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Dobbin's Den - May 8, 1997 |
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DOBBIN’S DEN By Len Dobbin Posted Thursday, May 8, 1997 Contents
Jean Lebrun died on Wednesday, April 23, 1997. He was 54. Jean was best known as a saxophonist (soprano and baritone) and flutist, but alto saxophone and piccolo were also among the instruments he played. I first became aware of Lebrun's talent in 1982. That was the year that bassist Michel Donato put together a quintet for that year's jazz festival. Kenny Alexander was the pianist and Émile "Cisco" Normand, the drummer. Trumpeter Denny Christianson and Lebrun were the front line. The group, as a result of winning the festival's first competition, did a recording and travelled to Italy for a series of concerts. The recording, Le Quintette de Michel Donato, recorded live at the festival on July 8, 1982, consists of four compositions by Gary Schwartz, Donato, Normand and Lebrun (his Mon Mine). During Expo 67, Lebrun played baritone with the band put together to play with Maynard Ferguson. That band recorded on June 8, 1967 and the results have been reissued on the Just A Memory label. In the 70s Lebrun recorded with the AI Baculis Singers, keyboard player Guy Desjardins and drummer Roger Simard. The latter included Lebrun's Marni and his Portrait de Louise, a jazz suite in three movements. In the 80s Lebrun was a member of the Denny Christianson Big Band and is heard on three of the band’s recordings, Doomsday Machine, Suite Mingus and More Pepper. Lebrun played some beautiful flute on Richard Ring's 1995 recording, Ring In Minor. Lebrun was a marvellous musician, well-liked and remembered by all he touched. He is survived by his wife Louise Hamel, daughter Andrée and sister Suzanne Houle. THE PIANO MAN 'S DAUGHTER . . . AND OTHERS Montreal-born Joe Sealy is part of this production as both the composer of the music and as a performer. Sealy's Africville Suite was this year's JUNO Award winner and is the running for the SOCAN Award as Best Original Jazz Composition. This is a multimedia event of literature, theatre, music, song and dance which also involves Sylvia Tyson, Veronica Tennant and Timothy Findlay. The Piano Man's Daughter is the title of one of the latter's many excellent books. This event takes place on Friday, May 9 at Concordia Concert Hall, Loyola Campus. For information, call 790-1245. Hot on the heels of Concordia's production Into The Woods comes Da Capo Productions with more Stephen Sondheim, A Little Night Music, which copped a Tony Award. It opened on Broadway on February 25, 1973 and ran for 601 performances. It's a musical suggested by the Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night. The best known song from the score is Send In The Clowns. A Little Night Music will be presented at the Monument National (1182 St. Laurent ) through May 17. For information, call 871- 2224. THIS WEEK IN MONTREAL (MAY 8-14) The rescheduled "Hommage a Réal Mathieu" takes place tonight (May 8) at the Concordia Concert Hall on the Loyola Campus. The concert will spotlight the group, Brazz, led by trumpeter Michel Lambert. The group includes fellow trumpeters Charles Ellison, Bernie Brien and Ron DiLauro. Later you can catch the Louise Sauvé trio at Jazzons. Again you should probably put aside a night each for Upstairs and Café Boomers. Renowned Toronto bassist Dave Young appears at Boomers in Pointe Claire Village with guitarist Reg Schwager and the equally marvellous Michel Lambert on drums. Downtown at Upstairs, Steve Hall, one of the great living tenormen, appears with pianist Steve Amirault, bassist Ron Séguin and drummer Lorne Ellen. Hall, a Montreal native, has been living in New York for some time now. There his playing has his peers (including Joe Lovano) talking. Hall has only been sparsely represented on record. He's done sessions with Steve Holt, Bob Mover and Kevin Hays. His own date, a long awaited event, with Hays, Doug Weiss and Lorne Ellen is scheduled to be recorded here in the fall for the DSM label. He's lately been heard with drummer Al Foster. This is a MAJOR talent! A rare three-day event takes place at Isart takes place Saturday through Monday. Featured is New York based Lan Xang (a new rather than "auld" group) consisting of saxophonists Dave Binney (alto) and Donny McCaslin (tenor} with Scott Colley on bass and Jeff Hirshfield on drums. Two nights of pianist Brian Dickinson at Upstairs were the week's highlight. This is the first time this superb Toronto-based musician had been spotlighted in Montreal. He was ably assisted by bassist Brian Hurley and drummer Andre White. Dickinson will be back for three festival engagements. He'll be heard with the Roy Patterson Quartet and in Michel Donato's group, which will be doing The Five Seasons with Eddie Daniels. There are massive changes at Biddles. The proposed new Iineup is as follows:
After The Morning (DSM 3011 ), a solo outing by pianist John Hicks recorded at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal on July 8, 1992, should be in the stores next week. It’s a beauty! Speaking of the jazz fest, they unveiled this year's indoor concerts earlier this week. More next time Dobbin's Den appears. [Editor’s note: See jazz festival preview page.] Louis Armstrong (RCA) is a marvellous 4-CD set of the complete RCA Victor recordings. Added bonuses are a number of previously unissued items plus great liner notes by Dan Morgenstern. Doc Cheatham-Nicholas Payton (Verve) is a delightful Armstrong- inspired outing by these two trumpeters. The piano of Butch Thompson is an added treat here. Chick Corea & Friends Remembering Bud Powell (Stretch) is great listening, particularly if you heard them in person at last year's jazz festival. Altoman Kenny Garrett is an added starter here, joining Joshua Redman, Wallace Roney, Christian McBride, Roy Haynes and the leader. If you're in the mood for some beautiful string writing check out Helen Merrill's Carrousel (Finlandia/Warner), an album of nine songs by Heikki Sarmanto and two instrumentals written by Torrie Zito, who arranged the entire session. It was recorded in Helsinki with Terry Clarke on drums. Earth Birth (Verve), an album of nine Randy Weston compositions, was recorded at the Monument National on July 4, 1995 during the Jazz Festival. The string arrangements (by Melba Liston) were conducted by Paul West. Weston's piano is heard with Christian McBride on bass and Billy Higgins, drums. May 15-17
May 15-19
May 16
May 22
May 22-25
May 23
May 23 & 24
May 29 - June 1
May 30 & 31
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