The Small Scale Music imprint is a tiny Montréal-based label dedicated to pursuing the exploratory flavors of music: noise, free jazz, experimental stuff. All of it is worthy of digesting for those listeners with feisty viscera. The Montréal creative music community is prolific, adventurous, and has an incredible story to tell the rest of the world.
Recently, Small Scale unleashed a pair of CDs featuring the work of Guy Thouin and the second incarnation of his heArt Ensemble. Thouin is a legendary figure in the French-Canadian free jazz scene. He is the only surviving original member of the Quatuor de Jazz Libre du Québec, which was the first free jazz combo formed in the city of Montréal, active from 1967 to 1974. A prolific drummer and percussionist, Thouin was also a member of L’infonie, a loose collective of musicians who favored beat poetry and prog-oriented avant-jazz.
This new branch of the heArt Ensemble tree finds Thouin paired up with saxophonist Félix-Antoine Hamel. The two musicians have been improvising in the drummer’s basement every week since 2015, often inviting guests to explore along with them. The material that comprises Oréade is the result of a heavy period of experimentation as a trio, with harpist Marilou Lyonnais-Archambault joining the fray. There is almost 70 minutes of music presented here; who knows for how long these mavericks jammed in order to harvest this distilled product of their creativity.
One intriguing aspect of this particular recording is the melodic sensibility that wafts into the proceedings from time to time. The CD actually begins in this mode, with the almost funky “Ostinato” searching out and finding a groove to lope along to. That being said, the trio brings on the fire most of the time, roaring along with abandon. The harp adds a certain uncanniness that is amplified by the clever deployment of electronics. There be ghosts here, but their howls are shimmery and bright. This is some straight up outstanding music!
Small Scale Music still have copies of this stunner over at their Bandcamp, so head on over and drop some dollars. You will thank me later.
