Rating: NNNN
Not happy with simply putting together the most adventurous small jazz festival in Canada, the folks behind the Guelph Jazz Fest are now also now releasing CDs. This is a good thing.
The performances on New Communities Of Sound are drawn from the festival’s 99 edition, split between Canadian artists and international improvised music stars, and the disc manages to capture the warm and laid-back vibe of the gathering. Over what sounds like tinkling silverware, pianist Cooper-Moore talks about who in music has moved him, and then stretches out with a melodic solo piece. David Mott, Gerry Hemingway and Mark Dresser tangle in a three-way improv web, Ernest Dawkins’s New Horizons ensemble gets soulful, and William Parker pulls the plug on his In Order To Survive Quartet with an explosive goodbye, followed by an epic solo bass conversation. Guelph’s unlikely reputation as the hippest place on the Canadian jazz scene is now assured.
