Jazz, Period. - A Short Romance

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"A Short Romance" Composed by Kevin Dean

Kevin Dean - Trumpet
Al McLean C Melody Saxophone
Morgan Moore Bass
Dave Laing Drums

Recorded on March 25, 2010 at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Montreal Quebec

The first installment of the film series, Jazz, Period., this performance features Montreal's best working Jazz musicians playing on rare period instruments. In this performance, Kevin Dean and Al McLean have been asked to play ornate horns dating to the 1920's. Dean, a 1929 Conn Bb/A trumpet, and McLean on a highly engraved 1920 Martin C Melody saxophone.

The instruments were carefully restored for this project, and were the catalyst for the film.

"I'm always interested in connections between the past and present", says Cole. "The old instruments really bring the past alive, and we can hear the origins of the music, even in the contemporary context the players create."

Cole acknowledges the challenge of having professional musicians quickly adapt to unfamiliar instruments. "The players were very gracious to play on horns that weren't their own. The result was quite special, there is a certain kind of spontaneity, and unpredictability to the performance. In some ways, it's really in the spirit of improvised music."

The original waltz by trumpeter Kevin Dean unfolds beautifully, with an almost palpable air of tension woven through the distinctive musical fabric. Emotional texture is carved masterfully from the form, with taut pedal bass and explosive improvisations by McLean and Dean that launch and land with a Miles/Coltrane-like brooding. Contemporary Jazz just does not get any better than this.

The performance was recorded in the landmark Montreal edifice designed by Architect Phyllis Lambert. As Dean's composition offers a framework for the artists to improvise within, the Modernist building is also deliberately structural, with a simple, skeletal framework housing a bustling hub of artistic activity.

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts is a cherished heritage building in a city that loves its history and culture. No wonder such musicians are to be found here, there is an audience for the finest in this venerable city - fine Jazz, food, architecture. It is said that Montreal is an anomaly in North American culture. There may not be any other city that can nurture a Jazz scene of such caliber and accessibility. When the Montreal International Jazz Festival subsides, these guys are just getting started...

Kevin Dean is professor, and a founding faculty member of the Jazz program at McGill University's Schulich School of Music (http://www.mcgill.ca/music/).

More on Kevin Dean:
http://kevindeanmusic.com/
http://people.mcgill.ca/kevin.dean/

Al McLean can be heard regularly in Montreal's Jazz venues, and is a sought after saxophone repair man. Read more about Al McLean here:
http://www.almclean.com/about.html