Originally intended as a trio recording, when the 3rd player missed the Nepal Jazzmandu Jazz Festival, saxophonist Francois Carrier and drummer Michael Lambert carried on as a duo, these recordings from two sets displaying their impressive "freely melodic" approach to improvised music.
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Francois Carrier-alto saxophone
Michel Lambert-drums
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UPC: 649849982902
Label: FMR
Catalog ID: CD236
Squidco Product Code: 20650
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2007
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Digipack
Live in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2006
October 13th at Gokarna Forest Golf Resort (tracks 9 to 11)
October 15th at 1905 of Kantipath (tracks 1 to 8, 12)
"Alto saxophonist Francois Carrier is one of the most open musical souls around. When he went to Nepal in October of 2006 with his long-time musical partner, drummer Michel Lambert, to play in the fifth Jazzmandu jazz festival there, the depth of the connection he immediately felt with the Nepali people overwhelmed him. Kathmandu is the result of that encounter, and his emotions can be readily heard in the music.
The group was supposed to be a trio, but one musician could not make it. After a grueling thirty-hour trip, the duo played music for a very appreciative Nepali crowd, despite the fact that jazz—and especially this freely improvised variety, is something that is not part of the normal musical scene.
Carrier and Lambert played together in two separate concerts that are recorded here, they also performed separately and privately with some Nepali musicians. They played their music with no compromise, judging (correctly, as it turns out) that the emotional content of their music could and would be heard, despite its mostly arrhythmic and non-harmonic nature.
Carrier is an extremely open musician who plays in a style that might be called "freely melodic," meaning that while his individual phrases are rhythmically free, they are connected to one another and sound tonal, if not harmonic. He uses very little of the squeals and other sounds commonly associated free playing, bringing them in for a bit of emphasis or to actually imply sounds of nature as in "Monkeys On The Green."
The music's lyrical quality is sustained by Carrier's constantly varied tone and dynamics, which are combined with the repetition and development of his phrases. The spontaneously twisting and turning line continually teases the listener, because it always verges on dropping into the immediately understandable, as a rhythmic pulse appears or a melodic phrase is reiterated, but not carried through. When a pulse is maintained or a phrase repeated, as in "Prayer For Peace," it really stands out. Carrier's magic is in this process of producing an unfolding music that carries the listener along by its internal logic, allowing its emotional depth and directness to come to the fore.
Lambert, who has been playing with Carrier for years, is very important to the overall sound. The connection between the musicians is very strong. Not only does he respond instantly to Carrier, he also pushes and pulls him with his melodic drumming to explore a musical area of his choosing. The two are really one and while Carrier's saxophone is naturally heard in the lead, when one also brings Lambert to the front, the true depth of their in-the-moment creation becomes apparent. Kathmandu is a compelling musical document and since Carrier is exposed, truly shows his creativity. It makes a fine addition to Carrier's discography which includes Noh (Ayler, 2007), Open Spaces (Spool, 2006) and Happening (Leo, 2005)."-Budd Kopeman, allaboutjazz.com
Get additional information at All About Jazz
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Francois Carrier "b. 5 June 1961, Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada. Carrier began his career as a professional jazz musician, playing alto saxophone in Vancouver in 1979. He soon attracted attention from fellow musicians and a growing audience through his often audacious approach to his music. Based since 1982 in Montreal, he has shown himself to be a fluid and inventive performer of improvised music, especially since the formation in 1990 of his trio, in which he was joined by bass player Pierre Coté and drummer Michel Lambert. Following the release of Intuition, which was nominated as Jazz Album Of The Year at the 1998 Gala de l'ADISQ (Québec's Music Awards show), Carrier's trio toured Europe, playing at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Also in 1998, Carrier founded Nouvel Ensemble De Musique Improvisée (NoEMI), a gathering of like-minded free players, among whom have been Dewey Redman and Sonny Greenwich. Early in 2002, Carrier spent some months composing new works in Rome, having won an award by the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec. More tours of Canada and some European countries followed, as did more acclaimed albums. Over the years, in concert and sometimes on record, Carrier's trio has been augmented by guest pianists who have included Steve Amirault, who appeared on Carrier's Juno Award-winning Compassion (2000), Paul Bley and Gary Peacock, heard on Traveling Lights (2004), Uri Caine, on All'Alba (2003), Jason Moran and Bobo Stenson. Among other musicians with whom he has worked are Mat Maneri, Uwe Neumann and Gary Peacock. Carrier's sound is tough and he attacks his music with verve and unpredictability, demanding, and successfully receiving from audiences, attention to and understanding of the swiftly changing moods he explores." "Francois Carrier knows how to surround himself, find the most compatible partners, and maintain a recorded presence all over the world. His rich, deep playing that blends lyricism with boldness and a sense of surpassing one's self has earned him a place in the Eight Annual International Critic's Poll of El Intruso 2015 and in the DownBeat's 2013 Best Alto Sax Players List. In 2001 he won a Juno Award in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album category for his third album Compassion (Naxos Jazz). To date, François combines an impressive discography of over thirty internationally acclaimed albums with legendary musicians such as Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, Bobo Stenson, Tomasz Stanko, Uri Caine, Jason Moran, Dewey Redman, Mat Maneri, Sonny Greenwich, Jean-Jacques Avenel, John Edwards, Steve Beresford, Rafal Mazur, etc. Drummer Michel Lambert has been his most faithful collaborator. Together, Michel and François undertook several tours in Europe, Asia and Canada. In 2002, François spent six months in Québec Studio in Rome as a saxophonist-composer where created links with the Italian music scene. He also lived in the Québec Studio in London in 2011, where he worked among other things in the development of his Free Opera and initiates a number of recording sessions with several London musicians. In 2005 he was spotted by British label Leo Records with whom he released five unique albums. Several European avant-garde music labels then join the party such as Creative Sources (Portugal), Ayler Records (Sweden-France), FMR Records (England), Not Two Records (Poland). Following the major international media coverage, the demands keep multiplying. Thus soon, François will publish four new albums recently recorded during his 2015 European tour on NoBusiness Records (Lithuania) For Tune Records (Poland) and FMR Records." ^ Hide Bio for Francois Carrier • Show Bio for Michel Lambert "Michel Lambert is the descendant of a virtual dynasty of classical musicians in Quebec. First exposed to music by his mother and then his grandfather Omer Létourneau, he spent a good part of his youth between the Petit Séminaire and the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec, the city where he was born in 1959. His fascination with drums and composition inspired him to pursue his musical education at Berklee College in Boston, where his professors included John La Porta, Herb Pomeroy, and Greg Hopkins. Later on, he travelled to Paris, attended the Banff Jazz Workshops, studied with Dave Liebman in New York and Misha Mengelberg in Amsterdam. Following a few meetings with Charlie Haden, he joined Milcho Leviev's trio in Los Angeles in 1983. Since then, different projects have taken him to Europe, across Canada, the U.S. and Asia, at different festivals like the Berliner Jazztreff, Jazzfest Wien, l'Europa Jazz Festival du Mans, Pori Jazz, Internationales New Jazz Moers, Tampere Jazz Happening, Jakarta Jazz Festival, Birmingham Jazz Festival, le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and many others. He has performed and recorded with Gary Burton, Dewey Redman, Barre Phillips, Kenny Wheeler, Bobo Stenson and Uri Caine among others. In Toronto from '87 to '94 and living in Montreal since '96, he has performed coast to coast with the groups of Sonny Greenwich, Herbie Spanier, Wray Downes, Don Thompson or Dave Young. A recording artist in Europe with Lonely Universe for CMP Records, Germany / Jimco Japan, the cd project won international acclaim ... "adventurous yet contained, always uncompromisingly searching" quoted the New York Review of Records. With Finnish guitar player Raoul Björkheim, a review of "Ritual" in Wire Magazine mentioned " ...a vital and important record..." . He performs internationally with his wife, vocalist Jeannette Lambert, whose recent cd "Lone Jack Pine" is described in Cadence as "... art at a very high level". He has Canadian recording credits which include, for Justin Time, with Dave Young, "Inner Urge" and 1993 JUNO Award-winning "Fables and Dreams", the Herbie Spanier Anthology volume I and II and "Resonance" with Reg Schwager and François Carrier Trio with Uri Caine. On the Rant Label, he has produced several sessions with his ground breaking trio Maïkotron Unit, "5ieme cycle de 7", "Composition with Three Figures" and Lonely Universe "à la Plage". Other recordings include "Les Trois Michel" with Michel Donato and Milcho Leviev for DSM , AD2000 with Agostino Di Giorgio a session recorded in Budapest, the year 2000 Canadian JUNO Award-winning session, "Compassion", Krakatau "Alive", in Helsinki, and Frédéric Alarie Trio "Live à Vienne" for Fidelio Audio. Michel Lambert also appears on numerous cd compilations. In 2001 he started a series of compositions titled "Musiques Dessinées", entirely based on drawings. In 1998, with a grant from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, he was resident of the Studio du Québec in New York City. In 1988, he composed his "Journal des Episodes, 366 Episodes pour orchestre symphonique" . In '92, 33 excerpts from the work received a World Premiere performance at the first Winnipeg New Music Festival by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. His orchestral works also include "Le Passant, Triptyque pour Orchestre Symphonique" ('92). As a composer and band leader, over 50 of his jazz related compositions have been broadcast nationally. When he brought his quartet to the Ontario Science Centre for CJRT Sound of Toronto Jazz Series, critics wrote "...a challenging hour of unusual fare created by a masterly drummer" et "Lambert pushes the Jazz series to the edge"." ^ Hide Bio for Michel Lambert
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. White Summit 7:48
2. Dancing Light 5:04
3. Joyfulness And Playfulness 5:37
4. Prayer For Peace 3:46
5. Himalayan Beauty 5:04
6. Monkeys On The Green 3:42
7. Impro For The Monks 3:53
8. Namaste 9:11
9. The Silence Of The Bells 6:04
10. Buddha's Homeplace 4:36
11. Candle In The Temple 5:25
12. Amarawati Garden 4:05
Improvised Music
Jazz
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
Free Improvisation
Duo Recordings
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FMR Records
Saxophone & Drummer / Percussionist Duos
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