Lorraine Desmarais Goes Big With Her New Band.
Gathering Many Of Quebec’s Best Musicians Lorraine Records New Album
Aug 31, 2009
Sometimes for an artist to realize their dream they must take sometime off to let their muse grow. That is what Lorraine Desmarais did, taking full advantage of a year long sabbatical from her teaching job, she spent the time composing and arranging new pieces for her new big band.
Building On An Idea
The idea to create and write for a big band came from her experience as a guest soloist with the big band Diva. In 1998 she toured the American mid west with the all female big band and recorded with them for the Arbors label.
Her experiences with the big band did not end there, she took part in a concert with the Montreal Jazz Big band and in 2002 she performed with trombonist Hugh Fraser’s Vancouver Ensemble Of Jazz Improvisation at the now defunct International Association for Jazz educators conference in Toronto.
Touring And Representing Canada On The World Stage
She was born in Montreal and began playing piano at an early age. From 1978 – 79 she studied at McGill University under the tutelage of Armas Maiste and four years later she moved to New York and studied with the great pianist Kenny Barron.
She began touring as a musician in 1982 when she did a cross Canada tour for Youth and Music Canada. She also toured cross Canada in 1985, 1988 and 1990. Throughout the 80’s she toured Asia, played in Senegal and then made musical stops in many of the major cities in Europe.
This is the first time that Lorraine has written for a big band and it can be looked at as another chapter in an amazing career for the pianist. She has had a lot of first in her musical life including being the first Canadian to win the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, which took place in Jacksonville Florida in 1986
Lorraine is considered by many to be one of Quebec’s top jazz musicians. She has won many awards, including a few from the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Juno Awards and the Oscar Peterson award in 2002
She began her recording career as a leader in 1991 and has recorded about nine albums to date; which include a Christmas Jazz album and her latest one, Big Band on the Analekta label.
The Big Band Her Compositions
The ten compositions on Big Band run through a shifting palette of sounds, from the moody to the breezy up-tempo style. Her soloist takes flight easily over her arrangements which does not constrain or confines the musician. Her own solos are the solos of a confident musician and a strong leader.
Standout tracks on the album include And One For Chick. This was written for piano great Chick Corea, a musician she had the pleasure of sharing the stage with at the 25th edition of Montreal’s jazz festival.
Puzzles is a toe-tapping slightly funky opener, Blues 12 has a film noire feel to it, big crescendo that leads to unexpected turns in the music. Romanza conjures up images of hand in hand walks on the boardwalks with a lazy sun hanging on the horizon.
She closes out the album with a little ditty called Samba, which wraps the feeling of the dance between its blaring horns and the danceable rhythm carrying the horns on its bed of sound. Some of her classical training seeps through and adds to the thrill of listening to the album
Lorraine continues to be a force on the Quebec and Canadian music scene and with the addition of Big Band to her discography. It could only add more admiration for her adoring fans old and new.
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