Maanouche Swing Quintet
Biography Maanouche Swing Quintet
LOU BOUSTANI - RHYTHM GUITAR
Instigator of the Maânouche Swing Quintet fusion project, Lou Boustani has had the opportunity to associate with the masters of Gypsy jazz and he later evolved musically on the Montreal jazz scene. Working with renowned accompanist Tchocolo Winterstein, in particular, allowed Lou to acquire strong technical skills as well as his own Gypsy style. In 2003, he founded Maânouche Swing along with the virtuoso violinist Istvan Lakatos. Since then, the ensemble has performed in most of Montreal music venues. Appreciated for the quality and the sound richness of his accompaniments, Lou was involved in the recording of Nature Boy by Hot Club Records, an internationally distributed label specialized in Gypsy jazz. In November 2007, Lou Boustani created the École Jazz Manouche de Montréal, the first Gypsy and Tzigane jazz music school in North America where many talented Montreal musicians congregate. In January 2008, his recording Django in Montreal was enthusiastically received by the public and the media alike. Lou undertook even more projects and launched the EJMM publishing company that issued his book Accords Manouches, the only Gypsy chords dictionary.
DAMIEN LEVASSEUR - SOLO GUITAR
Damien Levasseur was born in Montreal in 1990. When he was eleven, his father introduced him to the guitar and jazz music. He was first exposed to Gypsy jazz while attending a concert of guitarist Robert Nolan at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and was immediately captivated. He then started learning this style and was able to meet some of its best musicians including Andreas Öberg, Chriss Campion, Aurélien Trigo, Emmanuel Kassimo and Ritary Gaguenetti. Damien visited Europe a few times in order to familiarize himself further with Gypsy culture and music. Since then, his reputation on the Montréal jazz scene has increased and he won the Couleur Jazz radio station-and-Archambault guitar contest during the 2006 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Damien is a member of Maânouche Swing and recorded his first album with the group at the age of 17. Considered a promising young talent, in 2009 Damien Levasseur won a guitar from the St-Cat collection of Montreal's Jazz Festival. On September 26, 2010 the Festival awarded him the Montreal Guitar Grand Prix.
SIMON PAGÉ - BASS
Simon has been playing bass for more than 20 years. He is in contact daily with great jazzmen, world music artists (Africa, Brazil, Cuba, Eastern Europe…), traditional Quebec musicians, bluesmen (e.g. Jim Zeller) as well as rock/punk and popular music performers (such as Marie-Michèle Desrosiers). His perfect command of music and his personal approach make him a valuable member of every band with whom he performs. A member of the Maânouche Swing band, Simon has played with Zale Seck (Senegal), Rommel Ribeiro and Salviano Pessoa (Brazil), Carmen Picculetta (Roumania), Gonzalo Bergara (Argentina). More than a musician, Simon is all musicians' friend, deeply involved in the music community and generously dedicating his time to encourage and bring all kinds of artistic projects to fruition. He fulfills and essential role in the contemporary music world.
IVANHOE JOLICŒUR - TRUMPET
Born in Valleyfield, Quebec, Ivanhoe started studying the piano at the age of nine. The son of an organist choirmaster, he grew up surrounded by classical music until he was exposed to Louis Armstrong at thirteen. Thereafter, he decided to dedicate himself to jazz and trumpet playing.From then on, his curiosity knew no limit and he explored all kinds of music styles, from Dixieland to blues, rock and roll and Latin as well as pop music.
Since 1976, he has made a name for himself as a jazz improvisation trumpet player alongside musicians such as Normand Guilbeault, Kappa, Karen Young, Vic Vogel, François Richard, Guy Nadon and Quartz. Ivanhoe performed with the Cowboys Fringants from 2002 to 2007 while directing and composing for the Bathyscaphe band since 2001.Grants from the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec in 1996 and 2003, allowed him to compose four pieces for jazz sextet on two different occasions one of which was recorded. A founding member and former president of the Off festival de jazz de Montréal, Ivanhoe Jolicœur has been involved in the recording of music scores for films as well as for theater, television and dance shows. He has been a guest, a bandleader and a group member on more than 55 albums since 1983.
SAMUEL BLAIS - SAXOPHONE
After winning several classical music competitions as early as the age of sixteen, Samuel Blais studied at the Montreal Conservatory of Music for three years. Following his graduation, he completed a Bachelors degree in Jazz Performance at McGill University that allowed him to pursue his musical education at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York City where he obtained a Masters degree in Jazz Performance. The three years spent in New York allowed him to perfect his art and to play with worldwide renowned jazz musicians such as Greg Osby, Jim Black, Larry Grenadier, Nate Smith, Donny McCaslin, Jamie Baum and numerous others. Samuel Blais performed extensively in the USA, in Canada as well as in France, Belgium, Mexico and Hong Kong. In the course of his education, Samuel had the opportunity to study with David Liebman, Dick Oatts, Greg Osby, Rémi Bolduc, Steve Slagle, Frank Lozano, Jan Jarczyk and many more. He was awarded scholarships from the Manhattan School of Music, McGill University, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Quebec Council for the Arts, MusicAction as well as from the L.A. Friends of Jazz while on tour with the McGill Jazz Orchestra. After producing his first album, Where to Go in 2008, he launched a new record, New Angle in September 2010. With ten of his compositions out of 11 tunes, this record his a tremendous proof of Samuel Blais' evolution both as an instrumentalist and as a composer, confirming him as one of the important figure of the Quebec jazz scene.
