Viviane Houle and Stefan Smulovitz’ new CD “la belle et la bête”

Last night @ the Jazz Cellar the penultimate show of our season featured the CD release of NOW Orchestra’s second disc, “la belle et la bête”.
It was an exciting night of music. It was the best performance, hands down, of this duo ever. In the process of getting this CD together for release, as well as some important performances (including playing at the Festival de Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Québec) they have really raised their game to a new level. Their focus, growing vocabulary and compositional sophistication was really a joy to be a part of. As a longtime fan of the two, it makes me really happy to see that. They really displayed some beautiful telepathic sonic dancing together.
They were also fortunate to be joined by one of Canada’s great dancers, Barbara Bourget. Barbara is such a powerful improvisor and collaborator, that it really is a pleasure to watch her anytime she performs. She can adapt to anything, including moving in a room that is not really meant for dance. She made it hers, anyway.
The evening was also augmented by a wonderful spoken word piece written and performed by Stewart Brinton bringing the moment to a beautiful multi-media quartet.
I hope you can make it out to our last show of the season featuring The Coat Cooke trio, with Coat on saxophone, Clyde Reed on bass and Kenton Loewen on drums.
They will also be joined for part of the evening by some guests in town for the jazz festival.
The show starts at 8:30 pm @ the Jazz Cellar (3611 West Broadway).
$5.00 cover/no minimum.
Hope you can make it out.