Normand Gilbeault Ensemble Plays Mingus

[White Lightning]

The French Canadian group "Normand Gilbeault Ensemble" Played @ the opera house in Tel Aviv this Friday. It was a terrific concert. It's difficult to play Mingus tunes. One can very easily wind out a copy-cat or just going thru the motion of playing Mingus rather than PLAYING Mingus.

Normand Gilbeault's group manage to do that. They caught the spirit of Mingus, the aggressiveness and tenderness in Mingus' music and that "organized Chaos" thing that Mingus was doing. Besides listening to the group's latest CD, Mingus Erectus", this was my first encounter with the musicians, and I was impressed, especially with the Sax and flute player Jean Derome. The clarinetist Mathieu Belanger was very good as well, especially on the Bass Clarinet.

Anyone heard these guys?

Lineup: Ivanhoe Jolicoeur (tp, cor); Mathieu Belanger (cl, b-cl); Jean Derome (as, bs, fl); Normand Gilbeault (b); Claude Levargne (d)

Here are some pics I took during the sound check and the concert itself:

***edit to correct spelling***

Edited May 21, 2007 by White Lightning

[White Lightning]

Some B&W pics:

[White Lightning]

Some color pics:

(sorry for the large format)

[Nate Dorward]

That first colour pic of Derome is pretty funny. Thanks for the shots, & by the way it's "Normand Guilbeault"!

[Van Basten II]

You can find CDs of them doing that stuff, they're quite good, when i saw them live i was impressed by the whole ensemble but especially Jolicoeur.

By the way they asked the permission of Mingus widow prior to do that stuff and she gave them her blessing.

Edited May 21, 2007 by Van Basten II