Here’s a set of three CD reviews that are in the Guitar Now spirit; the last disc is by the young Los Angeles guitarist Brandon Bernstein, who was featured at the Ottawa event.

Continuous Beat (Enja)
Rez Abbasi

Let’s begin with the back story behind guitarist Rez Abbasi’s latest disc, Continuous Beat, which at the very least tells us what might have been.

The 47-year-old American had planned in the fall of 2011 to gig and then record a new trio that would consist of himself,  bassist John Hebert and the legendary drummer Paul Motian. However, the drummer’s health was failing and he was unable to make both a concert and the session. Motian died in late November that year, prompting a huge outpouring of grief within the jazz community.

Abbasi, who had written material for the trio with Motian in mind, did the trio gig in the fall of 2011 with drummer Satoshi Takeishi instead of Motian. And in the spring of 2012, Abbasi, Hebert and Takeishi went into the studio and made Continuous Beat.

We can only imagine what the music would have sounded like with Motian on the job, but the trio that came together due to those sad circumstances definitely made music worth hearing. The music that Abbasi composed is a more simple and less exacting that what he has created in other contexts, playing to the openness and unfussy music-making that were Motian’s strengths. Meanwhile, Takeishi is certainly a different drummer than Motian thanks to, among other things, his explicitness in marking time, his hybrid kit and the overall heft and density of his playing. But there’s still an instinctiveness and creative spark to his playing that allies him to Motian’s way of doing things.

The disc opens with a solo guitar Introduction marked by the entrancing non-Western sounds and melodic shapes that reflect Abbasi’s processing of his Indian subcontinent heritage. The rest of the first half of the disc are no less imaginative, although sonically they are a little more conventional. Divided Attention is a bright, groovy tune distinguished by layered rhythms and twisting melodies that grows more tense and rocking once Abbasi’s solo rolls around. Major Major, a Gary Peacock tune,  finds the trio making a great deal of music over little more than pedal point. Rivalry is a starkly drawn rocker with an enigmatic air to it.

The made-in-the-studio clip below combines Divided Attention and Major Major:

The disc’s second half features several covers and an enlarged sonic palette thanks to Abbasi’s collection of pedals. The Cure is a Keith Jarrett vamp that inspires with just a few bars of material. On this track, Abbasi reverts to the same slippery sound heard on the disc-opening Introduction, making me wonder if perhaps that track was originally the front end of The Cure. The Thelonious tune Off Minor undergoes a heady deconstruction. Abbasi’s piece Back Skin, another bass ostinato-driven tune, moves through several gears including a episode of fierce free-bopping. It’s always interesting, thanks to Abbasi’s grasp of crunchy chords and long, nimble lines. Here’s a little taste of how that tune went down live at the October 2011 gig:

Closing the disc is solo acoustic guitar version of The Star Spangled Banner. Abbasi puts his stamp on the U.S. anthem by adding some harmonic thorniness. I’m guessing that like most jazz musicians I know, Abbasi leans left politically, and over the last dozen years, his patriotism and his enthusiasm for his country’s government have not exactly aligned. The disc-closer makes clear that his flag is still there.

Boom-Bap!tism (Brooklyn Jazz Underground)
Issac Darche

The young guitarist Isaac Darche’s sophomore release Boom-Bap!tism is an organ-guitar-drums outing that brims with contemporary jazz brio. it’s much more in the lineage of the John Scofield/Larry Goldings/Bill Stewart discs of the 1990s, and less reminiscent of, say, Jimmy Smith/ Quentin Warren/Donald Bailey.

Consisting of seven originals and one standard — You Are Too Beautiful, played in the classic mode –  the disc is filled with music that’s rigorous, advanced and well-crafted. The opener Beautiful and the rootsy East Gardens, both by organist Sean Wayland, are straight-eighths, rock-tinged tracks that make a big impression, as is Darche’s Mona Vale. Here’s a live version of that tune, bolstered by the presence and playing of tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon:

Also from Darche are two 3/4 swingers, Broke-Coke-Ho and The People Above Us, a fast, twisting blues Error and Trial, and best of all, the disc-closing 5/4 tune Green Team.

Darche and Wayland, supported by drummer Mark Ferber, are keen, chopsy players. Darche sounds at times as if he was born to play double-time and unfurl long, cleanly articulated lines. But there are moments, when the music is just a little flat-feeling, when I think there could be more of a singing quality and expressiveness to the improvising along with the barrage of notes.

The album is available here — pay what you can, even.

But Beautiful (self-released)
Brandon Bernstein Trio

The young Pasadena-based guitarist Brandon Bernstein several years ago co-authored a book on the style of Kurt Rosenwinkel. But a Kurt imitator he’s not.

However, his debut disc, But Beautiful, is a more mellow and conventional disc than some of Rosenwinkel’s blazingly modern recordings.

Bernstein — not to be confused with New York guitarist Peter Bernstein — has released a collection of 10 polished, nicely measured standards, with the veteran bassist Putter Smith and seasoned drummer Kendall Kay ably supporting him.

When he attended Concordia University in Montreal more than a decade ago, Bernstein was a former student of Ottawa guitarist Roddy Ellias. I’m probably reading too much into that connection, but Bernstein’s thoughtful and exploratory playing as he begins his solo on the disc’s opener That Old Feeling reminds me of Ellias. Otherwise, Bernstein’s lean, tasteful playing and light sound might bring to mind his biggest hero, Ed Bickert.

There’s a preponderance of medium-tempo swingers  such as That Old Feeling, I Should Care and I’ll Be Seeing You. Faster tunes such as Background Music, Warne Marsh’s contrafact on All Of Me, pop a bit from the larger, more gentle context of the disc. Overall, the well-chosen tunes are played with respect and, at most, minor tweaks — You Go To My Head is a lilting bossa, and My Old Flame undergoes a 5/4 remake.

Most notably, Bernstein performs Skylark and But Beautiful

on acoustic guitar and imbues them with lots of Americana feeling without any loss of jazz sophistication.

Today, the blog is thinking globally and acting locally — about jazz, naturally.

It’s International Jazz Day, and you can watch the festivities live from Istanbul here, at 2 p.m. EST. Herbie Hancock and many special guests are on the bill.

Closer to home, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson will be proclaiming Roddy Ellias Day during an event at 5:45 p.m. today at Carleton University. Courtesy of my fellow jazz journalist James Hale, here are the details:

City of Ottawa Joins Jazz Journalists Association To Celebrate Jazz Hero Roddy Ellias

April 30th is International Jazz Day around the world… in Ottawa, it will also be Roddy Ellias Day, as proclaimed by Mayor Jim Watson.

Mayor Watson will be on hand at Carleton University on April 30, along with Carleton University President Roseann O’Reilly Runte, to celebrate Roddy Ellias as he receives the 2013 Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA).

The ceremony will be held at 5:45 p.m., April 30 in Baker’s, Fourth Floor, University Centre, Carleton University. Music will be provided by students of Carleton’s Music Department, where Ellias now teaches jazz improvisation. Ellias’s own compositions will be performed by a number of the area’s leading musicians.

Photo of Roddy Ellias by Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen

Born in Val d’Or, Quebec, in 1949, Ellias moved to Ottawa as a child and began playing guitar at age 12. He turned professional in 1965, and began playing jazz a decade later, becoming a fixture at clubs like the Wildflower Café and the Cock and Lion. His recordings include A Night For Stars (1979), Whale Spirit Rising (1994) and Oasis (1999).

His current projects include recordings and performances with Marc Copland and Adrian Vedady, The Roddy Ellias Trio and The Walrus Quartet, as well as solo works and music for Germany’s Meininger Trio and Montreal’s Duo Beija-Flor.

Since 1991, Ellias has taught jazz improvisation, composition, ear training and guitar at several Canadian universities, including the University of Ottawa, St. Francis Xavier University and McGill University. He currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus at Concordia University.

The Jazz Hero Awards, which are associated with the JJA’s long-running Jazz Awards, are presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to their local jazz community. The awards will be given to 25 Jazz Heroes across North America on UNESCO’s International Jazz Day. Ellias is the only Canadian Jazz Hero to be recognized in 2013.

Created in 2011, International Jazz Day marks the end of Jazz Appreciation Month, a month-long celebration of jazz co-ordinated by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.

Congrats to Ellias. I’ve been a fan of his since back in the day, when I bought A Night For Stars soon after it came out and when I would catch Ellias and pianist Dave Hildinger playing at Friends and Company on Rideau Street. It’s given me just as much pleasure to hear him play through the years, and I look forward to many more years of enjoying his music and good company.

PS: It’s only natural that Roddy Ellias Day would come just before Guitar Now! Weekend in Ottawa, which will feature Ben Monder, Vic Juris, Ellias, Tim Bedner, Garry Elliott, Wayne Eagles, Mike Rud, Lucas Haneman and many others in an extravaganza of workshops, concerts and networking. More details on this gathering can be found here.

There was a time when Frank Koller was practicing guitar “eight hours a day every single day,” an era when he played before tens of thousands outside Parliament Hill on Canada Day, and a moment when he had one of Canada’s top-selling jazz records.

For the Ottawa-raised Koller, 64, those music-saturated days came and went during the 1970s and early 1980s. One thing led to another, and he became a CBC radio foreign correspondent reporting from Asia and then Washington. Retiring from radio, he wrote the acclaimed 2010 public affairs book Spark: How Old-Fashioned Values Drive a Twenty-First Century Corporation.

But Koller’s successes from his first career have just found a new life in digital form. Koller, who lives in Manor Park in the house where he grew up, last week released the music from Single Malt, his 1980 recording, on iTunes, CDbaby and other digital retailers.

It took a friend’s prodding to make Koller put his album back into circulation via the Internet, but he’s glad that he did.

“I went back and listened to it,” he says. “I realized it was a good record. I’m still very proud of it.”

It’s pop-jazz rooted in the music that studio-ace musicians such as Larry Carlton, David Sanborn and others were putting out in the 1970s — pre-smooth jazz, if you will. “It’s not A Love Supreme,” Koller says.

Indeed, he envisioned his album as a commercial product from the get-go, with short, radio-friendly songs, and the disc lived up to his hopes, selling about 3,000 copies nationally. Koller recalls a contemporaneous Jean-Luc Ponty album selling just a few hundred more copies.

I was in high school in Ottawa when Single Malt was released. I most likely bought it at Record Runner on Rideau Street, and I liked it and spun it enough that when I heard some tracks again today, I enjoyed some flashes of familiarity.

Recorded in Hull on a budget of $10,000, Single Malt impresses me still with the rightness of its pop-jazz and even disco-tinged grooves. Electric bassist Scott Alexander and drummer Brian Downey nail it. Its sonic signature  — the chorused Fender Rhodes, the various electric bass styles — sound of its time but haven’t grown stale. Keyboardist John Findlay is right in the pocket, lifting the music up with period-patch synth lines, magic-carpet electric piano and some persuasive Richard Tee-style piano. I had no idea at the time that Findlay — as Koller tells me now — was just 17 at the time. Now, he’s an accomplished guitarist in Toronto.

Which is what Koller was in Ottawa back then, along with his contemporary Roddy Ellias. Although Koller studied piano and is self-taught on guitar, initially inspired by the Beatles and the blues, he picked up more than enough guitar chops to be able to sit in with Muddy Waters and Otis Spann when they came to Ottawa.

Koller went to Carleton University for civil engineering and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graduate studies, but never really followed that career path. Instead,  spurred by his mother who told him to pursue music if he thought he might one day regret not doing so, he became a guitarist.

He played with such singer-songwriters as  Ian Tamblyn, David Wiffen and Sneezy Waters. He played with musicians such as Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck when they came to Ottawa. He even played with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans when they played the Central Canada Exhibition.

He played in a big band that backed Sonny Stitt when the great bebop alto saxophonist played Camp Fortune. “This was way, way over our heads,” Koller recalls. “That was the real deal. It was scary how good he was.”

A different experience was playing in the Chateau Laurier’s Canadian Grill. “By the time the night was over, you smelled. Your clothes were just filled with the smell of flambeed steak,” Koller recalls.

Single Malt happened because after spending most of his 20s as an accompanist, Koller wanted to make some music as a leader.  He had done a Canada Council-funded stint at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he studied composition, and had some original music to his name. He also had working band, which had won CHEZ 106′s talent search contest in 1979 and played such venues as the Wildflower Cafe in the long-gone Pestalozzi College apartment complex on Rideau Street.

Around the time that Single Malt was enjoying its success, Koller became the musical director of the Canada Day shows on Parliament Hill. He was a July 1 star from 1980 to 1982, leading a 12-piece band that backed everyone from the Canadian Brass to Rene Simard to Winnipeg’s BukHta Ukrainian Dancers to Anne Murray to, as he says, “two guys on spoons from Trois Rivieres.”

But just as began feeling burnt out as a musician, he began doing radio reports. In 1985, when Koller’s wife, then with the Canadian International Development Agency, was posted to Jakarta, Koller began reporting for CBC from Asia. From 1998 to 2005, he was based in Washington.

While his musical career receded into the distance, Koller  says that he still tried to make time to play a little guitar each day.

And yet, despite the digital release of Single Malt, Koller says he is not thinking of making a musical comeback. Yes, he still will say: “The visceral thrill of a good night in a club… that’s still the biggest high.” But he says that because his three-decade layoff, he thinks he would be confronted and let down by his limitations as an instrumentalist if he were to begin performing again.

What he might like to do is re-unite with his old bandmates, but in a basement or piano room rather than a bar or a bandstand. “I’d like to get the guys together and play for the sheer fun of it,” he says.

A trio recording from autumn 2012.

The s0-called “Jazz-Ed” Program is a partnership between the jazz festival and Carleton University. Coaching the students along with Ellias will be the drummer and Carleton music professor Jesse Stewart, bassist John Geggie, saxophonist Mike Tremblay, saxophonist and composer Rob Frayne and saxophonist Petr Cancura, who is also the festival’s programming director and director of the Jazz-Ed program.

“The goal is to present pre-college level students the opportunity to study jazz with some of the best musicians in the city,” Cancura said in a statement. “We chose a smaller group format that can function like a small ensemble yet be big enough to provide the full colour of a large ensemble. With a small enough group, the musicians can work on improvising, rhythms, conceptual composition and free jazz interaction… things you cannot do with a large ensemble.”

“We had an overwhelming interest in the program and as a result the band is very high level,” said Cancura.

The 2013 Jazz-Ed class includes:  Nepean High School’s Keagan Eskritt (drums), Canterbury High School’s Ben Heard (bass), Nepean High School’s Robert Wannell (guitar), Canterbury High School’s Ben Michel (piano), Nepean High School’s Ben King (trumpet), Earl of March Secondary School’s Colin Lloyd (trombone), Canterbury High School’s Mitchell Whalen (bass trombone), Bell High School’s Patrick Smith (tenor sax), and All Saints Catholic High School’s Lucia Lacovitti-Villeneuve (vocals).

One: the city is home to some ambitious and exceptional players – think Roddy Ellias, John Geggie and Brian Browne – who are making strong, personal music. Two: the city sees many of its most promising players – think Nick Fraser, Fraser Hollins and Dave Laing — leave for more jazz-friendly cities because the opportunities there are more conducive to what they do.

There was evidence for both views (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive) Friday night at the NAC Fourth Stage. There, the second night of the Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival saw three concerts with Ottawa connections that attested to the powers of both Ottawa-based and Ottawa-raised musicians.

Opening the night was a 5 p.m.set by the Ottawa-based, Cuban-born pianist Miguel De Armas. He and his Latin jazz quartet generated lots of heat thanks to de Armas’ brash style, the expansive embrace of drums and congas, and dancing, surging bass.

The quartet’s program was split between originals by De Armas and Wakefield bassist Marc Decho, vintage songs from the pianist’s homeland including a danzon and cha-cha or two, and several jazz standards (rollicking versions of Monk’s Dream, Close Your Eyes and Summertime, done as a stops-out rhumba).

De Armas, Decho, conga player Arien Villegas and Montreal drummer Michel Medrano dove headlong into making music with big gestures and plenty of positive spirit. In a few spots, the music was just a bit ragged, but passion did matter more than precision. While the spotlight was usually on De Armas, Villegas, Medrano and Decho also shone when they stepped out. In particular, Decho, switching to electric bass, distinguished himself on his set-closing tune Blues For Miguel.

The late Jacques Emond, the festival’s long-time programming manager, was a big Latin jazz fan. During his glory days, Emond, who died last month, ensured that one night each year during the festival would see Confederation Park filled with the sounds of Latin jazz. It’s too bad that he didn’t live to see De Armas’ set. He would have flipped for the band’s confident, exuberant approach. The full house at the NAC Fourth Stage certainly did.

Next came the 7 p.m. set from Fraser, the Ottawa-raised, Toronto-based drummer. His quartet’s music was a sharp left turn compared to more defined, song-based music from De Armas. Fraser’s set consisted of a series of small, even minimal, compositions that gave way to raw, molten group improvisations by Fraser, acclaimed U.S. saxophonist Tony Malaby, cellist Andrew Downing and bassist Rob Clutton.

For some, the stereotype of free jazz involves caterwauling and frenzy. Some of Fraser’s pieces (the anthemic Sketch #12, the intriguingly named “?”) went there, with Malaby’s rasping, squealing and overblowing leading the charge, as the strings generated a speedy string of quarter notes and Fraser clattered oh-so-gracefully at his kit.

But other pieces provided stark contrast, including the minor-key Ballad For Lydia and the insistent, ostinato-driven Sketch #10. As memorable or more so than Fraser’s themes were passages that popped up, such as an unaccompanied turn by Downing or a gentle duet by Downing and Malaby.

Employing this modus operandi of near-structurelessness is not easy. It’s all about collective trust and connection as the musicians deal with energy, timbre and energy as they intuit a path forward. It’s like swimming in the deep end of jazz, but Fraser and his group, once they threw themselves into the music, were able to expertly swim rather than sink.

Closing the night with its 9 p.m. set was a one-time only combo led by 75-year-old pianist Browne, the dean of Ottawa’s jazz pianists. He was joined by guitarist Ellias, bassist Hollins and drummer Laing for a set that was as off-the-cuff as it was elegant.

The veteran pianist, a one-time student of Oscar Peterson, led his ad hoc band through renditions of some of jazz’s most well-known tunes, including titles such as Sweet Georgia Brown, God Bless The Child and an especially graceful and blues-tinged version of John Lewis’ Django.

The set was a study in quiet intensity, as spacious and gentle as De Armas’ set was dense and loud. With the musicians clearly winging it on common-knowledge songs, there were occasionally little clashes on some finer points. But the feeling of the music was right, whether Ellias was finding new truths on My Funny Valentine, that most hoary and overplayed of jazz standards, or whether all of them were bopping on Sweet Georgia Brown, or whether Browne was striving for a slow, spellbinding mood on Once I Loved and Baubles, Bangles and Beads.

That’s surely why the crowd brought the band back for an encore, which turned out to be a spare, spiritual reading of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Browne and Ellias simply repeated the tune over and over, embellishing its melody with each iteration as the performance swelled in intensity.

Given that Browne recently returned to making music after being operated on for lung cancer, it was easy to hear Hallelujah as his prayer at the piano. Hallelujah indeed.

Dear Friends,

Unfortunately Vic Juris had to cancel our concerts this weekend due to the aftermath and situation he and his area [are] in as a result of Hurricane Sandy. New Jersey, as you probably know was hit hard and the area Vic is in still has no electricity and gasoline is being rationed and difficult to obtain…Vic was really disappointed to miss playing in Ottawa again…

However there is good news is that not only Juris but another U.S. jazz guitar star will be in Ottawa next spring, Ellias writes:

… he [Juris] will be here in May as part of a guitar festival at Carleton University called Guitar Now… we will do our dynamic duo then! (By the way, Ben Monder, Don Ross and other phenomenal guitarists will also be at the festival – I will keep you posted)…

I’m really sorry about this, but I know that you will understand that it was unavoidable. Send out some good thoughts for Vic and everyone affected by Sandy.

Refunds and credits for the Ellias/Juris concerts are available through GigSpace.

To whet your appetite for next May’s gig, here’s a clip of Juris, seen below on the left, playing duets with fellow guitarist Dave Stryker:

Thanks to his chores as the Ottawa Jazz Festival’s programming director, Brooklyn-based, Gloucester-raised Petr Cancura makes regular trips to his hometown, popping into town for a few days every now and again to advance the event’s agenda. However, the Carleton University-educated saxophonist isn’t performing here as much as he used to. And that’s too bad.

I’m glad to report that Cancura will play Saturday night at GigSpace with Roddy Ellias. It turns out that they’ve been getting together to play when Cancura’s visited.

To help set the stage, Cancura gives me an update below on the many things keeping him busy.

1. How’s Brooklyn treating you?

Brooklyn is great. I am in a really inspiring neighborhood with many musicians artists with whom I have on going projects. There is lots going and I am glad to say that Brooklyn is the new Manhattan when it comes to music and art. It is simply much more desirable to live in Brooklyn with a sense of community… as a musician. I like being in this kind of environment, where I am challenged constantly by what everyone is doing around me… I think it drives my own projects and artistic endeavours.

2. What are some of the musical projects that you have on the go? Who are some of your current collaborators and what are you looking forward to in the next few months?

One of my favorite musical projects that I am working on is with Marcus Rojas on tuba. We are building repertoire and a musical relationship in a way that just doesn’t happen all that often — by getting together and playing lots. We have played a few gigs and this ongoing project is a great experience for me.

I am also excited to be working on a project currently called Boppin At The Hop, a project initially inspired by the New Orleans saxophonist Lee Allen, and over gigs has come to include some Gene Ammons repertoire and original material in that style. This music is important to me and my musical vision, and a great chance to work on a project with a good friend and musician Brian Drye.

I am also finishing up two records I recorded before the summer. One has been a long-awaited recording of my Americana-inspired music that I have been working on for the past two years. It will be called Down Home, was recorded in a great studio in Woodstock, and is a very important recording for me.

The other is a quartet date with Czech pianist Emil Viklicky, Aidon Carrol on bass and Richie Barshay on drums. I am also starting a record label, Roots2Boot Music, to release both these recordings as well as a few other ones I am involved in.

One of these projects which we are planning to work on more in the coming months with saxophonist Jeremy Udden, is a Fiddlephone Band… a project we started to play fiddle and bluegrass tunes on saxophones. The concept works surprisingly well and has hence taken on a bit of a life on its own.

I have had one foot in the Brazilian music scene in New York for a while and am happy to be in a Forro Brass Band… a type of dance music from North-eastern Brazil that is adapted to a New Orleans style brass band approach, a band run by Scott Kettner of Nationbeat.

[Peter doesn't mention the group shown below that includes trumpeter Kirk Knuffke, bassist Garth STevenson and drummer Tyshawn Sorey... so I will -- PH]

3. What’s the game plan for the show on Saturday by you and Roddy?

We’ve been playing every time I am up in Ottawa and the musical relationship we have is so great! We have a ton of tunes we have played and we are going to play material all across the board from improvisations, bluegrass, Brazilian choro, african work songs, a hymn and a whole bunch of other pieces that defy easy categorization. There are two of us but I am bringing out a clarinet, mandolin and saxophone and Roddy is coming armed with all kinds of guitars so we have lots of different sounds. When we were rehearsing for this, I remember finishing a song and saying “what’s next on the list… oh I love this one” and this kept happening song after song so I am quite excited to play this show.

4. Do you have any thoughts about the Ottawa jazz scene following the demise of Café Paradiso?

Yes… many thoughts. For the history of my music career, there have been many jazz clubs in Ottawa. The nature of jazz makes it (most of the time) work in a sit-down, concert setting and hence a restaurant has always worked well, as the money needed to present jazz could be augmented by the restaurant part of the club. Alex at Cafe Paradiso has made probably the longest and most successful example of this model. He allowed musicians to think about and present their music and get paid for it. This is how things should work. However, more and more responsibility is falling on the musicians, and this is happening everywhere.

I think what will happen, is what is happening in many other cities and music communities. First of all, this music must happen, so people will find an outlet. The GigSpace is one place that is getting a lot more business now. It is a performance space, reminds me slightly of New York’s The Stone or Boston’s Lilly Pad. Other cafes and galleries are also becoming musical performance spaces. Also other clubs like Le Petit Chicago, Elmdale Tavern and Irene’s for instance are going to be more of a venue where jazz can happen. Basically jazz concerts I think are spreading out and it is difficult to have a dedicated jazz venue.

What is unfortunate is that many of these options I listed above, certainly do not guarantee money for the artists… what will happen is that artists will have to take things more into their own hands in order to make money. For instance, double or triple bookings, wherein two or three bands/musicians/artists will team up to offer a night of music will bring together a lot more people then a single artist. Teaming up to collaborate is another great way to share the pool of fans. IMOO is a great thing for the city from that point of view: it is bringing together people for new and improvised music (both fans and musicians) that gives that particular music scene a bit of a home base, and this is talking about a music that is no less important than any other art yet is difficult to bring people out to. Concert series and house concerts are another way of playing and generating an income for musicians. Social media is a very important tool these days although I am seeing that sometimes musicians start to spend a lot more time online than performing live and I do believe that to perform live is the ultimate way to connect with the people that like your music. Jazz is creeping into a lot of other types of music and vice versa, so thinking outside your immediate circle of musicians to arrange a show might be another way to bring together a lot of folks (ie. roots/singer-songwriter/jazz trio night).

I realize this answer has turned into my view on how to publicize your own music…. however in a way I think that is becoming the reality of music everywhere. There are less and less places asides from festivals and funded concert series that are able to offer money for musicians to perform and therefore in order to continue to grow and survive as an artist, we are forced to think about our careers in their entirety… this means: 1. of course make your music as strong as can be, focused and articulate! 2. Think about your audience — who will like this music and reach out to them. 3. Community! You cannot do this yourself — reach out to your friends and collegues for ideas and collaborations. 4. Believe in yourself and your music, as an artist you are constantly being challenged by rejection (it’s the nature of art’s relationship with society) and I do not think I am alone when I say I constantly need to hold perspective of how important this work is!

So this is all to say I think the scene is simply shifting. Music inspires us and it will not stop, what makes this new model hard is that it requires us to work harder than ever on all the non-musical aspects of our music. The good thing about this is that it makes us think about other people and if this life is not about people, after all, then what is it about?

5. How are you finding the balancing act between being the father of a toddler and being a professional musician/OJF programming director?

Wow… you are asking all the good questions! Perspective, focus, and people is the answer. I have to balance everything more, makes sure I get to work on my art every day, work on the festival every day and be there for my daughter and wife. I have learned to write down the perspective of what I want to do and achieve so that I can keep it all straight. I definitely have less time for all these tasks individually yet I think I am much more focused and able to get right to the heart of what I am doing, so if I can hold the perspective that in the big picture I am moving in the right direction, then all is right!

6. What are you listening to these days and really digging, either live or on recordings?

Asides from the hundreds of applications I go through for the OJF, in which I find some really great stuff, some of my favorite frequent recordings these days are:

Cloning America - For Which It Stands (feat. Billy Drewes, Gary Versace, Scott Lee & Jeff Hirshfield)
Tom Waits – Bad As Me
Gene Ammons – Heavy Sax
Gene Ammons – Preachin
Charlie Haden & Hank Jones – Steel Away
Lake Street Dive [pure coincidence, but I saw this clip from the group of NEC grads -- that's the New England Conservatory of Music, which is the school Cancura last attended -- yesterday on Facebook -- PH]

Jimmy Giuffre – Western Suite
Jeremy Udden’s Plainville

I’ll stop there if that’s OK.

Petr Cancura and Roddy Ellias play Saturday, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. at GigSpace (953 Gladstone Ave.). Tickets are $20 at the door up to one hour before admission.

Photos by Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen

I’m not sure if Ottawa guitarist Roddy Ellias is busier than he usually is in the fall, but to me he seems busier than some of the other Ottawa jazz players who, like him, counted on the late, lamented Cafe Paradiso to showcase them.

Upcoming for Ellias is a concert this Friday night at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans where he will be one-quarter of the intriguingly named Walrus Guitar Quartet, which consists of Ellias and the Torontonians Ted Quinlan, David Occhipinti and Kim Ratcliffe. and which is reconvening after making its debut in Ottawa last March.

Ellias recently recorded with New York pianist Marc Copland and Montreal bassist Adrian Vedady, picking up where this trio’s concert at the 2012 Ottawa Jazz Festival left off.

Also, Ellias is staging an eight-concert series at GigSpace, an up-and-coming performance space on Gladstone Avenue. The next concert in this series is Oct. 20, featuring Ellias and Ottawa-raised, Brooklyn-based saxophonist Petr Cancura.

Below, Ellias details what’s been keeping him busy.

1. Whose idea was the Walrus Guitar Quartet? What are the personal and musical links that connect the four of you?

The idea was David Occhipinti’s. He emailed me about a year and a half or two years ago to say that he had long had the idea of a guitar quartet and asked me if I would be interested to join him, Ted and Kim. The common musical link is David.

I’ve always been a fan of David’s playing and writing since I first heard him several years ago and, as you know, we did a duo at Cafe Paradiso two years ago. I know I very much enjoyed the musical connection with David and I think he enjoyed the connection with me as well.

David also has also ad long affiliations with both Ted and Kim.

That’s the historical part. The musical connection between the four of us was instant and gets stronger and stronger. All of us have similar aesthetic values and we very much appreciate and enjoy playing with each other.

2. What did you think of the first Walrus gig at GigSpace? What worked and what if anything didn’t? What did you take away from the experience that will inform this next show?

Re: the first Walrus gig at GigSpace — I think like any other project in the arts, musical or otherwise, the communication and artistic expression will and does get stronger and stronger each time. What I learned from that gig is that I love playing with these guys and that the more work we and I put in, the more everyone — audience and performers — will get from it. Was the first concert perfect? No. Was it musically successful from our point and from the audience point of view? I think so! There were many positive comments and the quartet is eager to play more and more and to grow. We’re working new material as well as polishing up the old (which isn’t really that old!)

3. What are the pluses and minuses of the four-guitar instrumentation?

The pluses and minuses of a guitar quartet — 1+1+1+1 = way more than 4! Seriously, I can’t think of any minuses. Even when I heard one of the guys do something I wish I had or could do, I look at that as a plus! A lesson! Guitarists understand each other in a way that I think no other musician can. I think that’s a plus too. There’s a certain intimacy of thought and wave length. It’s especially beautiful in this group of four where there are no egos, just the desire to make music happen.

I think it was Ravel who once said that there’s nothing more beautiful than a group of the same instruments (pretty rough paraphrase, not to mention translation!). More specifically, I believe Ravel was getting ready to write a concerto for guitar and orchestra just before he died! That would have been so incredible. Oh, well. We can only dream …

[Here's a sample of the Walrus Quartet's music. 1+1+1+1 = way more than 4 indeed! -- PH]

4. Changing the subject — tell me about the recording session you did with Marc Copland and Adrian Vedady. When and where was it? How did it go? What plans do you have to make a disc? 

We did it in Montreal on Sept. 12 at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, which has a beautiful sound and a pretty good piano. This also gave us Mark Corwin, who always does a beautiful job with sound design and recording. We basically did the same material we did at the jazz festival concert this past summer [where the picture at right was shot -- PH] with the addition of one new tune by me.

We had originally thought of doing it in three days, then decided we could likely, or even easily do it in two. But as it turned out, we did it all in one session — six hours from the time we entered the building until we left (that includes set-up time!). So, I guess that’s a good sign! Things flowed well. The most takes we ever did was three I think, and a few were one take! Marc and Adrian played great! We’ll all have a listen over the next few months and see what stays and what goes.

I’ll tell you one thing for sure, I learned a lot from playing with Marc — a LOT!

5. Finally, I see that you’ve moved what was your annual series at Paradiso over to GigSpace. How did your recent trio gig go at GigSpace? Do you think that GigSpace can fill the void left by the demise of Paradiso?

The trio gig at Gigspace went really well I thought. I absolutely love playing with Adrian and John [Fraboni, the Montreal drummer -- PH] and I think we’ve finally become comfortable with some of the challenging original tunes. I seem to be going through a phase of re-thinking and arranging standards and so it was fun to include a few of those as well.

The room sound is excellent and the audience is attentive. It was a very, very fun night for us and I think it was enjoyable for the whole audience, all of whom seemed to have stayed for both sets! I’m very much looking forward to the whole series. It’s a mixture of jazz and some chamber music or chamber jazz as well. The next one is with Petr Cancura and it’s on Oct. 20. Peter and I have been rehearsing together once a month (when he’s in town). I love what he does — so free and natural. We have an incredible connection. I can’t wait!

As for GigSpace filling the void left by the demise of Cafe Paradiso. That’s a tough question. They’re both venues that I feel happy and fortunate to have played at in the past. And I continue to be happy and feel fortunate to be able to present such an eclectic series at GigSpace. The venues have obvious differences but I think in terms of filling a void left by the demise Cafe Paradiso, I don’t find myself looking at it through that lens. GigSpace is different.

What’s important is that the community check it out if they haven’t already. GigSpace is a gem and it needs to be supported. I’m very optimistic. Evetyone seems to love the place, the sounds is great, it’s a quite listening environment, and Marilee and Mark [Alcorn, GigSpace's proprietors -- PH] are wonderful people (as is Alex from Cafe Paradiso)!

The Walrus Guitar Quartet plays Friday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. at the Shenkman Arts Centre.Tickets are $20 ($15 for Ottawa Guitar Society members), availalbe at Metro Music or by calling 613-454-2028 or by emailing tickets@andrewcollier.ca.

Thanks to the support of Paradiso’s owner Alex Demianenko, Ellias played duets with fellow guitarists Vic Juris, Gene Bertoncini, David Occhipinti, Justin Haynes, Lucas Haneman and Lorne Lofsky, as well as shows featuring vocalist Jeri Brown, saxophonist Kirk MacDonald and pianist/trombonist Mark Ferguson. As well, Ellias’s 60th birthday was marked with a party/jam session at Paradiso, and Ellias’s trio with Montreal bassist Adrian Vedady and drummer John Fraboni rang in 2012 with a New Year’s Eve gig there last Dec. 31. (I was there too, fortunate enough to hang out and chat with the musicians, their wives, Demianenko and his wife at the same big table at the back of Paradiso’s bar side.) Ellias was also in the audience nearly every time there was a big-deal show at Paradiso.

All of this is a preamble to Ellias’ words below on the untimely passing of Paradiso, which officially closed this week. Ellias writes:

Cafe Paradiso was a cultural institution in Ottawa and Alex Demianenko, the owner, operator and visionary of the cafe, did it without government grants but by putting his heart, soul and financial well-being out on the table for collateral.

He took chances. He brought in world-class groups and soloists like the David Liebman Quartet, Sheila Jordan, Ben Monder, Theo Bleckmann, the Doxas brothers with John Abercrombie, he supported and showcased local artists, he gave young artists a place to try out their music and he opened his doors to mentoring nights — nights that were obviously not going to pay the bills but nights that he thought would help out local developing artists. He slowly and steadily built Cafe Paradiso into Ottawa’s only jazz club, one of the best jazz clubs anywhere and to my recollection, the longest running jazz club this city has ever seen.

On a personal level, Alex is the only jazz club owner that I have ever socialized with. To Alex, musicians are people, people that he respects and appreciates immensely. Our friendship goes beyond the jazz business. Believe me, that’s rare.

Like Alex, I’m not going to be nostalgic or feel sorry for anyone. Rather I’m focusing on the great accomplishments made by Alex and celebrating the great things Cafe Paradiso was to Ottawa and beyond. Alex, thank you for a great run!

P.S. Did I mention the best chicken and fries in town? Damn!

Related posts:

Steve Kuhn at Cafe Paradiso (concert review)
Sheila Jordan at Cafe Paradiso (concert review)
Theo Bleckmann/Ben Monder duo at Cafe Paradiso (concert review)
Dave Liebman Group at Cafe Paradiso (2011 concert review)
The Doxas Brothers with John Abercrombie at Cafe Paradiso (concert review)
Vic Juris/Roddy Ellias at Cafe Paradiso (2010 concert review)
Marc Copland Trio at Cafe Paradiso (concert review)
Mike Ruby / Le Boeuf Brothers Quintet at Cafe Paradiso (concert review)
Dave Liebman at Cafe Paradiso (2008 concert review)

James Hale on the passing of Cafe Paradiso: A Death in the Family

Photos by Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen

There are two types of jazz concert during which no applause follows the improvised solos. The first type, well, you probably don’t want to attend them. But the other category consists of the spellbinding concerts, the shows that listeners don’t dare interrupt with clapping because they don’t want to miss a note or diminish the magic.

Wednesday night’s concert by pianist Marc Copland, guitarist Roddy Ellias and bassist Adrian Vedady was just such a show. The NAC Fourth Stage is an intimate venue, and it seemed to shrink as listeners were drawn into the deeply lyrical and personal original music from the trio.

Copland is from New York, Ellias is from Ottawa and Vedady is from Montreal. While Vedady had played separately with the other two musicians, the trio had never played together before, and it pulled together its program with just a day of rehearsing. It might never play again.

But Copland and Ellias are kindred musical spirits, experts at using harmonies however complex to express themselves directly and meaningfully. They fit together in a way that many guitarists and pianists who live closer to one another might never do. As esoteric and rarefied as what they played might have been on paper, the music consistently transported listeners. It helped that Copland, Ellias and Vedady made their music clear, conversational and filled with forged connections.

Ellias contributed the lion’s share of compositions, including the lilting ones Little One and Under the Rainbow and the more forceful Big Bass Song. Copland’s Rainbow’s End was slow and gorgeous.

From Vedady came a more conventional but no less interesting tune that showed that the musicians had not abandoned swinging. Nothing was more beautiful that Elias’ piece Too Far, which when it was done created in the crowd a silence that spoke volumes before applause did ensue.

Copland was at the centre of two sublime, intimate concerts in Ottawa in the last two years, playing with Vedady and drummer John Fraboni at Cafe Paradiso in March 2010 and then with Fraboni and Ottawa bassist John Geggie at the NAC Fourth Stage a year later. Here’s a clip I shot last year while the Copland/Geggie/Fraboni trio rehearsed Copland’s composition The Bell Tolls:

The upcoming trio show featuring Copland, Ellias and Vedady promises some sophisticated thrills. Copland and Ellias are both extremely sophisticated harmonic thinkers, and I’m keen to see how their approaches to playing chords mingle. Vedady is indeed the man in the middle. He has played several gigs with Copland in Quebec and Ottawa, and he is the bassist in Ellias’ trio, which also includes Fraboni.

You can find my other scoops about the 2012 TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival’s lineup here.

In anticipation of the weekend, which will also include an Alcorn music masterclass with Ellias and Juris on Saturday afternoon,  Ottawa guitarist Justin Duhaime conducted the wide-ranging interview with Juris, 58, that you can read below.

What is it about Roddy that made you want to play duets with him again?
It’s really a contrast in styles. We play very differently from one another and usually that provides for a nice duo thing when you have don’t have two people who play the same way. And we both have similar tastes in music. He’s a very good listener and accompanier. He’s very relaxed in the duo setting. It’s nice sometimes for me to be playing electric and for him to be playing the nylon string, for our ears as well as that of the audience.

What do you recall as a specific high point of your duet concerts with Roddy the last times you played with him?
Well, he wrote a couple of originals that I thought were really beautiful. That was kind of a high point for me and you know, I think we got better at the last performance than the first time.

Are you guys going to be playing mostly standards?
We’ll be playing some of his, some of mine and some from the standard repertoire.

How do you compare your respective approaches to the guitar?
I think his style of playing is based more from the classical approach, the classical guitar whereas mine is more of the pick style. I mean classical meaning finger-style, mine is primarily pick style that’s kind of a major difference in sound right there.

Do you play differently with Roddy than you do in duets with other guitar players such as Bireli Lagrene or Larry Coryell?
It depends on the music, you know a lot of it depends on how the other player plays. Some people play louder, some people play softer but the keynote thing is trying to develop a sound as a group as you would with a quartet or a quintet. Each duet after a few tunes kind of works its way into a sound or presentation when we get used to the way the other person plays. But it’s different with every single person that I play with. I can’t think of any duos that are even similar. The way they feel anyway.

What have you learned/gained from playing with Roddy?
I’ve certainly learned more about composition cause his compositions are much more intricate than mine are and just his approach. Every guitarist I play with has a different approach so sometimes I’ll pick up a couple of new chords or a way of improvising or a way that they compose. I try to grab something from every person I play with.

How did you two get in touch?
Actually, I had known about him for years but had never met him.

Where did you first hear about him?
Just through various players in New York but I know he’s played some with Gene Bertoncini and then he originally asked me to do a guitar festival that they had at Paradiso a couple years ago and we had such a good time playing together we tried to make this an annual event.

I understand both you and Roddy studied with Pat Martino. How much influence did he have on your playing and approach to music?
Well, I was pretty young when I met Pat. His work ethic was the main thing that I learned. He worked very hard on his playing.

 Could you talk about your experiences with Bireli Lagrene?
I met Bireli in the mid-’80s. I was playing duets with Larry Coryell and then Bireli had come and asked me to do some touring with him in Europe and we ended up recording together, doing various gigs together, we had a relationship ever since.

Do you guys plan on playing together any time in the future?
Nothing’s in the works right now, but it’s always possible.

What about Dizzy Gillespie?
Yeah, I played a few gigs with him. Kind of an all-star band type of deal. I was never a member of his band, but I did get a chance to play with him.

How was playing with Gary Peacock?
Gary had a band for a while and I played in that band for about a year and that was very interesting. That was a lot of freer improvisation. I was with trumpeter Tim Hagans and drummer John Riley we played mostly Gary’s music as well as some free-form things.

[Time for video break... not that Justin mentioned them, but here's Juris playing earlier this year with bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Matt Kane -- PH]

What qualities do you listen for in music that you like?
I’m at a point in my life, I listen to something either I like it or I don’t like it. If I like it I’ll keep listening to it. It’s not only jazz, it could be anything. If it’s appealing to my ear I’ll listen to it. I’ve always kind of been that way.

So do you listen to pop and rap and hip hop too?
Yeah, of course.

Are there any pop artists or rap artists that you really like?
I like Jay Z quite a bit. You know pop I’ve always liked Stevie Wonder, I’ve always liked a lot of Motown stuff. There’s a lot of new stuff coming out that’s really good.

If you could undergo any musical endeavour that you like what would it be?
I have a trio that I’m working with quite a bit right now. I’d probably be doing more with that and touring more. Doing more of my own music.

Do you compose a lot these days?
Yeah, when I have time.

What is your writing process like?
When I try to write something it doesn’t usually happen, most of the time it’ll just happen by accident. A lot of the time it’s just about finding a particular chord or two chords in a row can spark a whole composition but if you’re looking for the holy grail in composition I don’t think you’ll ever find it. Usually the best tunes are the ones that are unintentional. They just kind of come out.

From noodling, I guess?
Yeah, it can happen from that, it can happen from any number of things. I’m not the kind of person to sit down and just write something. OK, at 10 o’clock tonight, I’m going to write a waltz in Bb. Some people can do that, some people are better composers than they are players.

Well have you ever sat down and said, “Let’s write a waltz in Bb?”
I’ve had to do it. I’ve written for some record dates. And none of those are ever my best tunes.

What are the most important qualities a musician needs for success in today’s world?
I think you’d need to be well-equipped. Being a good reader is mandatory to help interpret other people’s music. Having a good knowledge of harmony, having good technical facility.

Why is music important in today’s world?
I think it’s a good stress reliever for a lot of people. I think people depend on it more than they realize. Picture yourself going to the movies and there’s no soundtrack or watching television, or put the radio on. It’s all around us. Most music is taken for granted, it just kind of becomes part of the environment, like breathing, you don’t really think about it. A lot of music is kind of involuntary.

What does jazz mean to you? You often hear “jazz is dead.” Do you agree with that?
Jazz is dead? Nah, I would never agree with that. I mean, I think jazz is really in the transition period right now. With all the newer players coming out, I’m thinking in about 10 years or so some new genre will develop. It could be as heavy as bebop or hip hop. Some new form is going to come out of all this experimenting.

What do you think of Ben Monder?
He’s a personal friend. I’ve kind of known him since he came to New York. He’s a phenomenal player.

What about Kurt Rosenwinkel?
I’ve never met him. He of course is kind of the hero of the younger players right now. He’s managed to come up with a really personal sound which is unusual these days when you think everything has been done and also a wonderful composer.

So you’ve heard a fair amount of his music?
I’ve heard some of it. I wouldn’t say I’ve sat around and listened to it every day but I’m aware of it.

What about Lenny Breau?
Lenny I’ve been listening to since the ’60s. He’s probably one of the most versatile guitarists in history. He could play the crap out of anything. Plus he created that whole world of harmonics. Some of it I use in my own playing. He’s really phenomenal.

What about Lionel Loueke?
I’ve heard some of his stuff. He’s kind of taken the nylon string guitar in a new direction with African influences and jazz combined. I really like him a lot. I like his singing too.

What about Scott Henderson?
Well Scott I know too. Scott is phenomenal player. He has so much theoretical knowledge. You know his stuff with Tribal Tech is absolutely breathtaking.

What about Frank Gambale?
I know Frank too, I’ve worked opposite him a few times he’s again another player with a personal sound and invented his whole way of picking. It’s actually quite astounding.

What about Allan Holdsworth?
I love his style. To him it sounds almost like a violinist playing guitar the way that he phrases. If Itzhak Pearlman played the guitar it might be what it would sound like.

What about Pat Metheny?
Pat’s one of my very favourites. I’ve been listening to him since the ’70s. We kind of both hit  the scene around the same time. Decade after decade he keeps raising the bar.

What about Rez Abbassi?
I know Rez very well. Again there’s an original mixing Indian-type elements and jazz together and he does a lot of phenomenal things with odd meter. As a matter of fact we played on the same record together.

Which record was that?
It’s called Landmarc, by a guy named Marc Mommaas, that was on Sunnyside Records but we didn’t play on the same tracks together.

What about John Scofield?
I’ve known John since the early ’80s, actually the ’70s and we’ve played gigs together, hung together, he’s a personal friend.  He’s one of the all-time greats.

What do you think about the advances in technology? How important are pedals and other gear for your sound?
I use pedals all the time, it’s really become part of my music. It’s just part of technology getting better and better.

Ever think of a pedal that doesn’t exist yet?
Nah, I haven’t.

What do you think of musicians who only use acoustic instruments and think of electric instruments as toys?
Well, it depends on what you hear. Some people are happy with the acoustic. The instrument is only a means to the music so whatever the instrument of choice is it’s how you hear the music or how you want to perceive it but everyone has a different perception.

What do you think of Eric Dolphy? I know you did a tribute album to him.
He’s one of my heroes. That particular record I did five of his tunes then I wrote a couple originals kind of around those. I got exposed to Eric Dolphy as teenager. The first tune by him that I ever heard was called Iron Man, it kind of knocked my socks off. I’ve been listening to his stuff ever since. It’s a shame he died so young, he would have gotten into so much more.

What do you think of Frank Zappa?
I used to go hear him play all the time. Loved his stuff. Lumpy Gravy is one of my favourite records of all time.

What do you like about that record?
Just the composition, the flow of the whole record, the writing’s incredible, the comedy too.

What classical music do you listen to?
I’m a big Chopin fan, I love Debussy, Beethoven. I like contemporary stuff too, I like Elliot Carter, etc.

What’s your favourite Miles Davis album/period?
My favourite Miles Davis would be the 60s, the band with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, Miles Smiles, E.S.P., those records

What are the ups and downs of the Internet as concerns the music industries today?
That’s what I mean that we’re in a transition period. It’s so easy to get the information now, where years ago you really had to work at it, if you could find it but it’s a good time to be learning this music. Easier because you have access to so much. The main thing is the information. I think it takes some of the hunger away, if you get everything handed to you. It kind of takes some of the adventure out of it.

What is the value of jazz education?
School is a place for information. You should learn all you can and then you’ve got the rest of your life to sort it all out. If I was to go to music school now it would probably be for composition, writing for larger ensembles, things of that nature.

Do you find music education hinders creativity or standardizes it? Think about all these great self-taught players like Django, Wes, Lenny Breau, etc.
No, not at all. The more you know, the more creative you can be. It was a different time, I think now, in this day and age, you more or less have to go to college. Everybody has to get a degree, and beyond sometimes for a masters or doctorate if you want to be teaching in a conservatory or a university. That’s almost mandatory.

Vic Juris and Roddy Ellias play duets Friday, Nov. 18, and Saturday, Nov. 19, at Cafe Paradiso (199 Bank St.), from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. each night. Admission: $20. Call 613-565-0657 to reserve.

[And with that, here's a taste of Juris, the educator -- PH]

And that’s all I’ll say. Since I have a story on singer Sophie Milman, who plays the Fourth Stage on Friday night, to write, I’ll cede the blog to Ottawa guitarist/Carleton University student Justin Duhaime, who offers this more detailed review of the concert presented by the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival, and photographer John Fowler, who has kindly shared some snaps.

***

Photos by John Fowler

Before drummer Ari Hoenig played a note last night, he took to the microphone and suggested that his quartet might well start a fire. He was riffing, making a reference to the protracted emergency alarm that had rung before his quartet took to the stage. Sure enough, he and his band delivered a burning performance with face-melting prowess, enthusiastic intensity, attentive communication and unity. One face that seemed to be melting throughout the concert was Hoenig’s, as he alternated between sour-faced lip-biting and open-mouthed but mute expressions of ecstasy.

The players put their whole bodies into the exhilarating performance from the first to the very last note. On the opener, Lines of Oppression, guitarist Gilad Hekselman’s spidery fingers danced up and down the fretboard during his guitar solo, and all the while,  his body did similar motions as he bent himself down and back up again. Pianist Tigran Hamasyan also really got into his playing. He buried his face into the piano’s keyboard during quieter passages, moved his body to emphasize his dynamics and even leaped from the piano bench when the music was especially heated. Bassist Chris Tordini was more focused and somewhat stoic.

The rhythmic mastery of the musicians was stunning. Everything from meter changes to superimposed pulses to odd-time signatures to time-feel changes from swing to rock and beyond took place with the utmost fluidity. And the melodic creation never lagged.

On the swinging tune Ephemeral Eyes, whose title was inspired from a video game, Hekselman soloed through the rhythmic hoops that Hoenig threw at him with ease and the occasional smirk on his face. During his sensational drum solo, Hoenig pushed the piece to its climax.

The quartet’s rendition of Moanin’ was especially unique. Hoenig played the melody on his toms and snare, changing their pitches when needed by applying pressure to them with his elbow or hands. The continued with some melodic trading between guitar and drums and a groovy piano solo.

Hamasyan’s tune Higher to Hayastan was for me the most exciting piece of the night with rhythmic complexities reminiscent of the metal band Meshuggah and a beautiful lyrical theme reminiscent of some of Frank Zappa’s melodies. The group’s encore was  Hoenig’s tune Love’s Feathered Nails, an eerie and epic ballad of supernatural mystique.

Roddy Ellias and Bill Mahar duo

Also epic and mystical was the music of Roddy Ellias (classical guitar) and Bill Mahar (trumpet and flugelhorn), who opened for Hoenig’s quartet.

Their performance was peaceful, warm and soothing but still exciting. During his solos, Ellias would almost go into a trance, closing his eyes and humming melodies and following his intuition, whereas Mahar was concentrated in a more cerebral approach but with equally lush ideas resulting. Ellias plays as if he were a pianist trapped in a guitarist’s body, providing chordal accompaniment and basslines while simultaneously playing melodies in unison with Mahar. Mahar’s use of mutes added a many textures throughout, as did Ellias’ flamenco-style tremolo, open-string voicings and vast harmonic vocabulary.

The duo closed with Double Rainbow, a ballad by Mahar that had an air reminiscent of Aaron Copland’s music followed by Shuffle Boogie, a Mingus-inspired tune by Ellias.

Ari Hoenig Quartet Set List

1.      Lines of Oppression
2.      Ephemeral Eyes
3.      Wedding Song
4.      Moanin’
5.      Higher to Hayastan
6.      Ska

7.      Encore: Love’s Feathered Nails

Roddy Ellias and Bill Mahar Duo Set List

1.      Lopsided Robot
2.      You Take Me Thrumming
3.      Little One
4.      Double Rainbow
5.      Shuffle Boogie

Alone Together
Corcovado
Secret Love
Emily
Days of Wine and Roses

Stella By Starlight
How Insensitive
All the Things You Are
Moon
Blue Monk

Yes, these are some of the jazz world’s absolutely base-line standards. All but Ellias’s Moon, a ballad of great harmonic specificity, are played at execrable jam sessions the world over.

But Juris and Ellias made the over-played material feel fresh and sophisticated again. The plus side of presenting such familiar songs is that they allowed the two musicians, who most likely had had at best a nominal rehearsal on Friday afternoon, to connect and gauge how their respective approaches to playing might meet.  

Juris, U.S. guitarist, most often played electric guitar (On the Jobim bossas, also played acoustic guitar). He spun long, exhilarating lines and was not afraid to colour the music with a bit of electronic processing, especially during introductions and endings. From the first note, Juris seemed inexhaustible melodically and always staggeringly accomplished and expressive.

Ottawa’s Ellias played classical guitar and was up to the challenge of making music with Juris. Like Juris, Ellias is eclectic in terms of the stylistic elements that enter into his playing. However, perhaps as a contrast to Juris, Ellias played as much “outside” the chord changes of songs as he did inside them. He frequently constructed long melodies that consisted of triads and small motifs moving through different tonalities.  There was also a visceral, more rugged quality to Ellias’ playing, especially compared to Juris’ seemingly effortless mastery of his instruments.

As good as each guitarist was, the music was not about one standing out compared to the other, but rather about their collaboration, their conversation, their dance.

In June 2009, the two jazz players had a ball playing a night of duets — so much so that as Ellias relates below, Juris  — whom Pat Metheny calls “a total monster” — wanted to return for a two-nighter.

1. What is it about Vic (musically and personally) that made you want to play duets with him again?

Last year Vic and I had a great time playing together and it was actually Vic who e-mailed me earlier this summer to suggest we do it again and this time for two nights! Needless to say, I was really happy and excited to play with him again and here’s why … Vic is total music when he plays.

The melodies he improvises are lyrical in nature and the way he phrases and articulates is also lyrical. Like Miles Davis, Ben Webster, many of the old players, you can hear him singing through his instrument. Each note is cared for with the right articulation, dynamic, tone and timing. Vic has all the technique in the world but it’s always music that leads the way. He also has a great rhythmic feel that’s natural to play with.

2. What do you recall as a specific highpoint of your duet concert with Vic last year, and why?

I’m not sure if I can remember a specific high point but the whole evening felt like one long tune with different melodic and harmonic colours, different sounds and tone colours, but always the same high level of listening and conversation. It was always joyful, no ego, no competition, just seeing where the tunes could go. Maybe the highlight was the first tune we played and the fact that it just kept getting deeper and deeper, better and better as the evening went on.

3. How would you compare your respective approaches to music and to the guitar?

Excellent question. I think that our individual approaches to music are identical and that is to listen and play without ego and to get as deeply into the tune as we can while keeping it as simple, honest and direct as possible.

Our approaches to the guitar, on the other hand (no pun intended), are quite different. And I think that’s one of the things that make it work so well. Vic (seen at right – PH) is a master of the electric guitar and as well of pedals that can colour and vary the sound. He uses pedals with the utmost of artistry and taste. While I also try to colour and vary my tone, articulation and dynamics to suit the music, I do it on an acoustic instrument (albeit with a microphone).

The way the electric and classical guitars blend is beautiful to me. Ravel once said that the most beautiful sound to him was the sound of two or three of the same instrument playing together. I totally agree but when it comes to the guitar, I personally love the contrast of two different types of the same instrument. I love the combination of Vic’s guitar with mine.

4. Do you play differently with Vic than you do in duets with, say, Lorne Lofsky or Gene Bertoncini, and if so, how?

Another really good question. I try to play with the person I’m playing with – I know it sounds redundant but what I mean by that is that I try to let the persons personality come through, not try to impose ‘my style’ upon them. We find common ground and go with it.

Lorne and I have been friends since we were both in our late teens/early 20s. We have different approaches, different styles, different heroes and past mentors, but we find common ground and neither of us really has to compromise who we are.

With Gene, there’s also lots of common ground – the instrument for one thing, both of us playing nylon stringed guitars, both of us with a background, love and connection for classical music. Gene’s forte is of course, marvellous arrangements of standard tunes, mine is more spontaneous improvising and so these two contributions seemed to compliment each other!

With Vic, I think the common ground is that we both try to keep the spontaneity as grounded and organic as possible, listen hard and try to play improvised lines with a compositional approach. Neither of us tends to play licks. If I ever start to, I hope someone comes and drags me off the stage!

5. What have you learned/gained from playing with Vic?

I’ve learned a great deal from playing with Vic and I’ve learned a lot from listening to him — especially when he played at Paradiso with David Liebman’s band two years ago now. I’m reminded that hard work is the only path to unlocking musical questions. I’ve been reminded that playing with the same people more and more is usually the best way to get to a point of deep and true communication and expression of the music. And I’ve been humbled by his phenomenal technique — but it’s technique that never comes before the music — always just to serve the musical idea(s).

Roddy Ellias and Vic Juris play duets at Cafe Paradiso on Friday Oct. 15 (music starts at 8:30 p.m. and Saturday Oct. 16 (music starts at 7:30 p.m.). Admission is $20. Call 613-565-0657 to reserve.

At 60, Roddy Ellias kids that he’s experiencing a bit of an identity crisis.

“I don’t know who I am any more,” the veteran Ottawa musician and composer says.

Fortunately, his choices are good ones. There’s Roddy Ellias, the chamber music composer and performer. There’s Roddy Ellias, who blends classical music and jazz improvisation. And there’s Roddy Ellias, straightahead jazz guitarist.

Recently retired after decades of teaching music, first at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., and then at Montreal’s Concordia University, Ellias has more time to express himself artistically and develop recording projects. But the Ottawa native seems almost conflicted about the prospect of giving his versatility full rein and, in the process, defining himself.

“I struggle with this,” Ellias says. “Part of me says there’s no categorization. But another part of me says the reality is, there is.”

Tonight, Ellias is returning to his hardcore jazz roots. He plays Café Paradiso in a quartet that will include the acclaimed and powerful Toronto saxophonist Kirk MacDonald. Ellias has not played with him in roughly two decades, since the early 1990s when MacDonald lived in Ottawa as a member of the RCMP concert band. The other two members of the quartet are the younger Montrealers Daniel Thouin on organ and drummer John Fraboni.

“Everything’s going to be easy and we’ll just have fun,” Ellias says. “It’s been so long since I’ve played real straightahead jazz. You go in cycles.”

While he refers to the music he will make as “straightahead jazz,” you can rest assured that Ellias will do it his way, with his signature refined harmonic sense and ear-catching way with melody.

Ellias says that having everyone in a group feeling the music’s rhythm in sync is critical. “Locking with people is really what it’s about.”

The group will tackle some of his tunes, some of MacDonald’s tunes, some reharmonized jazz standards and some “obscure tunes,” Ellias says.

One is sufficiently obscure that Ellias cannot recall its title. The guitarist plays the blues to an interviewer over the phone, wondering if he might know it. Ellias says it’s a song that he had heard the Montreal guitarist Nelson Symonds play in the late 1960s and 1970s.

“I’ve got a millions of his tunes in my brain, indelibly inscribed. They’re so powerful,” says Ellias, who considers the older guitarist, who died in 2008, a mentor and inspiration.

At the same time, Ellias never wanted to sound like a bad copy of Symonds, or of Pat Martino, the New York jazz guitarist with whom he studied. He also had broader musical interests beyond jazz. After Ellias released his first CD, A Night for Stars, in 1979, he studied philosophy, and then music. He took cello lessons and earned his master’s degree in classical composition. He has written orchestral works and chamber pieces, and his classical compositions have been performed by the American violin virtuoso Anne Akiko Meyers and I Musici de Montréal.

“You try to stretch your wings and go in different directions,” he says. “But you always come back.”

The conversation turns to his recording plans, which are, not surprisingly, diverse.

The first project that he mentions is a recording of his chamber music for his acoustic guitar, harp, marimba and Ottawa soprano Donna Brown. He also has a recording of solo guitar planned.

“I want to do a jazz record,” Ellias says, last but not least. “I’ve been playing jazz for 45 years, and I don’t have a jazz CD under my own name.”

Roddy Ellias’ organ quartet plays Saturday, May 8 at Cafe Paradiso, 199 Bank St. The music starts at 7:30 p.m. and admission is $20. Call 613-565-0657 for reservations.

McKinnon’s only 25, but in the last few years he established a deep friendship with Symonds, who was 50 years older. McKinnon was a pallbearer at Symonds’ funeral this week, and yesterday he unveiled a tribute website to his friend — here is the link.

(In addition, well-wishers are signing this online guestbook for Symonds’ memorial service held this week.)

How did McKinnon get to know Symonds, who was seriously underrecognized during his life? “I picked up a book by Mark Miller called Jazz in Canada – Fourteen Lives which featured Nelson prominently,” McKinnon wrote me. ”The problem however was that because Nelson did not record throughout his career, it was impossible to find any of his music.  This changed when I met former Montreal-based guitarist Peter Leitch, who pointed me in the right direction to his playing on Dave Turner’s live albums.  Needless to say, as soon as I heard his music, I was hooked.”

Video break: You may become hooked on Symonds’ playing too after checking out this video of him playing with alto saxophonist Turner.

McKinnon continued: “For my final project in University (York University, studying jazz performance), it was open for me to do whatever I wanted to.  I felt this was a great time for me to dive deep into his music.  Because there was a lack of information about him online, I decided to speak to many Montreal-based musicians who knew him well (Dave Turner, Greg Clayton and Roddy Ellias were all very kind to share their stories about Nelson the musician and the man).  After researching Nelson further, I was finally put in touch with him.  It was through our love not just for music, but for sports as well that made us very close.

“Like Jean and Andre, who wrote to you in the past, [said], Nelson was the definition of both ‘humble’ and ‘loyal.’  For example, when I first went to visit him in the summer of 2007, one of the first things I noticed was his Prix de Jazz award from the 1996 Montreal International Jazz Festival that was placed on top of his television beside his bowl of change.  When I asked him about it, he played it off as if it were no big deal and that he remembered being ‘very nervous’ about accepting such an award.

“Also, earlier this summer, he was starting to feel like he wanted to start playing again.  However, he had been having some problems with his hands and he was told to check out a local chiropractor.  This never materialized because Nelson did not want to go behind his medical doctor’s back to go see someone else.

“While I first met Nelson as a fan of his music, I became much more of an admirer of Nelson Symonds the human being.  Often, he would be my first call after seeing the Toronto Maple Leafs lose a game they should have won (the same goes for the Toronto Blue Jays).  Like many before me, he was always around to offer advice and guidance to the musicians younger than him and beneath him in stature.  When I arrived at his funeral on Monday morning (he passed away on my 25th birthday), I was greeted with a warm hug from his step daughter Gabrielle that I had been in touch with for a long time to find out that Nelson would constantly talk about our friendship.  It was the biggest honour I had received, only to be topped later by being asked to be one of Nelson’s pallbearers.

“With respect to his tribute, I am trying to do for Nelson’s memory what he was too self-effacing and shy to do.  His music and playing were both so beautiful and aggressive that it needs to be exposed by people outside of Montreal (and immediate jazz fans in Canada).  This is especially true of my generation and any future ones of jazz musicians in this country.  Some of the recordings available on the MySpace page have been released commercially before, but some have not been.  For example, the duo tapes of him with Charlie Biddle from 1975 were bootlegged tapes that were loaned to me by none other than the great Roddy Ellias!

“One thing that was discussed between Roddy and myself a while back was trying to get Nelson an honourary music degree from a University such as Concordia.  From what I understand, this is something that could take a few years.  While we cannot give this to Nelson personally, it would still be a great way (in my opinion) to honour his memory and everything he did for jazz in Canada.”

Although Ellias was being brought by Symonds a decade before McKinnon was born, he had a similar regard and relationship with Symonds.

“I first heard Nelson Symonds play in the late 1960s,” Ellias wrote me. “I was in my teens and my cousin Joan who lived in Montreal at the time brought me to hear him play as part of a two-day black culture event at Cafe La Boheme. Nelson was playing with Charlie Biddle (on an unamplified bass) and Norman Villeneuve on drums. I was floored! I had no intellectual understanding of what Nelson was playing but on an emotion, expressive, spirtitual, soul level I knew I was in the presence of someone truly extraordinary, someone truly gifted, and someone who was selfless, honest and giving. It was like looking at Van Gogh’s Starry Night or reading Rumi, there was something transcendent about what Nelson was doing.

“Nelson soon became my mentor and main source of live musical inspiration. I can’t tell you how many weekend trips I made up to the Laurentians to where he played with Biddle at Uncle Charlie’s Jazz and Ribs Joint — when I wasn’t playing myself, I was up there for the weekend. Listening, hanging out. Nelson and Charlie took me in like a little brother. This is where I began to learn about Nelson the human being and how inextricably united Nelson the guitar player and Nelson the person were. Nelson was all about integrity, honesty, devotion, hard hard work, modesty, and above all love and so was his music.

“Nelson’s influence on me as a young aspiring jazz musician was powerful, so powerful that after he and Biddle went their separate ways (about a year or two before Biddle’s Jazz Club opened in Montreal) and Biddle used to call me to play with him, I eventually had to stop saying yes. I found that Nelson’s influence was so strong on me that when I played with Charlie I sounded like a bad copy of Nelson. As much as I loved working with Charlie, I had to stop or I would have ended up sounding like a bad copy of Nelson forever! I had too much respect for Nelson and too much desire to sound like me, not someone else …

“I’ll never forget Nelson’s generosity — a truly warm generosity with his time, his care for helping out a younger little brother — his humility, and his genius. Nelson was the best mentor anyone could have had because he was the total package — musician, human being extraordinaire. I might have been one of the first young guitarists he mentored, but certainly not the last. Two young guitarists, Herve Leroux (Montreal) and Dan McKinnon (Toronto) were at Nelson’s funeral and both got up to talk about what a great mentor and inspiration he was to them. I know exactly how they feel.”

Clayton, heard a few years back in Ottawa at Cafe Paradiso backing up Sheila Jordan, passed on one of his favourite Nelson Symonds stories, dating back to Symonds’  stint with organist Brother Jack McDuff (he preceded George Benson who replaced Nelson when Nelson had to leave the U.S. due to his lack of a visa).

Here’s Clayton’s story:

“Of a run in Pittsburgh, Nelson said: ‘I heard a sax section behind me and it was Roland Kirk blowing three horns at once!!’ After meeting Kirk, McDuff had him sit in every night and according to Nelson, every time Nelson said he knew a tune, Kirk would say ‘OK, we’ll play it later.’ He’d keep calling tunes until Nelson said he wasn’t sure of a tune. Then Kirk would count it in really fast and give Symonds the first solo.

“Nelson said: ‘One day I was practising In the Still of the Night ALL DAY.’ That night as Kirk went through his routine of calling and discarding songs Nelson knew, he asked for In The Still of the Night.

“Nelson said: ‘I said I wasn’t too sure of it. Of course, we played it real fast and I took the first solo and was all over it.’

“After, Kirk said, ‘Symonds, you were waiting in the bushes on that one.’

“This became one of Nelson’s often used expressions, along with ‘I feel like a crook’ — said upon getting paid after a particularly fun evening of playing.”

*****

Although the Montreal jazz world’s been deprived of any more fun evenings filled with Symonds’ playing, his former students are still carrying on. Ellias plays tonight, Oct. 25, at Cafe Paradiso in a trio with John Geggie and Jesse Stewart. The music starts at 9:30 p.m. and there is no cover charge. For reservations, call 613-565-0657. Ellias plays again on Sunday night, giving a solo concert/lecture at Alcorn Studios, 903 Carling Ave., from 7 to 9 p.m. Details are here. Perhaps he’ll dedicate a song to Symonds. Maybe he’ll play In the Still of the Night.

As Roddy and I left the show, we chatted a bit. Roddy told me that, in fact, he had played a little stint with Lee back in the early 1980s. I was keen to know more, and Roddy recently e-mailed me this account of his fascinating experience:  

I can’t remember the exact time but it was in the early 1980s — probably 1981. Ottawa was blessed at the time with an almost jazz club — the Cock and Lion room in the Chateau Laurier Hotel. I think Jake Hanna summed it up best — it was a restaurant/bar with jazz. The jazz policy lasted a good two or three years and it was somewhat like Ottawa’s answer to Toronto’s Bourbon Street. Fairly legendary names in jazz were featured with rhythm sections from Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal. [I recall being just old enough to get into the room, and I saw Red Rodney with Ira Sullivan, as well as Joe Farrell. Those were the days --  P.H.] I was playing a lot in those days — often at the Chateau and often out of town.

[My review of the Konitz concert -- surely one of the more quirky presentations at this or any other Ottawa International Jazz Festival, is here.]

Lee wanted to record our duo at the time but I just didn’t have the confidence at the time to follow up on it. I have no regrets about not recording with him but I sure would like a crack at it now!!!

On that note, here’s Lee playing in Paris earlier this year with the group of Quebec ex-pat Francois Theberge:

If Juris were to attend Ellias’ trio show this Friday at Cafe Paradiso, odds are that he would be returning the compliments. Ellias has been Ottawa’s premier jazz guitarist for decades — not to mention a fine classical guitarist and composer as well. It would be wrong to dissect Roddy’s playing, but I will say that he strikes me as the Ottawa jazz musician with the most harmony happening in his playing — and he’s only got six notes to work with compared to what we pianists can produce.

Roddy, who turns 59 this year, sends along these answers to the questions that this blog continually poses:

1) What’s the difference between good music and bad music?
Good question! I think good music is probably something that achieves what it has set out to do. Some music is conceived to heal people, to be danced to, to entertain, to be devotional etc. I remember complimenting Danny Richmond years ago when he got off the bandstand at In Concert (a little club) in Montreal (he was playing with Mingus). He said thanks and that he was just trying to keep a little time. I guess the bottom line that’s common to all types of music is if it moves people. Bill Evans used to say that he was trying to make music that was on one level personal but hoped that he would express universal feelings or archetypes that people would identify with and be somewhat moved by.

2) What jazz musician, past or present, would you like to have dinner with, and why?
Too numerous to list but here are a few. Lee Konitz: when we did a duo for a week in Halifax. Lee is thoughtful, brilliant and generous. Bill Evans: Bill Evans was and still is one of the biggest influences on me and continues to be a source of musical inspiration. I would have loved to have had dinner and tried to learn what he knew. John Coltrane, Ornette, Eric Dolphy – OK I’ll stop — Oscar Peterson was a brilliant man, Nancy Wilson …

3) What’s one thing that you are practising or studying these days?
Sound. The world is sound.

4)  Name three of your desert island discs.
     a. Bach, Partitas and Sonatas for violin solo 
     b. Bach, Cello Suites
     c. Debussy, Preludes for piano
     d. Bill Evans, The Tokyo Concert
     e. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme

This is hard. I haven’t even touched upon Indian classical music or African tribal music or Inuit music or …

5) What would you have done with your life if you hadn’t been a musician? 
It would have been a toss-up between being a visual artist or a doctor.

The Roddy Ellias Trio (with bassist John Geggie and drummer John Fraboni) plays at Cafe Paradiso, 199 Bank St., on Friday, June 6. The music starts at 9:30 p.m. Call 613-565-0657 to make reservations.