One of Quebec’s most celebrated jazz trios, Les Malcommodes is led by award-winning pianist-composer Félix Stüssi. Along with veteran bandmates drummer Pierre Tanguay and double bassist Daniel Lessard, the trio plays crisply dynamic contemporary jazz that sparkles with wit and vivacity. For this tour they are joined by Sonia Johnson, a JUNO award winner considered one of Canada’s finest jazz singers.
SONIA JOHNSON (www.soniajohnsonjazz.com)
Sonia Johnson is one surprising jazz vocalist and her eclectic career eloquently testifies to this. She has performed or shared double bills with many renowned jazz and pop artists such as Vic Vogel, Karen Young, Ray Anderson, Diane Tell, or Jean-Pierre Ferland. Juno Winner for the well mastered Le Carré de nos amours (Vocal Jazz Album of the Year in 2012) she also received 2014 Juno and ADISQ nominations for the collective Triades also featuring singers, Annie Poulain and Charles Biddle Jr. Her last solo album Le cœur à l’endroit, which was listed in the top 5 best albums at ICI Musique for CBC Radio, is a subtle balm for souls in search of serenity, hope and for all those who enjoy jazz softly-crooned in French! An inspired songwriter, she has collaborated as a lyricist with artists such as; Laila Biali, Steven Taetz or Félix Stüssi (Les Malcommodes invitent…) and composed children songs for entertainers Kalimba, Daniel Coutu and Bill Bestiole. Recently, she’s a guest vocalist within Vincent Rehel’s jazz rock project Le Capitaine Ivre, and she performs a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald entitled Dialogues Ella and Joe beside guitarist Stephen Johnston. She’s also singer and lyricist for Rodrigo Simoes Jazz Brazilian project and she completed a Master’s Degree in Jazz Composition from Université de Montréal. She’s preparing a new album to be revealed in spring 2019.
FÉLIX STÜSSI (www.felixstussi.com)
Be it on a bicycle or behind the keys, Félix Stüssi loves adventure and fresh wind. Since his move from Switzerland to Canada, Stüssi has turned his back on journalism, jazz piano and composition are now his main focus. In 2007, his quintet wins the prestigious Grand Prix of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. A year later US-trombonist Ray Anderson joins the project and the band becomes a sextet. The four albums of the group are very well received on both sides of the Atlantic, they are nominated for several prices. The band tours through Canada (2009) and Europe (2005, 2011 and 2015, the latter in duo with Ray Anderson). Stüssi has also formed LES MALCOMMODES, a very dynamic trio with Daniel Lessard on bass and Pierre Tanguay on drums. LES MALCOMMDOES have presented their eponymous album (Effendi Records, 2012, FND 123) in Europe during a tour in spring 2014. The brand-new project LES MALCOMMODES invitent Sonia Johnson, Ray Anderson, Jean Derome, André Leroux & Jacques Kuba Séguin (Effendi Records, FND 147) is Stüssi’s most ambitious and audacious endeavour so far. Félix Stüssi returns regularly to Europe, where he has played among others with Bruno Spoerri, Nils Wogram, Jürg Wickihalder, Ruedi Wettstein, Co Streiff, Christoph Grab, Christy Doran, Daniel Schläppi and Peter A. Schmid. Schmid and Stüssi have recorded a duo CD, which has been released on Unit Records in January 2017 (Transatlantic Conversations, UTR 4738). Wickihalder, Wettstein and Stüssi are members of the octet Sam Trümpy Memorial Jazz Coalition who has released a CD of the same name on Altrisuoni (AS 282) in 2009. In January 2017, the region Glarus Nord (Switzerland) has honoured Stüssi with a culture price. In Canada, Stüssi is also member of Alain Bédard’s Auguste Quartet and the octet Jazzlab Orchestra. In 2016, Auguste Quartet has released an album (Circum Continuum, Effendi Records, FND 144) and has toured three times in Europe and Asia in 2016. Stüssi’s projects are being supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and Musicaction. Félix Stüssi is married and father of two children.
DANIEL LESSARD
Daniel Lessard a fait des études au Conservatoire de musique de Québec et à la Berklee School of Music, à Boston, en contrebasse, piano et plus tard à l’Université McGill en composition et à l’Université du Québec à Montréal en ethnomusicologie. Il a écrit des musiques de théâtre pour le Théâtre de l’Estoc et le Théâtre du Trident. Des compositions pour plusieurs petits ensembles de jazz qu’il a dirigés. Il a créé un concerto pour harmonica et orchestre impliquant la poésie de Raoûl Duguay pour Les beaux dimanches diffusé par la télévision de Radio-Canada. Parmi les artistes de la chanson qu’il a accompagnés dans leurs représentations publiques et sur disques : Jacques Blanchet, Robert Charlebois, Diane Dufresne, Sylvain Lelièvre et Gilles Vigneault de façon sporadique sur une période de trente ans. Il a également accompagné à l’international, entre autres, les artistes de jazz Cedar Walton, Charlie Mariano, Don Menza, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Fred Hersch, Kenny Washington, Jimmy Heath, les chanteuses Peggy Lee et Diane Schurr, les frères Joe et Pat LaBarbera, Masabumi Kikuchi… Il a représenté le Québec au Printemps du Québec et au Salon Musicora de Paris, y offrant le répertoire de son trio jazz. Il tient le rôle musical lors des récitals de poésie tenus entre autres aux changements de saisons à la Grande bibliothèque nationale du Québec.
PIERRE TANGUAY
Pierre Tanguay, percussionniste, compositeur et patenteux optimiste, est un musicien montréalais très en demande sur toutes les scènes. Depuis le début des années 1980, il joue avec un nombre impressionnant d’ensembles, dont Jean Derome et Les Dangereux Zhoms, Évidence, Castor et Compagnie, Strada, le Trio Derome/Guilbeault/Tanguay, YUL, La Fanfare Pourpour, Les Malcommodes, Nozen, etc. On retrouve aussi parmi ses proches collaborateurs François Bourassa, Frank Lozano, Michel Donato, Karen Young, Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven, Fred Frith, Daniel Mille, Antoine Berthiaume, Pierre Labbé, Félix Stüssi, Diane Labrosse, Michel Faubert, Paule-Andrée Cassidy, Jean-Marc Hébert, Anne Bisson et plusieurs autres. Il évolue dans le milieu du jazz et des musiques actuelles, médiévales et traditionnelles. Il a composé des musiques pour la danse, le théâtre et le cinéma. Il est fréquemment en tournées au Canada et en Europe. Sa discographie comprend quelques centaines de disques.