Feb 04 2008

February 2008

Hi Everyone,

I hope that everyone is having a great beginning to 2008. Here are a few updates as to what has been happening over here lately.

The “Nous Serons Six Milliards” Tour with Nicola Ciccone has come to an end. What a great experience that has been. We started the tour on Feb 4, 2007 and we played our last gig on Dec 16, 2007. On the tour we visited many beautiful cities in Quebec and played to enthusiastic and supportive audiences throughout. In 2008 we have a few gigs spread out the year but another tour will probably follow Nicola’s next studio album. I hope to be a part of that one, too.

The new year has brought upon some great studio opportunities as well. Corneille is writing and producing an album by an amazing female singer from Quebec. We are almost finished the album and from what I have heard, this singer can really sing ! I am looking forward to hearing the final mixes of this project. I have also done a few recordings with various other singers who I will give more details when the projects are almost done. Lastly, the recording project with Daniel Iorio continues and we have about 4 songs completed from his album. I have the luxury to be able to record my guitar parts from the comforts of my home (in between diaper changes and feedings for my girls) and I love the experience. I can take as much time and be as creative as I like to get my parts the way both I and Daniel like. No stress and absolutely no pressure. What a joy !

I recently came across some video footage that my guitar tech (Huw Stewart) took from Corneille’s Fall 2006 Tour in France. Once in a while Huw would film some parts of the show by placing my camera on the roadcases in front of him. I have put some of these up on YouTube so you can check them out. The quality is not fantastic, but they will bring back nice memories for the people who came out to the shows. I also came across a video of myself on YouTube playing with Dawn Tyler Watson in Rockland, Maine in 2003. We were performing outdoors at a Blues Festival in the afternoon. I will always remember that gig because of the crazy circumstances that surrounded it. The night before we played in Kalamazoo, Michigan and after the gig we hit the road for Rockland, Maine. The information that we were given was that the drive would take 12 hours. As we were driving, we passed the 12 hour point and when we looked at the map we noticed that we were not even close to our destination. It took us 20 hours to get there ! We arrived at 6:00am and we had soundcheck at 11:00am. We dragged ourselves to the stage and then played a pretty amazing set considering the circumstances. Looking at the video I can see how well we played as a band back then. The great Sam Harrisson is on drums with us on that gig.

In December we played two shows in Japan with Corneille as part of a mini tour. One gig was in Osaka and the other was in Tokyo. We had a blast. We were there for 6 days and we played two concerts so we had some time to visit the sites and enjoy the cities. Both concerts went well and we tried out a new formation: percussion, guitar, and Fender Rhodes. I also did some TV and radio promo with Corneille while in Japan. I have put some photos os the tour on the site.

The next thing that I have to prepare for is a couple of live shows with Corneille in February and March. We will be doing about 4 concerts in Montreal and a few others around Quebec. This means about a week of rehearsals and then we hit the stage. I am excited to finally be able to play in Montreal with Corneille. It has been a long time ! I hope to see some familiar faces at the shows.

Besides that, life is pretty good in our new house. We have settled in, unpacked the boxes, did the necessary renovations, and are now just enjoying the house and the area. We live in a great part of town and I am fortunate because there is an outdoor hockey rink about a 30 second walk from my front door. I have been playing regularly for a few weeks now and I love it ! I try to go everyday that the weather permits and play with whomever I find at the rink and do my best Sidney Crosby imitation.

I’d like to mention the passing of the legendary Oscar Peterson. Oscar was a jazz piano legend and a Canadian and Montrealer at birth . He died recently at the age of 82. Oscar was a huge talent and he made his mark on me with his amazing jazz piano playing. Actually, one of the first jazz CDs that I ever bought was the Oscar Peterson Trio Live at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival with Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar. I had no clue as to what was going on in the music as I was listening to it, but I loved it. Oscar’s guitarist, Herb Ellis served as my introduction to swing jazz guitar and I learned a lot from his instructional video. That video got me started learning jazz and it helped unlock a few ideas about that music so that at least it was no longer a complete mystery to me. Slowly I started to progress and to learn from other sources. The next thing I knew, I was completing a degree in Jazz Performance in University !

In my iPod: Boys II Men - Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville U.S.A., Richard “Groove” Holmes - Body And Soul, Tim Pierce - Guitarland, Gage - Soul Rebel, Oscar Peterson - We Get Requests, Pat Metheny - Bright Size Life, Andreas Orberg - Young Jazz Guitar, Robben Ford - Truth, Nicola Ciccone - Nous Serons Six Milliards, Sting - Mercury Falling