Getting OFF with Pierre Tanguay

By Dean Cottrill

Pierre Tanguay and I are rather from different sides of the tracks,he being more into the improv thing and I being more accustomed to lounge and club work, vintage jazz, blues and roots. Free time being more my lot than his, it took us 4 months to find the time to explore our musical commons, but we finally did it. We played music for its own sake, music about us, to some degree by us, and for us on the spot. It was fun. And having scheduled this meeting it was all-important for Tanguay to keep it.

“The hardest thing is to do what you want. Even if a $1200. T.V. show came up I’d say ‘no’. This is not about money. If it’s about money then you’re not connected”. But, he smiles, “when I ask for money, I ask a lot.”

As a practitioner of new music percussionist Pierre Tanguay makes sense of a genre that eludes a lot of ears, always finding a new way to create the moment he lives in. “I am always, always interested in the people first, more than the art,” he says. For Tanguay it’s all about being connected or making a connection, whether with a child, the audience, or the musicians he plays with. “And when we connect I feel I am 5 times better than a doctor or a therapist – and I’m 5 times less expensive!”

At the drum kit Pierre Tanguay is a joy to experience: he leans into it, usually with his trademark grin. And if that grin isn’t there, chances are next time, neither will he. “If we’re not comfortable and we can’t communicate, then that is it. I’ll move on.”

In its 4th year now, L’OFF festival de jazz began as a response from local 406 musicians who felt they could get more recognition on their own than with what the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal could afford them. And with 50 concerts slated – one-tenth the schedule of the FIJM and in the same time frame – it does exactly that. As an added bonus, local scenesters often collaborate with high profile outside artists (take or leave the pun). For his part Tanguay will perform in no less than six different OFF ensembles, including one with Montreal saxophonist Jean Derome and polyinstrumentalist Louis Sclavis, who Tanguay considers in stature the European equivalent of Miles Davis.

A native of Quebec city, Tanguay studied his craft (as he still is) with various teachers. Eventually moving to Montreal, by the early 80s he had established himself in various cutting edge jazz circles both home and abroad. At least two of his projects – Strada, a medieval music consort, and Evidence, dedicated to performing and recording Thelonius Monk’s entire catalogue of compositions (they’ve recorded 20 titles so far) – have been active for the past 20 years. Tanguay has choreographed 39 modern dance pieces, and as well there was some theatre.

“I wanted to see if I could do it, so I wrote and performed my own play. People were calling me for acting gigs, they didn’t know I was a musician first.”

But it is in the freely expressive genre of jazz that Tanguay’s recognition continues to grow, and the OFF fest is high season. Enjoy!

Copyright 2003 Dean Cottrill
Dean Cottrill is a Montreal musician and contributor to HOUR magazine.
Consult www.LOFFfestivaldejazz.com for schedules

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