson brings together four exceptional Canadian alto saxophonists with whom he has worked and who motivate his improvisational drive, heard here in four duos: two with Toronto alto saxophonists John Oswald and Karen Ng, and two with Montreal alto saxophonists Jean Derome and Yves Charuest.
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.
Brulez les meubles (Beaudoin / Normand / Derome / Hollenbeck)
Tardif [VINYL]
(Tour de Bras / Ramble)
The Quebec project Brulez Les Meubles (Burn the Furniture) was conceived by long-time friends and contemporary jazz fans, bassist Eric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere, each collaboration inviting other musicians to join their warm & relaxed approach to modern jazz, here with Jean Derome on saxophone & flute and John Hollenbeck on drums.
Brulez les meubles (Beaudoin / Normand / Derome / Hollenbeck)
Tardif
(Tour de Bras / Circum-Disc)
The Quebec project Brulez Les Meubles (Burn the Furniture) was conceived by long-time friends and contemporary jazz fans, bassist Eric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere, each collaboration inviting other musicians to join their warm & relaxed approach to modern jazz, here with Jean Derome on saxophone & flute and John Hollenbeck on drums.
Derome, Jean (Derome / Hetu / Robichaud / Servant / Jacques / Bastien / Normand / Side)
Rose Drummond
(Ambiances Magnetiques / Tour de Bras)
A tribute to controversial and outrageous Quebec sculptor and installation artist Rose Drummond, through a collection of unusual, diverse, absurdist and absolutely remarkable instrumental & vocal songs drawn from saxophonist and composer Jean Derome's musical career, performed with Musique Actuelle luminaries including Michel F Coté, Joane Hétu, and Éric Normand.
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.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Sonne l'image
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
The collective ensemble Supermusique featuring key performers from Montréal's musique actuelle scene, including Jean Derome, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Joane Hetu, Danielle Palardy, &c. perform "Sounding the Image", three animated scores composed through the creation of moving images and rendered live in a remarkable concert at Amphiteatre de Gesu, in Montreal in 2019.
Hetu, Joane
Chorale JOKER: Les Lucioles
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
The Montreal-based Chorale Joker ensemble directed and conducted by Joane Hétu, Danielle Palardy, and Jean Derome, who are also participants, is one of the most unusual and fascinating improvising vocal ensembles active, heard here in a concert coordinated with Productions SuperMusique at Le Vivier, Amphiteatre du Gesu, Montreal in early 2020; indescribably fascinating!
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.
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.
Nous Percons Les Oreilles (Derome / Hetu)
Un ideal
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Joane Hetu and Jean Derome formed Nous percons les oreilles 20 years ago, merging their expansive musical interests in idiosyncratic improvisation and orchestration using saxophones & wind instruments, objects, voice, melodica, and piano, here in their 4th astonishing album.
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
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.
Joker (Joane Hetu)
Ou Est-il Donc Ce Reve?
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Joker brings together 12 vocalists, many core members of the Ambiances Magnetiques/Musique Actuelle collective including Joane Hetu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Michel F Cote, Lori Freedman, &c, performing unusual works of voice and narration composed by Joane Hetu.
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.
Ensemble SuperMusique
Les accords intuitifs
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Montreal's most creative large ensemble, led by Joane Hetu & Daniell Palardy Roger, in their 5th release presenting works composed between 1976-2015 featuring twenty musicians playing in different combinations, showing the creative breadth and skills of this amazing band.
Derome, Jean
Chamber Music 1992-2012
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
25 chamber works composed by Montreal composer, multi-instrumentalist and improviser Jean Derome, presenting pieces from the wealth of projects he's involved in, including Dangereux Zhoms, Ensemble de flutes Alize, duos with Lori Freedmam, Quasar, quatuor de saxophones, &c.




The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC