In our ongoing partnership with the
Georges Vanier Cultural Centre, we are pleased to present two nights of free
jazz concerts in the heart of Little Burgundy this August. Renown
Cuban-Canadian pianist Rafael Zaldivar performs his Cuban style jazz on August
7th at 7 p.m. while the lively post-bop Mario Allard Quintet performs on
August 21st at 7 p.m. Click here for all the details!
About
Rafael Zaldivar
Rafael Zaldivar was born in Camagüey,
Cuba. Coming from a family of musicians, he started playing percussion and
piano at age 7 and pursued his undergraduate studies at the Superior Art Institute
of Havana. Moving to Canada at age 22, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree from the
University of Montreal and a Master’s degree at McGill University within three
years. During his musical career, Rafael has had the opportunity to learn with
the greats Barry Harris, Kenny Barron, Danilo Perez, and Greg Osby and to play
with the excellent Steve Coleman, Nate Smith, Francisco Mela and Terri Lyne
Carrington. He has also had the pleasure of meeting the great Herbie Hancock in
Havana, where the two men shared a highly instructive conversation on the subject
of music. Rafael has been Awarded New Talent Contest by Radio Canada, OPUS
Award by The Quebec Council of Art and Letters and most recently Archambault
6th edition Award New talent Contest. Nowadays, he performs in various concert
halls and at festivals around Canada and Europe such as: The North Sea Jazz
Festival in Holland, The Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, international
Jazz Convention in Germany and The Bean town Jazz Festival in Boston, United
States. http://rafaelzaldivarmusic.com/
About
the Mario Allard Quintet
This post-bop influenced ensemble
evolves in a net-free setting, where the creativity of the improvisers, helped
with the precise and strong play of the rhythm section, can make us forget the
absence of any harmonic instrument. By breaking free of traditional jazz
harmony laws, and by pushing the rhythmic and melodic limits beyond
tried-and-true expectations, the MAQ puts forward some truly fresh and intense
music. Each musician executes brilliantly the written passages – a perfect
mixture of counter- points and tutti – while allowing himself an
improvisational freedom almost without borders.
Formed of Mario Allard (alto sax,
compositions), Jean-François Fournel (tenor sax), David Carbonneau (trumpet),
Sebastien Pellerin (double bass) and Alain Bourgeois (drums), this group built
up a serious reputation on the Montreal since they launched their first record:
MAQ – Mario Allard Quintet – in September 2007. The MAQ took part in the 2008
editions of the Montreal Off Jazz Festival, as well as the Montreal
International Jazz Festival. After their amazing performance on one of the MIJF
outdoor scene, Mario Allard imposes himself as a composer and wins the
Radio-Canada/CBC Galaxie Award for two of his originals: Noffo and Bilbasan,
which were chosen as the bests songs presented among the participating groups.
The band participated at the National Jazz Awards in Toronto in 2009 and
performs frequently in Montreal. http://www.lemaq.ca/
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