In the twilight

Now it can be told: Indigone Trio is performing at the 29th edition of the Montreal Jazz Festival! We are in the running for the Grand Prix du Festival, the festival's annual competition. It's a strong field this year, with lots of my friends and colleagues involved - I'm just happy for the gig. We're playing two one-hour sets on Friday, June 27. One at 9 pm and the other at 11 pm, on the CBC Radio-Canada/Best Buy stage, in the series called Les Brunantes (Twilight).

This will be a very special evening, for many reasons. Firstly, we've been working so much with strings lately that it's nice to revisit our "trio-only" book. Some of the charts for strings started out in the trio, or we've brought some of the string music into the trio format, but there's a whole other selection of music that is exclusive to the trio. Secondly, I'm proud to welcome bassist Sebastien Pellerin into the Indigone family. Seb played bass in my first McGill combo ever, and we've worked together on and off in the intervening years. We had our first rehearsal with Seb a couple of weeks ago and he's already put his stamp on the music.

As much as I'm happy to be playing with Seb, it's unfortunate that my partner in Indigone crime, Alex Mallett, is unable to make this gig. I've long thought of Indigone as the balance between myself and Alex, in terms of our compositional styles. I can't imagine playing his tunes without him, so the Jazz Fest sets will reflect a slightly different vision of Indigone; the repertoire is exclusively my compositions and arrangements. I'll be blogging about the process - of revisiting the trio material, adding new tunes and new members, planning and contemplating the setlists - leading up to the Festival hits.

In short, and boldface:
INDIGONE TRIO @ MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008 - CBC Radio-Canada/Best Buy Stage (on the esplanade of Place-des-Arts)
Sets at 9 pm & 11 pm
FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nominated for the General Motors Grand Prix du Jazz and the Galaxie Rising Star Award.

Indigone Trio is: David Ryshpan - piano/keyboards; Sebastien Pellerin - bass; Philippe Melanson - drums.