Trio Derome Guibeault Tanguay

The long-standing trio of saxophonist Jean Derome, bassist Normand Guibeault and drummer Pierre Tanguay is one of Canada’s national treasures. The harsh realities of surviving composing and playing creative music of the quality evidenced in the present CD wears down all but the most dedicated, persistent and just plain strong. The cliché "familiarity breeds contempt” is proven false in this case, as the threesome has not only survived for over a decade but has developed the rapport that is the sine qua non of great improvised music. Derome’s compositions show a fertile imagination, strong sense of structure, and an open-mindedness that includes materials from world music and the European scene but is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition. Squeak and blat stuff this isn’t. Meticulously detailed, magically interactive, exquisitely recorded, this is a listener-friendly introduction to free jazz for those who haven’t been exposed to the idiom and a polished gem of abstract lyricism. It encompasses the Ornette-ish "Étymolgie,” the humorously lugubrious "Pangolin” and the military "Marcher Sur des Braises” with intelligence and grace without sacrificing the tightrope-walking tension that is the true mark of spontaneous creation, which demands the kind of telepathic communication that is this trio’s hallmark. Long live Trio Derome Guibeault Tanquay!