This Sunday Night, January 26th, at 7pm, Jazz Winnipeg in collaboration with the Fort Garry Hotel is presenting the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra. This is a very special concert that will see the WJO release their eighth studio album
Called Connections: East Meets West, this recording will feature the music of two of Canada’s greatest big band composers. Vancouver based Trumpet player and big band leader Fred Stride and Montreal based trombonist and band leader Jean-Nicolas Trottier. Together they have collaborated to compose a fabulous nine movement Suite for the WJO
Leading the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra through the Connections Suite will be University of Manitoba trumpet player and teacher, and jazz educator Richard Gillis.
This is going to be fantastic concert that features some of the best new big band jazz around. A concert that will have the band and the audience swingin’ like crazy.
The collaborative process was something that Stride was a little leery about doing. As Stride explains “It’s kind of an odd thing to write a piece of music with somebody else…. it’s a bit like trying to write a book with somebody else…. but then Richard Gillis, the director of the WJO mentioned that they were trying to put composers together from across the country.” Once Stride knew that he was to be teamed up with Jean-Nicolas Trottier, somebody he respected as a composer and band leader, Stride wholeheartedly agreed to the commission. “When I knew it was Jean-Nicolas...I went sure! I’ll do something with him.”
The name of the work came from the idea of connecting these two composers from across the country. Stride had written the first tune in the suite but had to think of what to call it. “I had to put something on it… and so I thought…what are we doing here? Well Richard (Gillis) is connecting us across the country like this. And so, I said to Jean-Nicolas, let’s call it Connections”
The nine movements are also connected and inspired by jazz composers and arrangers from the past. Musicians like Thad Jones, Rob McConnnel and Bill Holman. “The past is really important for us today, because it shows us ways we can go about things,” says Stride.
For WJO Band Leader Richard Gillis, the contrasts between the movements are interesting for the audience and band members. “I look at them as personalities. It’s nice to have that contrast. You recognize the connection in terms of how it fits together i the suite. It is like a bit of a conversation to some degree.”
The recording of the Connections: East Meets West was done in the home studio of guitarist Larry Roy during the winter of 2023-24.
The difference in textures and sound between the sections of the Connections Suite promises to be both beautiful and exhilarating for the audience. The compositional differences between Fred Stride's and Jean-Nicolas Trottier’s music will provide are sure to provide a memorable night for all who attend.
Especially considering this music will be performed by the musicians of the WJO. Their supreme musicianship will leave the audience members wanting more.
The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra’s Connections: East Meets West CD release party happens this Sunday, January 26th at 7pm, at Fort Garry Hotel.
