GENERA SEXTET World Premiere of In Memoriam
Vancouver clarinetist François Houle is a long-time friend of the GJF, first appearing in 1999, presenting repertoire by the under-sung California composer and clarinetist John Carter. Here, he pays homage to another deceased west coast hero of creative music, Ken Pickering, founding Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Appropriately, it’s Carter’s rich, post-Ellington composing that informs Houle’s suite, which is recently released on Lisbon’s Clean Feed label and, in Guelph, will be played alongside Marco von Orelli (trumpet), Jeb Bishop (trombone), Benoît Delbecq (piano), Michael Bates (double bass), and Harris Eisenstadt (drums).
Coastlines Duo @ Guelph Jazz Festival
Twenty years ago, memorably, the great American composer and saxophonist Steve Lacy played some of his last concerts in Guelph. Saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra and clarinettist François Houle are kindred in their deep investigation of Lacy oeuvre, having both studied with him personally. Their Coastlines Duo is a thoroughly wrought, loving exploration of key works from the master’s vast catalogue, those that the spare combination of their instruments can activate in their contrapuntal richness. Like Lacy’s long-time collaboration with saxophonist Steve Potts, Coastlines Duo explores his singular pieces with poise, precision, joy, and animating energy.
Houle & Friends (Make That Flight, SoHo, Coastlines Duos and more!)
Transact Club Duos and more!
Make That Flight
Inspired by the great tandems in the history of creative music, such as Carter and Bradford, Coleman and Cherry, the duo music of François Houle and Marco Von Orelli pushes the boundaries between styles, genres, and aesthetics to Forge a unique repertoire that will surprise any avid listener of jazz and new music. Houle and Von Orelli are recognized masters of their instruments, and bring to the table a vast amount of expertise as band leaders, composers, and practitioners of creative avant-garde music.
Make That Flight Album is available HERE or all digital music platforms!
Make That Flight @ Orange Light
Trav Short and Shane Krause have started a music series for improvised and experimental music, called The Orange Light, and I'll be playing with Marco von Orelli.
Safa’s Deedar Yar album Release Concert
Safa is back! With Amir Koushkani, François Houle, and Hamin Honari. Thrilled to be presenting our new compositions, on a shared bill with Gordon Grdina’s The Marrows
François Houle - Alexander Hawkins - Kate Gentile — FIMAV
CANADA, ÉTATS-UNIS, ANGLETERRE
PREMIÈRE QUÉBÉCOISE
DIMANCHE 21 MAI
CARRÉ 150 (Salle F. Lemaire)
15 H - 34 $
François Houle : clarinette, électroniques
Kate Gentile : batterie
Alexander Hawkins : piano
Voici un trio d’improvisation de haute voltige qui réunit un vieux routier qu’on n’a pas vu à Victo depuis un bail et deux musiciens plus jeunes qui en seront à leur première visite chez nous.
Trio François Houle - Joëlle Léandre - Mark Saunders in Paris
World premiere Trio featuring spectacular musicians from Canada, France and the United Kingdom! Presented by Hélène Aliza’s Galerie 19 jure Paul Fort in Paris.
François Houle & Marco von Orelli — Make That Flight Tour 2023 — FIM Basel
The fusion of composition - improvisation and improvisation - composition as well as the exploration and extraction of new sounds on her instruments are points of contact in her works.
Two wind instruments at the same time, one tandem? Yes, inspired and in admiration for John Carter and Bobby Bradford. The clarinet and cornet create tonal textures and colors, creating an intimacy that is incredibly appealing!
François Houle & Marco von Orelli — Make That Flight Tour 2023 — Frequenze Libere Festival - Locarno
Strong from a recent release on the Swiss label ezz-thetics, Houle and von Orelli are touring Switzerland this April to present the latest from this collaboration that now spans almost 5 years.
April 23 Locarno - FREQUENZE LIBERE Festival of improvised and experimental music
In their playing, the two skilful musicians extract new sounds from their instruments and explore them. The fusion of composition and improvisation always revives and nourishes their work.
Inspired by the great duos in the history of creative music, such as Carter and Bradford, Coleman and Cherry, the music of the duo François Houle and Marco von Orelli crosses the boundaries between styles, genres and aesthetics to create a unique repertoire that will surprise any avid listener of jazz and new music.
Both Houle and von Orelli play their instruments masterfully and have been active for many years as bandleaders, composers and performers of creative avant-garde music.
François Houle & Marco von Orelli — Make That Flight Tour 2023 — THE PERCASO SERIES — BADEN
Inspired by the great tandems in the history of creative music, such as Carter and Bradford, Coleman and Cherry, the duo music of François Houle and Marco Von Orelli pushes the boundaries between styles, genres, and aesthetics to Forge a unique repertoire that will surprise any avid listener of jazz and new music. Houle and Von Orelli are recognized masters of their instruments, and bring to the table a vast amount of expertise as band leaders, composers, and practitioners of creative avant-garde music.
Linda Bouchard - Ensemble TRIOculaire +
The trio of Charlotte Hug, François Houle, and Linda Bouchard creates live immersive audio-visual performances that playfully oscillate between digital and analog spaces. Live performance, hand drawn Sound Icons by Charlotte Hug, and digital translation with Ocular Scores™ are processed interactively.
Linda Bouchard, composer with Ocular Scores™ and live electronics
François Houle, clarinet and bass clarinet with live electronics
Charlotte Hug, viola and voice with live electronics and Sound Icons.
Special collaborator: Lori Freedman - contrabass and bass clarinets
ITACA 4et plays Rome's Casa del Jazz
Itaca 4et completes its Tour of Italy with a performance at Casa del Jazz presented as part of the Rome Jazz Festival.
ITACA 4et plays Pisa's ExWide Urban Jazz Club
Thrilled to be visiting this town for the first time with this band. We’ll try and straighten out that tour with our incendiary playing!
ITACA 4et plays Villach, Austria
Playing in Villach, Austria with ITACA 4et, sharing the evening with Eric Friedlander The Thro
ITACA 4et plays Thelonious Jazz Club in Trieste - Jazz @ knulp
Thrilled to kick off a week of touring with ITACA 4et in the beautiful town of Trieste, Italy!
Two Unique Takes on the Art of Improvisation
Performing in trio for the first time with UK pianist Alexander Hawkins and French bassist Joëlle Léandre. This concert will be recorded for future release on Afterday Audio.
For more info and tickets: https://luluperformingarts.ca/events/two-concerts-two-unique-takes-on-the-art-of-improvisation/
IronFest III - with Alexander Hawkins (UK) & Kate Gentile (USA)
Rare opportunity to hear this formation, with extraordinary pianist Alexander Hawkins, and NYC drummer Kate Gentile. IronFest III has even more great musicians over 3 nights. Check it out!!!
The Secret Lives of Colour @ Modulus Festival
A superstar line up of musicians perform François Houle’s new suite based on Kassia St Clair’s best-selling book The Secret Lives of Colour.
Kassia St Clair’s best-selling book The Secret Lives of Colour is described as “a mind-expanding tour of the world” (Simon Garfield) that “will leave you bathed in the gorgeous optics of light.” (Elle)
The book was inspiration for clarinetist, composer, and improviser François Houle to create a rich and imaginative suite inspired by the moods and feelings that colours invoke.
For the Canadian premiere of The Secret Lives of Colour, François has assembled an unbeatable band of superstar musicians and improvisers from around the world. Together, they’ll take you on a musical journey that bridges colour and sound, and connects the real world to imagination.
François Houle - basset clarinet
Alexander Hawkins - piano
Joëlle Léandre - double bass
Gordon Grdina - guitar, oud
Kate Gentile - drums
Hamin Honari - percussion
Gordon Grdina’s HARAM, opening for Makaya McCraven
use code "HARAM50" to get 50% off tickets): https://chancentre.com/events/makaya-mccraven/
François Houle 4et, featuring Bill Clark
Thrilled to share the bandstand with the ever ebullient Bill Clark on trumpet. I’ve known Bill since I first moved to Vancouver in 1990. He’s been one of my favourite musicians on the scene all this time. I feel it’s a huge honour and privilege to get to play with this ever so cereative and wonderful human being! And to add to your listening pleasure, I have Karlis Silins on bass and Kenton Loewen on drums to guarantee sparks will fly!
Make That Flight @ Studio 6D
François Houle and Marco von Orelli met in Basel in 2019 and immediately began a musical conversation that taps into the rare duo format of clarinet and cornet. Inspired by their forbearers John Carter and Bobby Bradford, Make That Flight explores the duo format to reveal a rare kinship, a quasi telepathic musical conversation that challenges preconceived notions of this type of instrumentation.
Hayran @ China Cloud Celestial Nights
Drawing from a great tradition of Arabic songs, Emad with his ensemble “RAYHAN”, create original interpretations filled with intensity, sonic colouring, thematic and far reaching improvisations and modernization with electronic manipulations. All without losing the delicate beauty and authenticity of these old melodies
Jesse Zubot - violin • JP Carter - trumpet • François Houle - basset clarinet • Emad Armoush - guitar/oud/vocals • Kenton Loewen - drums
IF: ENCORE installation
I’m thrilled to be part of IF: Encore, a series of signposts installed throughout the University of Guelph Arboretum featuring QR codes, which you can scan to relive incredible improvisational performances filmed in those locations and originally shown at previous iterations of the IF Improvisation Festival. From the Wild Goose Woods Trail to the Arboretum Centre, you can venture through the Arboretum at your own pace to track down performances by Matt Brubeck & Ben Grossman, François Houle, Standpartners, Richard Burrows, and Reza Yazdanpanah. Check out the map located below for more info on signpost locations.
PLEASE NOTE: As of October 15th, full vaccination is required to attend any organized event at U of G. Please complete the COVID screening form before attending: https://uoguelph.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4Ntfm8k1oXAPssm
DIRECTIONS:
The 1 pm launch live performance by Richard Burrows and Daniel Morphy will take place on the Memorial Forest boardwalk in the University of Guelph Arboretum. If you are arriving by car, park at the campus entrance, not the College St. entrance—follow the Wall-Custance Memorial Forest Trail signs (and the music!) to the boardwalk nearby. This is an accessible, open-air space. If you are walking, biking, or rolling to our event, you can follow this Google Map to find the best route, and use the photos below for reference.
The IF Encore Installations are located throughout the Arboretum. Refer to the map below for installation sites:
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IF Encore is funded in part by the Government of Ontario and co-presented by the Arboretum and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation at the University of Guelph.
The Secret Lives of Color
Thrilled to be performing with such a great band in the amazing, Frank Gehry-designed Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. Inspired by Kassia St. Clair’s book, The Secret Lives of Color is a personal musical exploration on the rich hidden stories and origins of colors.
Festival des Musiques de Création
Excited to perform for the first time in Jonquière with the incomparable Joe Sorbara!
ITACA April Tour
ITACA is a trans-atlantic collaboration between eminent Italian and Canadian musicians in the field of avant-jazz and improvised music. Their music is dynamic, rhythmic and rich with improvisatory possibilities. Alessandro Fedrigo (bass) and Nicola Fazzini (sax) have performed at the Toronto Jazz Festival with Nick Fraser, and with François Houle at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. Strong from these meetings, these four musicians decided to join forces to form a unique international collaboration. Featuring new works composed especially for a Canadian tour in 2019, the group will be touring extensive in European for 2020, starting with dates in April:
7 Aprile 2020 / ore 21:30 ITACA 4et Cantina Bentivoglio – Bologna
6 Aprile 2020 / ore 21.00 ITACA 4et Ferrara Jazz Club – Ferrara
4 Aprile 2020 / ore 21:00 ITACA 4et Jazz In Bess – Lugano (Svizzera)
3 Aprile 2020 / ore 21:00 ITACA 4et Laurin Bar – Bolzano
2 Aprile 2020 / ore 21:00 ITACA 4et Exwide Pisa Jazz – Pisa
Trio Chimera Prairie Tour
Chimera plays Edmonton's Now Hear This Festival
SATURDAY, MARCH 21
Holy Trinity Anglican Church
Sanctuary, 7:30 p.m.
Trio Chimera
François Houle, clarinet,
Norman Adams, ‘cello
Tim Crofts, piano
Get ready for a phenomenal night of improvisation with three of the best! Featuring Tim Crofts and Norman Adams from Halifax, and Vancouver’s François Houle, this amplified trio has performed many times since their first show together in 2018. Born of a unique Canadian improvisational practice, the trio projects a compelling northern perspective, but with powerfully infused influences from the contemporary classical world. The three musicians’ combined work and achievements as individuals are stunning, and Edmontonians are in for something special when they come to Edmonton as part of a short tour of The Prairies.
OTHER TOUR DATES:
March 15 - Hamilton - Zula Presents
March 17 - Regina - University of Regina
More dates TBA soon!