Rabble Without A Cause, June 19: Ottawa Jazz Festival Preview
Marianne Trudel, Bellbird, Sakina Abdou, and Tim Berne/Hank Roberts/Aurora Nealand
The Ottawa Jazz Festival has put together an interesting variety of avant-garde, improvisational performances from June 21 to 30. On this show, I’ll feature some of what you can hear.
Bellbird
Bellbird is:
Allison Burik / alto saxophone
Claire Devlin / tenor saxophone
Eli Davidovici / double bass
Mili Hong / drums
Bellbird is playing at Confederation Park on the first night of the Festival (June 21 at 6:30 p.m.). Bellbird is a quartet from Montreal and they describe their music as “inspired by the sounds of nature and the shared experience between humans and other-than-humans.” Original compositions by each band member demonstrate their diverse sets of influences, including jazz, avant-garde, and folk music.
TIM BERNE/HANK ROBERTS/AURORA NEALAND
Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Hank Roberts (cello) and Aurora Nealand (accordion and clarinet) will also be performing on June 21 at 6:30 p.m. but at the National Arts Centre. They will be performing music from their 2023 release Oceans And. Hank Roberts and Tim Berne are both 70 this year. Aurora Nealand is younger (45) and will also be doing a solo show of her original compositions and performance art as The Monocle, on June 22 at 6:30 p.m. also at the NAC.
Sakina Abdou
Sakina Abdou will be playing a solo show at the NAC on June 25. She will be playing music from her 2022 release, Goodbye Ground. Here she is playing the title track from that album (we will hear two different tracks on the show).
Marianne Trudel/John Hollenbeck/Rémi-Jean Leblanc
Marianne Trudel is a Montreal-based pianist and composer. She will be playing with John Hollenbeck (drums) and Rémi-Jean Leblanc (bass) on June 28 at the NAC. The trio will be playing music from Time Poem: La joie de l'éphémère , released in 2022. Marianne Trudel describes the project this way:
9 songs, 9 days, 9 nights. An amitious project. Dive into creation. Come back to life through sound. Celebrate the beauty of the ephemeral.
Strong melodies, heavy grooves, surprising sound textures, rich harmonies, passion and energy