52 DOWNBEAT JUNE 2015

INDIE LIFE

CHANTALE GAGNÉ

EXploring the UnknownBy Phillip Lutz

Chantale Gagné speaks with the clarity and coherence of a well-spun solo. But her compositions

exude a distinct air of mystery.!at is by design. !e 34-year-old

pianist, composer and daughter of the Quebec countryside recognizes the value of leaving a little to the imagi-nation. !e result is a burgeoning and beguiling oeuvre, to which the latest contribution is a cleverly cra"ed exer-cise in the unexpected, the self-pro-duced !e Le" Side Of !e Moon.

By Gagné’s own account, the album evokes the uncertainty of everyday existence, from the por-tentous opening chords of the #rst track, “Mystère,” to the quick and quirky closer, “Roach Rag.” In between lie nine pieces of varying form—prominent among them the title tune, a study in radical mood-shi"-ing inspired by the shi"ing phases of the moon.

“In life, you never know what’s happening from day to day,” Gagné, speaking in perfect French-accented English, said in explaining the sub-text of her compositional style. “It’s all about the unknown.”

Growing up in Princeville, a small town between Montreal and Quebec City, Gagné could hardly have known that she would one day be a rising jazz artist chatting up an inter-viewer in a Harlem co$ee bar. Her parents had #lled their country home with the chansons of Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour and the like. But it fell to her older brother to lead her to jazz.

Lead her he did. When she was 15, and something of an organ prodigy, he bestowed on her Bill Evans’ Portrait In Jazz. !e impact of that seminal work, now 55 years old, was imme-diate, spurring a switch to piano. It is re%ected today in Gagné’s tone and temperament, which, like Evans’, owes more than a little to the in%u-ence of the French modernists.

Evans’ impact is also mirrored in her choice of repertoire. !e Evans original “Peri’s Scope,” which appears on Portrait, pops up amid a ra" of originals on Gagné’s #rst CD, Silent Strength. So does another tune associated with Evans, “But Beautiful.”

“Without being asked,” she said, “people o"en compare my playing to Bill Evans’.”

Gagné’s encounter with the music of Evans—who died in 1980, the year she was

born—led her, while still a teenager, to a deep exploration of other pianists, many of whom also made their names as sidemen with Miles Davis, including Red Garland, Wynton Kelly and Herbie Hancock.

!us engaged, Gagné set her sights on a degree in jazz performance, which she earned at Montreal’s McGill University in 2003. Her #ngers #lled with standards learned in course-work, she gigged in Montreal for three or four years, honing her skills before heeding the call of New York.

“I put on my backpack and took a chance to see what’s going on here,” she said in the co$ee bar. “I liked it.”

Taking an apartment near the Manhattan School of Music, she lived on savings, babysit-ting jobs and the odd restaurant gig, all the while building a name on the jam circuit. A"er bouncing back and forth between Montreal and New York, she sought her #rst artist’s visa in 2008—a sign she had decamped to the Big Apple for the duration.

Another sign, she said, was the upgrading of her piano from a modest electric to a $5,000 upright, which she got to know well. “I was

just composing, composing, composing,” she said. “Every day I would compose something. It didn’t matter if I would keep it or not. I would sit at the piano and try to write something.”

She wasted little time in documenting that material in the studio. Trading on her grow-ing reputation, she had enough credibility to approach—and, as it turned out, recruit—in-demand players like Peter Washington on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. While she was less successful in obtaining grants from the Canadian government, her parents came through #nancially, and in April 2007 she laid down the tracks for Silent Strength.

Unlike the kind of debut e$ort in which an artist draws on a lifetime of accumulated mate-rial, Silent Strength was a purposefully pres-ent-tense a$air. “It was more me being in New York all of a sudden,” she said. “It was the whole experience of being here, establishing myself, walking the streets, being in%uenced by the energy here, the action.”

Meanwhile, she was already writing tunes for the second self-produced album, Wisdom Of !e Water. Recorded in June 2010, the CD expanded the palette with the addition of vibra-

Chantale Gagné

JUNE 2015 DOWNBEAT 53

phonist Joe Locke to the trio. Like the !rst album, it hit the mark artistically.

But the !nancing was problematic enough, and when it came time to record again four years later, she reluctantly decided to “step on my pride a little bit” and crowdfund with Kickstarter.

“I asked myself whether I want to do that, to bother people,” she said. “"en I started think-ing of it more like it’s a pre-purchase. "at’s how you have to see it. You can’t see it as a burden for people.”

Apart from the !nancing, the album’s big change was in sonic coloration, replacing Locke’s vibraphone with Steve Wilson’s saxo-phones and #ute. Wilson said the session came o$ with barely a hitch, cementing a relation-ship with Gagné that had begun !ve years earli-er at Smalls and reached into the personal realm when he agreed to support her visa application.

On the professional side, Wilson said he was particularly impressed with her compositions, which he found revealing. “"ey’re a window into her concept,” he said. “"ey’re not just tunes but arrangements within tunes, extended compositions with di$erent episodes.”

More organically than most, he said, she integrates classical technique into a jazz setting. “She’s able to blend it into this context skillful-ly. It’s not some agenda, like, ‘I’m going to force these two things together.’”

"ese elements, he said, constitute a general “cultural sensibility” that is made explicit in a piece like “A%er You,” which opens with an unadorned invention on piano and grows more complex as it weaves Wilson’s horn into the contrapuntal fabric before segueing to a tradi-tionally syncopated ensemble section.

"e piece’s multidimensional structure !nds a parallel in the layered meanings sug-gested by its title. In one sense, Gagné said in an email, “you” refers to Bach and the title refers to a piece written in his style. In another sense, she said, “you” refers to “‘unreal’ people you surround yourself with” and the title refers to a piece written about a period a%er she has purged those people from her life.

Whatever any particular title means, Gagné is clearly bucking a sometime jazz tradition in which titles are casually arrived at, though little time is spent in the studio dwelling on such mat-ters. Like her earlier albums, Le! Side was accom-plished with one rehearsal and a minimum of idle talk before it was recorded, in April of last year.

In the studio, Wilson said, Gagné was a straightforward presence, ably striking a bal-ance between soliciting ideas and channeling the talent in the room. By day’s end, he said, she had revealed the kind of inner-directed person-ality that has eased her journey from small-town Canada to big-city America.

“She knew she would have to come to New York and become immersed in the music,” he said, “and she deserves nothing but credit for doing that. "at’s part of her appeal: having a mission and achieving it.” DB

5/18/15 7:15 PMChantale Gagne: The Left Side of the Moon | Jazz Weekly

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One of the rulesof life that I liveby is that “It’snot so much ‘Iknow what I like’as ‘I like what Iknow.’” Mostpeople don’tappreciate jazzbecause theyhave no frame ofreference.Back…

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Chantale Gagne: TheLeft Side of the Moonby George W. Harris • April 30, 2015 • 0 Comments

PianistChantaleGagne deliverswith a lovelyglassy touch asshe fronts aquartet with thestudly team ofSteveWilson/ss-as,Peter Washington/b and Lewis Nash/dr through acollection of originals. Her piano dances with Asianchimes on a handful of the pieces, such as“Mystere” and “A La Claire Fontane” while hints ofBach pop up along with Wilson’s alto on thegrooving “After You.” She delivers with kid gloveson the soft touched title track with Wilson’s sopranocarrying a torch, and flecks of Satie-esque sparklesdot the sky on “Up Again.” The rhythm team flowslike the Seine, nice and steadily romantic on “JustA Dream” and the leader closes with a fun tio to100 years ago on “Roach Rag.” She knows how to

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5/18/15 7:15 PMChantale Gagne: The Left Side of the Moon | Jazz Weekly

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touch the piano just enough to coax the right tone,and makes a melody like a souffle, soft and tasty.

www.changalegagne.com

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MossTheatre 05-16-15VINTAGEJAZZ FROMAVID…DukeEllington:With JohnnyHodges,ColemanHawkins,Count Basie,DukeEllington:Swingin’Suites, TeddiKing-CarolSloane-MorganaKing: FiveClassicAlbums,RandyWeston:Four ClassicAlbumsEIGHTEENSTRINGSOF JOY…JohnPattituccciElectricGuitarQuartet:BrooklynJohnPizzarelli:SalutesJohnnyMercer

3/28/09 11:00 PMJazz Albums: Silent StrengthChantale Gagné Trio — By Thomas Conrad — Jazz Articles

Page 1 of 4http://www.jazztimes.com/articles/21363-silent-strength-chantale-gagn-trio

March 2009

Chantale Gagné Trio

Silent Strength

Chantale Gagné

By Thomas Conrad

Chantale Gagné is a young pianist from Quebec with the sound judgment to bring in Peter Washington andLewis Nash as the rhythm section on her debut recording. Washington’s time is like Big Ben’s, and Nash’senergy is a crisp tailwind. They make Gagné’s music glide with elegance at any speed.

Gagné plays with a clear, assertive touch and a balanced, intelligent sense of form, if not much appetite forrisk. Her “But Beautiful” is so orderly and methodical that it misses the song’s emotion. (Washington’s briefbass solo stays close to the melody and contains more wistfulness.) Monk’s “I Mean You” is accurate butunadventurous. Her most interesting interpretation of a standard is Bill Evans’ “Peri’s Scope,” where herdisplaced accents create unanticipated tension and gratifying release.

Gagné’s compositions are well made. Her uptempo and funky tunes (“Second Wave,” “In My Mind”) soundgeneric and vaguely familiar. Her slower stuff is stronger. “Tranquilité” and “New York Nights” sustainintense, quiet reveries as they patiently unfold their stories.

102 | CADENCE | JULY - AUG - SEPT 2009

New Issues1) MAHANADAMANNAHATTA

SPLASC(H) 2518

SOMETHING SPECIFIC AND PERFECT FOR MY CITY/ THE

ABORIGINAL NAME/ A WORD, LIQUID, SANE, UNRULY/

MUSICAL, SELF-SUFFICIENT/ THE WORD OF MY CITY/ THE DOWN-

TOWN STREETS/ IMMIGRANTS ARRIVING / VEHICLES /

BROADWAY / THE WOMEN, THE SHOPS AND SHOWS / A MILLION

PEOPLE / CITY OF HURRIED AND SPARKLING WATERS / CITY

OF SPIRES AND MASTS / CITY NESTED IN BAYS / MY CITY!.

66:30.

Luciano Troja, p; Giancarlo Mazzj, prep g, vcl; Carmelo Coglitore, ss, bcl, d; Carlo Nicita, alto flt.

4/17/06, NY, NY.

2) CHANTALE GAGNÉSILENT STRENGTH

CHANTALE GAGNE NO#

SECOND WAVE / TRANQUILITÉ / IN MY MIND / SILENT STRENGTH

/ NEW YORK NIGHTS / I MEAN YOU / R?VES / PERI’S SCOPE /

BUT BEAUTIFUL / SUBWAY RAG. 51:24.

Gagné, p; Peter Washington, b; Lewis Nash, d. 4/9/07, NY, NY.

3) DAVE STRYKER - STEVE SLAGLE

THE SCENEZOHO 200810

Spring in New York City is a special time of year. Here are three musical looks at the Big Apple, coincidentally recorded in three

successive Aprils. As a bonus, each album neatly represents a differ-ent aspect of the city’s musical culture.

New York is, of course, a magnet for tourists. On (1), Mahanada, the Italian quartet of pianist Luciano Troja, prepared guitarist Giancarlo Mazzj, flutist Carlo Nicita, and multi-instrumen-talist Carmelo Coglitore on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, and drums, finds itself in Manhattan to play a series of seven concerts. Inspired by both the city and the poetry of Walt Whitman, whose ode to the city provides the song titles, the group recorded “15 aboriginal tracks” in an impromptu suite. Their aim was to “find a straightforward, primitive way of tackling how we were seeing and feeling New York...,” and to that end, they incorporate the street sounds of New York in the mix. The album starts with the sound of an official voice from the subway system announcing trains as the band fades in on a mutant shuffle. The improvisations proceed hesitantly at times, slowly gaining confidence in the contours of what they’ve conjured up, a bit like the way that the wide-eyed look of fresh tourists changes after a few days in town to a more self-assured attitude. The band’s textures are fresh, generally with a strong melodic bent, seasoned by Mazzj’s prepared guitar. The focus often shifts unexpectedly from player to player, with a number of solo and duet passages sprinkled through the tracks. Definitely not for all tastes, but an especially adventuresome and engaging set of free improvs with a distinctive and almost programmatic focus.

New York has always been a good town for pianists, home base for such disparate stylists as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Cecil Taylor, Bobby Short, and so many other well-known performers. Chantale Gagné aims to join those ranks with (2), a pleasant trio date with the A-list rhythm team of bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash. The Québec-born Gagné studied with Kenny Barron, who supplies a personal set of liner notes to the project. In addition to seven functional originals, she performs Monk’s “Ask Me Now,” Bill Evans’ “Peri’s Scope,” and “But Beautiful,” a standard also favored by Evans. The music jumps out of the gate on the boppish “Second Wave,” and Gagné immediately establishes her bright and articulate sound. Nash and Washington, of course, can play just about anything, and their warm support is also apparent from the get-go. After a couple of snappy choruses, Washington steps out with a busy walk, the first of his many solos on the disk. Gagné flies back in to trade fours with the ever-tasty Nash for a sat-isfyingly swinging opening. Structuring the CD like a typical club set,

JULY - AUG - SEPT 2009 | CADENCE | 103

New IssuesSKEE*/ THE SCENE/ SIX FOUR TEO*/ TWO SENSE/ KINDRED SPIRITS/ HOPEWELL’S LAST*/

BRIGHTER DAYS*/ FINGERS IN THE WIND/ STRIKOLOGY. 55:38.

Slagle, as, ss, flt; Joe Lovano, ts*; Stryker, g; Jay Anderson, b; Victor Lewis, d. 4/15/08, New Paltz, NY.

the jumping opener gives way to an original ballad, “Tranquilité,” that Gagné caresses with intriguing harmonies over deft brushwork by Nash. Next is the hard-bopping “In My Mind” with a hip bass and drum duet. The Brazilian-flavored “Silent Strength” slow it down once again to a slightly up groove that brings out the best in Gagné, a perfect tempo for her lyrical invention. Her waltz “New York Nights” seems like a pretty calm tune for the Big Apple, but maybe she lives in a quiet part of town. Gagné is generous with the solo responsibilities, and bassist Washington takes another vigorous and melodic solo here that grows directly out of his accompani-ment. She’s a bit subdued on the Monk, and I found myself paying more attention to the snappy bass and drum parts than to the piano. “R?ves” is another laid-back number, with more fine bass work by Washington. The Evans tune is bright and cheerful, and, somewhat predictably, “But Beautiful” slow the music down all over again with lush voicings and a wistful feeling. The brief and really old-time “Subway Rag” is a humorous way to end the date. With her first release, Gagné establishes herself as a polished and more than competent Fifties- and Sixties-styled player, well-versed in the vari-ous streams of post-bop piano from Bobby Timmons to Bill Evans to, well, Kenny Barron. What has yet is emerge is a strong sense of individuality that would make her music really stand out from the loads of piano trio albums out there.

There are still plenty of Jazz spots in New York, and on any given night in the year, you might just hear the Stryker/Slagle Band at one of them, sounding pretty much like they do on (3). Guitarist Dave Stryker and saxophonist Steve Slagle have been working together in one format or another since the late Eighties, most often in a quartet or quintet setting. The band offers a unified and con-centrated sound, consistently strong soloists in Slagle and Stryker, and the sturdy rhythms of bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Victor Lewis. The program, familiar-sounding tunes written separately by the band-leaders, plus a ponderous flute and acoustic guitar duet version of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “Fingers In the Wind,” is a solid mix of bopping up-tempo numbers and ballads, enhanced on three tracks by the presence of tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano. The intri-cacies of bebop and the progressive sounds of the Sixties, as articu-lated by composers like Charles Mingus and Wayne Shorter, are the major influences on the writing. Slagle, who spent a lot of time in the Mingus Big Band in the Nineties, has a bright and bubbly sound on alto saxophone, his main horn. Stryker, one-time Stanley Turrentine and Brother Jack McDuff sideman, has a full-bodied modern sound that comes at Jazz from the blues side of things. Bruce Eisenbeil by Frank Rubolino

Joseph Jarman by Frank Rubolino

8/19/09 9:14 PMJazzWax: Chantale Gagne: Silent Strength

Page 1 of 3http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/07/interview-chantale-gagne.html

JazzWax

Marc Myers blogs daily on jazz legends and legendary jazz recordings

July 20, 2009

Chantale Gagne: Silent Strength

I came upon Chantale Gagne's Silent Strength completely by accident.

The French-Canadian jazz pianist recorded this album in 2007, but I

only discovered it last weekend while searching to see who had

recorded Bill Evans' Peri's Scope. After sampling the Evans track and

then others, I had to get hold of the CD. And ask Chantale a few

questions.

Chantale Gagne (pronounced SHAN-tahl Gan-yay) was born in 1980

and began her jazz career on the

organ. At age 15, after hearing a Bill

Evans recording, she switched to

piano. After studies in Quebec in

the late 1990s, Chantale studied

briefly with pianist Kenny Barron, a

meeting that redoubled her

commitment to the jazz piano.

Recently, she has been touring with

bassist Peter Washington and

drummer Lewis Nash, both of whom appear on Silent Strength.

Chantale's originals on this album have depth and maturity that

transcend her years. Second Wave is a rousing, lyrical tune and

Tranquilite bristles with sensitivity and Bill Evans-like tenderness. In

My Mind has a Bobby Timmons/Art Blakey funkiness, with Nash

hammering out the 2/4 feel.

Chantale uses a soft bossa nova on Silent Strength, and follows it with a lilting waltz called New York Nights. Reves has the

same, introspective impression. Her rendition of Thelonious Monk's I Mean You

captures the bop pianist's disjointed feel but brings a softer feel to it. The album's high

point for me is Evans' Peri's Scope, which Chantale takes at a brisk pace, finishing with

her own chord flourish. But Beautiful receives an equally sensitive treatment. Closing out

the CD is Subway Rag, a playful ode to the New York's transit system.

To learn more about Chantale and her art, I reached out to her in Quebec, and we had

the following exchange by e-mail:

JazzWax: Was Bill Evans a big influence?

Chantale Gagne: Indeed, Bill Evans has been a very important influence. Portrait

in Jazz is the first jazz album I listened to, and

8/19/09 9:14 PMJazzWax: Chantale Gagne: Silent Strength

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in Jazz is the first jazz album I listened to, and

that's how I decided to play jazz. Bill Evans'

playing is always beautiful and always means something to me. He's extremely

melodic and emotional, and he plays with his heart. Everything he plays comes

from somewhere, and everything he plays takes us somewhere! Bill Evans has a

sound that nobody else has. It's very particular.

JW: Is there a female approach to the jazz piano that male players miss? Or is jazz

gender-free?

CG: I think it's nice sometimes to have a female touch but overall I don't believe

you absolutely need it. Jazz is gender-free. I think whoever you are—female or

male—if you communicate your feelings and play with your heart, that's the most

important thing. When you play or compose, communicating your feelings and provoking feelings is the essence of

jazz.

JW: Many male jazz artists have male jazz heroes. Is there a female jazz artist who has inspired you?

CG: Not really. My jazz heroes are mostly men. But when I think of Marian McPartland [pictured] who, back in the

1940s and 1950s made her place among this guys' world and has been

respected throughout her life by guys, I find it's pretty amazing. But

again, I really and truly see jazz as gender-free. I believe that as long as

you create beautiful music and your music arouses emotions, images and

feelings in the listener, it doesn't matter whether you are a man or a

woman. When I sit down to play, I'm not thinking of anyone or anything

in particular. Just to play as beautifully as possible.

JW: Has there been pain or sorrow in your life from which your art

emanates?

CG: Not really pain or trauma. I would say it's a matter of the

environment where I find myself, physically or spiritually. When I

compose I think it appears more, and you can hear the difference. I have

to admit, of course, that my life experience is quite short so far, of

course, and will continue to be integrated into my music.

JW: You're French-Canadian. Do you think that made you more

sensitive?

CG: I'm not sure yet if being Quebecoise helps what I do. But I can say

for sure that I received a warm welcome from New Yorkers whenever I

play there. I find that New Yorkers are very open. People want to know

me and know where I come from. They ask why I started playing, how

come I've had the will to try it and how come I am so gutsy. Because it's

true, I don't know lots of people in my city who have done this. New York

is a difficult world but so interesting and full of surprises.

JW: Will you be recording again soon?

CG: Hopefully in 2010. I'm working now on new material. I will likely

change the ambiance a bit. I think it's

important for me to do so now. It's

too early to describe the theme, but I

can say that I very much like music

8/19/09 9:14 PMJazzWax: Chantale Gagne: Silent Strength

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can say that I very much like music

with a folk influence and that Lewis

[Nash, pictured] and Peter

[Washington] sound wonderful

playing this music!! I can already

hear Lewis' drums.

JazzWax tracks: Chantale Gagne's

Silent Strength was self-produced and can be found as a download at iTunes or Amazon,

or on CD here. For more on Chantale and to hear samples of tracks, visit her site here.

Posted by Marc Myers at 05:55 AM | Permalink

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Based on the samples I've heard, Gagne is very good. Fine time and touch in particular; her lines just "pop." Nice ear, Marc.

Posted by: Larry Kart | July 20, 2009 at 08:48 PM

I already have the disc and dig it too!

Posted by: Red Colm O'Sullivan | July 21, 2009 at 06:19 AM

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