Blog

Playing in Toronto again ... and then Montréal.

I'm going to be in Toronto for a couple of days and will be playing at Somewhere There (340 Dufferin St. one block south of Queen (enter from Melbourne Ave.) on Friday, Septmber 21st. I'm be playing in the second set starting at 9 pm.
I'll be playing in a duo with percussionist Joe Sorbarro and am really excited about playing with Joe again.
It'll then be onto Montréal to play at the Casa del Popolo (4873 boul. St-Laurent reserve at 514.284.3804). I'll be playing with drummer Michael Vatcher, saxophonist Pierre Labbé and bassist Clinton Ryder. This should be a great evening of music.
If you're around I hope that you can come out and hear the music.

Meta 5 @ The Railway Club

It's been a while since I have written anything here. Lot's going on though.

Just wanted to mention that my electric quintet, Meta 5 is playing at the Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir St. @ Seymour. (Tuesday, August 18th, 2009).

The band features JP Carter/trumpet and electronics, Chad MacQuarrie/guitar, Karlis Silins/bass and Kenton Loewen/drums.

We're playing pieces from the band's book. It should be a great evening.

We're part of a freat triple bill with Jeff Younger's band Unsupervised and Gord Grdina's new band Shinko's Arm.

Somewhere There in Toronto

Had a truly wonderful gig at the loft called Somewhere There in Toronto this past Sunday. I played with Scott Thomson (trombone), Aaron Lumley (bass), Tilman Lewis (cello) and Clifton Joseph (poet). They're truly a gifted lot of improvisors and we had a great set. I've played with Scott once before, and I'm really knocked out with the depth of his playing. He's really a gifted improvisor. It was my first time playing with Tilman, and it was a pleasure to dig on his cello playing. Aaron Lumley is becoming a force on the scene here. I saw him playing in duo with violinist David Prentice opening for The Thing at the Tranzac the next night. I look forward to playing with him again. An Clifton Joseph ... man he should be performing more. He works as a producer, writer etc for CBC and so on ... would love to feel his performance vibe out in the world more. He has a wonderful way with words, a wicked sense of humour and playfullness and a fearless and scathing sense of personal and social observation. It was a pleasure to groove with him ... and all of them.

Toronto seems to be in a very dynamic time for improvisors. Lots of energy on the scene.

CD Animal Tales Concert: SUNDAY, APRIL 19th

Hello everyone

I’m really excited to invite you to the CD release of the NOW Orchestra’s new CD Animal Tales.
This recording is the first release by the NOW Orchestra on its own record label, NOW Orchestra Records.

You can order the CD online at:

http://cellarlive.com/discography.php?section=Discography&page=NOW

The CD features music from the concerts played by three great incarnations of the ensemble.
There are compositions by Diane Labrosse, PIerre Tanguay and Coat Cooke.

The CD features: Nicole Mitchell, Jean Derome, John Oswald, Saul Berson, Graham Ord, Bruce Freedman, Rod Murray, Brad Muirhead, John Korsrud, Kevin Elaschuk, Ron Samworth, Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Paul Blaney Clyde Reed, Chris Gestrin, Rebecca Whitling, Blaine Dunaway, Brian Mix, Shanto Bhattacharya, Salvador Ferraras, Giorgio Magnanensi, Steven Wright, Skye Brooks.

Please join us for a concert of the NOW Orchestra chamber ensemble playing pieces from the CD.

Featuring: Coat Cooke/saxophones, JP Carter/trumpet, Brad Muirhead/trombone, Chad MacQuarrie/guitar, Tommy Babin/bass, and Kenton Loewen/drums.

The Western Front
303 East 8th Avenue
SUNDAY, APRIL 19th
7:30 pm

Admission $10
Special CD Release price: $10

We look forward to seeing you!

Coat Cooke Trio @ The Vinegar Factory

So the promo blurb goes:

The Coat Cooke Trio is a powerful and sensitive beast with six ears and three hearts that does zero to sixty in the blink of an eye and turns on a dime or shifts dimensions with the breath of a thought. Conjurers of groove and sliders of circus dreams hunting for the surprises that lay in the next moment.

This is truly one of the most wonderful bands I've ever played with. Clyde Reed on bass is a unique and wonderful bassist that plays with deep soulfullness and Kenton Loewen on drums is a great story teller and accompaniest that makes things happen every time he plays. The evenings music is always full of surprises. I hope that you can make it out to hear one of our all too infrequent gigs.

We're playing at a little known venue that has sprung up in the last year, the Vinegar Factory.

A cool, intimate little venue. If you don't know it you'll be glad to get turned on to it.

Hope to see you there.

The details are:

The Vinegar Factory

1009 East Cordove St. (upstairs) near B.C. Sugar Refinery, just east of Clark a bit.

1009 E Cordova St (upstairs) near B.C Sugar Refinery

(photo Steve Bagnell)

Gigs in Montréal

I'm excited to be going to Montréal on Sunday to participate in the Canadian New Music Network Forum. I'll also be doing some gigs with some wonderful players while I'm there.

The first of the gigs will be at Mardi Spaghetti on Tuesday, 02-24-2009 21:00at

Martel/Prévost + Coat Cooke and friends
5490 St-Laurent, Montréal, Quebec

On Wednesday the 25 I'll be playing at the Mercredimusics series with Paul Cram (sax), André Duchesne (guitar), Lori Freedman (bass clarinet) and Bernard Falaise (guitar) @ Casa Obscura (4381 avenue Papineau - Montréal, Québec.

On Saturday, February 28 at L'Envers(184 Van Horne - 2 blocks east of Parc) I get to play with Diane Labrosse (electronics), Isaiah Ceccarelli (drummer), Gordon Allen (trumpet) and perhaps a few other friends dropping by.

It should be a great week. If you're in Montréal please come and hear some great music.

100 Years of Cinema

I had a great gig on this last Friday night at the Performance works in Vancouver. It was the second of two nights celebrating 100 years of sound in cinema. It was produced by Regis Painchaud and Lorraine Fortin of Vision Ouest.

The night I was involved featured Paul Plimley (piano), Marguerite Witvoet (piano) and Victoria Gibson (laptop). The evening was emceed by the wonderfully witty Mark Harris (a film critic/connoisseur).

I got to be one of the guests that evening. I played a piece from the David Cronenberg film, Naked Lunch (with Paul and bassist Tommy Babin).

It was an amazing evening, really. The music on the day featured music and films from 1960 to the present. It was disappointing that the house wasn't packed to the rafters, though it was fairly full.

A production like this should have been seen by more people.

I had a great time watching show and also getting the opportunity to participate in the whole venture as well. Kudos to all the performers.

Thanks Regis and Lorraine.

Upcoming gig

I've got an interesting gig coming up this week.

I"ll be playing a featured piece by Ornette Coleman called Clark Nova Dies. It's a piece from the David Cronenberg film "Naked Lunch". I'll be performing it in trio with Paul Plimley on piano and Tommy Babin on bass.

The show is on Friday, February 13th at Performance Works on Granville Island starting at 8 pm.

Come and hear this really interesting show. See you there.

Here are the details:

So much to see, hear and do!

The 15^th season of Vancouver’s Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois et francophone

A festival with programmes and events for everyone!

Vancouver, January 21, 2009 – The 15^th season of Vancouver’s Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois et francophone will take place from February 4 to March 6, 2009. Close to 60 shorts and feature films, fictions and documentaries, including a number of Vancouver premieres and a series of special events will be on at the Park Cinema, the Pacific Cinémathèque, Performance Works on Granville Island, the Ridge Cinema, the OFFA at Simon Fraser University, the auditorium of Jules Verne School and the University of British Columbia.

TWO EVENINGS, TWO TAKES, TWO PIANOS

Thursday February 12^th and Friday February 13^th at 8:30 p.m.

100 YEARS of FILMS SCORES

with Paul Plimley and Marguerite Witvoet on two pianos

and Mark Harris* in the role of Coryphaeus

+ friends cameo appearance

A dialogue between film and music and a celebration of the musical triumphs and sound textures that have been part of film ever since Camille Saint-Saëns wrote the first film score for the Assassination of the Duc de Guise in 1909.

Two evenings to explore many decades:

Take One: From silent movies up to the fifties on Thursday February 12^th,

and

Take Two: From the New Wave to the present on Friday February 13^th 2009.

Gig on October 20th @ The Jazz Cellar

Looking forward to playing a duo set this Monday at the Jazz Cellar with bassist Dave Chokroun.

We've been developing a duo improv thing during this past year. It sounds great , and I'm very excited about our music.

I hope you can make it out to hear it.

We'll be on second after Collapsing Lung which is a really cool electronic duo featuring Lee Hutzulak and Stephen Lyons.

See you Monday.

Jazz Cellar 2008 Fall Series Started Last Night

A great crowd came out last night to the Jazz Cellar for the NOW on Monday Nights opening show. Paul Plimley opened with five improvisational pieces that were powerful and fun. He had a blast up on stage.

Tony Wilson filled in the second set with is guitar and great stage presence. They finished the night doing duo performance. The crowd ate it up. You can learn more about what is coming up this fall on Monday nights on the NOW Orchestra events listing.