Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Start Your Engines

The Casa del Popolo family of venues are among my favourites in the city. From the small, intimate Casa to the larger Spanish social hall of La Sala Rossa, and even the short-lived, high school cafeteria setting of El Salon, these rooms book fantastic musicians, support independent and local artists, and have good sound. The latest addition to the group is Il Motore, on Jean-Talon and Waverly. I have the honour and fortune of playing there in three different groups over the next couple of months.

This Sunday, March 22, Trio Bruxo hits Il Motore with some new (to us) repertoire and some very special guests. Trio Bruxo is a newer project of mine, in the vein of the great Brazilian piano trios of the '60s and '70s. I'm joined by Nicolas Bédard on electric bass and Mark Nelson on drums. There may even be a guest DJ in the house. Doors open at 8.

On Thursday, April 2, I'll be playing alongside my good friend Becky Noble. Becky and I went to McGill together and were both out at the Banff Centre in 2005. She's since taken a bit of a hiatus from music and lives back on the West Coast, which is a shame because she's a fantastic composer and saxophonist. A one-night-only sextet has formed to play a mix of Becky's tunes and select covers.
The band is: Becky Noble - alto sax/compositions; Chet Doxas - tenor sax; DRR - keys; Tristan Paxton - guitar; Conrad Good - bass; Adam Miller - drums.

And finally, Sunday May 3 marks the return of Indigone Trio to the stage. Phil, Seb and I are busy with other things but it's always a pleasure to play my music with them. I'm hoping to have some new music written for this show. We'll be joined by some Ropeadope crew for this special showcase event.

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