JEREMY GIGNOUX

ODD STILLNESS

Alberta foundation for the Arts

Jeremy Gignoux, violin/viola/composer; Jiajia Li, bass flute/dizi; Keith Rodger, double bass; André Wickenheiser, trumpet; Carsten Rubeling, trombone; Robin Tufts, drums; Rebecca Bruton, voice; Mark Dejong, bass clarinet.

Somewhere between restraint and wonder, the string instrument master, Jeremy Gignoux offers this experimental album of ambient instrumental music.  It was born out of a health issue that challenged Gignoux’s ability to play his instrument.  When Jeremy Gignoux experienced a nerve injury a number of years ago, he was unable to use his left hand for several months. Imagine the frustration of a working composer and musician who had been playing his violin every day to suddenly realize his main instrument was totally inaccessible to him.  Instead of wallowing in depression and inactivity, Gignoux decided to see what he could come up with conceptually using his one good hand.  That recorded experimentation led him to this eerie, but lovely, musical concept we hear on “Odd Stillness.”

On this project, each composition employs a single performer and instrument that is multi-tracked. This becomes a foundation for the developed composition.  The rhythm of each piece is fluid.  In fact, Gignoux intentionally avoided any regular tempo or pulse, letting the music move freely like calm waves on a lake, rippling back and forth.

Once the various tracks were recorded individually by a single artist, Gignoux and his collaborators listened to everything. With Jeremy working with co-producer Patrick Palardy, they stitched each song together from those various, separately recorded tracks. Afterwards, once they listened to the resulting music, each piece would be given a set of instructions detailing notes, rest durations, dynamics, and timbre, as well as a set of pitches to use for the various musicians to record on top of the tracks.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when that part of the recording session was instituted. Listen to “Grouny” (that means ground) featuring Keith Rodgers on double bass.  Hear the ghostly voices in the background of the Rodgers bass lines, instrumentally added to create this original composition by Gignoux.

Consequently, each of these seven peaceful and experimental tracks invites the listener to medicate and contemplate during the presentations. You could say that this music charts an emotional landscape, based in human tension and release, reflection and discovery.

Gignoux has chosen gifted musicians to experiment with his concept.   Jiajia Li is a talented flautist who uses her bass flute tones to play Gignoux’s first composition called “Quimse” (another word for the Asian Quince tree).

I found a certain peace and inspired relaxation in this music. Jeremy Gignoux offers us a kaleidoscope of tones, sounds, instruments, and imaginative mixing that for the most part tickles the part of your brain that blossoms into unexplored realms of creative musical magic.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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