Showing posts with label Alain Caron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alain Caron. Show all posts

Saturday, December 18, 2010

UZEB: Absolutely Live (1986)

UZEB was a Canadian jazz fusion band from Montreal, Quebec, who were active from 1976 to 1992. The members were Alain Caron (bass guitar), Michel Cusson (guitar), and Paul Brochu (drums). UZEB had a blend of skilled playing and modern synthesized timbres, along with an emphasis on original compositions. The band won a number of Canadian awards during the 1980s. By 1989, international sales of UZEB's first eight recordings had exceeded 200,000 units, which the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada calls "an unprecedented figure for a Canadian jazz group."
Tracklist:
01 - Ouverture No. 5
02 - Format
03 - Tiny Twins
04 - The Kid
05 - Pork Chops
Personnel:
Paul Brochu - drums
Alain Caron - bass
Michel Cusson - guitars
Didier Lockwood - violin
Jean St Jacques - keyboards
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Fileserve @ 320K

Monday, October 11, 2010

Alain Caron: Sep7entrion (2010)

Becoming a professional musician at a very early age, Alain Caron is a considerably accomplished bass player. He attended the Berklee College of Music. One of his first excursions into jazz was playing with the Vic Vogel Big Band during the 1970s. In 1977 he co-founded the group UZEB. Their first album, Live in Bracknell, was released in 1981. The following year saw the group putting out Fast Emotion. The next album was 1984's You Be Easy. 1985 saw them release Between the Lines. Two more live albums, Live a l'Olympia and Absolutely Live came out in 1986. The group released Noisy Nights and Live in Europe in 1988. The following year saw the release of UZEB Club. World Tour '90 was released in 1990. In 1992, Caron formed his own group, le Band and released the first album by that group, Alain Caron — le Band. He also found time to record a bass duet album with Michel Donato and perform at the Montreal Jazz Festival with UZEB. 1993 saw Caron record with Leni Stern, tour with that band, as well as doing a tour of Quebec with le Band and performing with Donato — Caron. The next year saw the first major tour of his group as well as some other performances with other musicians. 1995 saw the release by le Band of Rhythm 'n Jazz and another European tour for the group. For the next couple of years he frantically performed with a number of different artists. The third le Band album, Play, was also released in 1997. Again, he took a couple more years performing with various artists, including le Band and, notably, Gino Vanelli. In 2000 he released the fourth album by le Band, Call Me Al!. ~ Gary Hill
Three years following the release of his album Conversations, an intimate DUOS album with his closest friends and collaborators, Alain Caron renews and returns to his roots with this exciting JAZZ FUSION album Sep7entrion. On this new release, Alain does not disappoint and takes on the genre head-on, giving you a fresh look at FUSION in 2010. The musical nuances of the past decades find there way into this new opus along with a style, virtuosity and vocabulary that is strictly CARON.
The album regroups nine titles that tacitly fuse traditional jazz, rock, funk, touches of African influences and south-American music. To achieve this, Alain Caron surrounded himself with renowned musicians from all over the world yielding a meld of styles that is remarkable and refreshing. Guitarists Pierre Ciґte (Canada), Jean-Marie Ecay (France) and the legendary guitarist Frank Gambale (Australia and U.S.). Pianists John Roney (Canada), Otmaro Ruiz (Venezuela-U.S.) and Tony Raymond (France). Violinist Christophe Raymond (France) and drummer Damien Schmitt (France-U.S.), a young prodigy that will astound you.
The album title Sep7entrion (Septentrion) was chosen to highlight Alain`s Nordic roots and punctuate the fact that this is his seventh studio album to date.
Tracklist
1.1-4-U
2.Enhanced
3.Double Action
4.Fair Play
5.Cross Check
6.Soleir Rouge
7.This Or That
8.De L'aube Au Crepuscule
9.Simple Pleasures
Sep7entrion
Hotfile / Uploading @ 320K